Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area reached a five-year high for January, as prices and mortgage rates plunged, a real estate tracking firm reported Thursday.

However, many of those purchases involved properties that were subject to foreclosures or short sales, indicating the housing market is far from recovered.

The survey by San Diego-based DataQuick also showed the median sales price in the region fell nearly 3 percent last month from December to $326,000 — less than half the peak price of $665,000 reached in 2007 but up from the low of $290,000 recorded in 2009.

A total of 5,479 new and existing homes were sold in the nine-county area, according to DataQuick. The figure was down nearly 27 percent from December but marked a 10.3-percent improvement over January 2011.

The December-to-January drop was normal for the season, while the January-to-January jump showed real improvement, DataQuick said.

The year-over-year increase in January marked the seventh annual jump in a row, the firm said.

Home sales were buoyed by “lower prices, ultra-low mortgage rates, a modestly improved economy and a record level of investor purchases,” DataQuick said in a statement.

The lower median price in January was “a reflection of how skewed the market has become toward distressed, lower-cost properties,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in the statement. “The higher-end sales have slowed in recent months as many struggle to qualify for loans and others just sit tight.”

Distressed property sales — the combination of foreclosure and short sales — made up more than half of all sales of existing homes. Absentee buyers, who mostly are investors, bought more than a quarter of all homes sold, DataQuick reported

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/16/state/n095612S41.DTL&type=business

However, many of those purchases involved properties that were subject to foreclosures or short sales, indicating the housing market is far from recovered.

The survey by San Diego-based DataQuick also showed the median sales price in the region fell nearly 3 percent last month from December to $326,000 — less than half the peak price of $665,000 reached in 2007 but up from the low of $290,000 recorded in 2009.

A total of 5,479 new and existing homes were sold in the nine-county area, according to DataQuick. The figure was down nearly 27 percent from December but marked a 10.3-percent improvement over January 2011.

The December-to-January drop was normal for the season, while the January-to-January jump showed real improvement, DataQuick said.

The year-over-year increase in January marked the seventh annual jump in a row, the firm said.

Home sales were buoyed by “lower prices, ultra-low mortgage rates, a modestly improved economy and a record level of investor purchases,” DataQuick said in a statement.

The lower median price in January was “a reflection of how skewed the market has become toward distressed, lower-cost properties,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in the statement. “The higher-end sales have slowed in recent months as many struggle to qualify for loans and others just sit tight.”

Distressed property sales — the combination of foreclosure and short sales — made up more than half of all sales of existing homes. Absentee buyers, who mostly are investors, bought more than a quarter of all homes sold, DataQuick reported

Article source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57379476/low-prices-boost-sf-home-sales-to-5-year-jan-high/

The regions median sale price dipped to its lowest level since January as activity above $500,000 fell sharply, distressed property sales rose slightly, and mortgage availability worsened, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 16,829 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in October. That was down 7.3%

from 18,149 in September and up 0.5% from 16,744 in October 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

A separate report released on Tuesday showed California home sales posted a marginal increase in October and also were above year-ago levels.

According to figures released Tuesday from the California Association of Realtors, closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California edged up to a seasonally adjusted 493,240 units in October, up 0.9% from a revised 488,700 in September.

The October statewide median price of an existing, single-family home sold in California was $278,060, down 3.3% from $287,440 in September and down 8.9% from the $305,150 median price recorded for October 2010, according to C.A.R.

Both reports cite the drop median price on Congress failing to act on conforming loan limits as a possible reason.

Most homebuyers use what are called “conforming” loans, or those backed by the Federal Home Administration, to purchase their homes. Congress sets the limits for these loans. The previous limits reset to lower limits on October 1. In high cost areas, the cap for these federally backed loans dropped to $625,500 from $729,750.

In short, what this means is that buyers who need a loan that exceeds the new limit are forced to obtain a “jumbo” mortgage loan, which is often considerably more expensive.

Based on preliminary analysis, it appears that the lower conforming loan limits has had a cooling effect on home sales in October, particularly in the higher cost markets across the state, such as the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal regions of Southern California, said C.A.R. President LeFrancis Arnold. This evidence supports the need for reinstating the higher loan limits while the housing market is in transition to recovery.

Long Beach area Realtor Richard Daskam, with Keller Williams Realty in Los Alamitos, said the expiration of the loan limits has already been cutting into his business.

With the expiration of the loan limits, Im not at all surprised by the numbers, Daskam said. Two of my buyers in the $750,000-range backed away and signed one-year leases on their current rentals because they felt that the decrease in the loan limits will cause home prices to fall further over the next year. Both buyers were going to use FHA loans, so it really affected their ability to purchase.

The regional median has declined year-over-year for the past eight months, according to the DataQuick report. The last time any one of the six Southland counties posted an annual gain in its median sale price was in January, when San Bernardino logged a 1% year-over-year increase.

Theres still some optimism in the market, as many buyers realize the historically low interest rates wont be around forever.

In the greater Long Beach region I’m seeing buyers with a cautious sense of optimism – the low interest rates are very attractive and (buyers have) been waiting for some time, said Helen Najar, with ReMax Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach. The buyers I’m in escrow with now feel this is as good as it’s going to get and they have moved forward to buy.

Najar and fellow real estate agents shes spoken with feel there seems to be serious concern about government’s continuing intrusion into the housing market, she said. The unexpected consequences of regulations continues to cause major roadblocks to getting business done.

Paying a median $204,000, cash buyers purchased 29.4% of all Southland homes sold in October, up from 29.2% in September, and 27.8% a year ago. Cash purchases hit a high of 32.3% of sales this February, while the 10-year monthly average is 14.5%. Cash purchases are where there was no indication in the public record that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,040 last month, down from $1,084 in September and $1,111 in October 2010. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 55.4% below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 63.4 below the current cycles peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

Article source: http://www.lbpost.com/news/don/12785

The share of distressed sales in May, that is foreclosed properties and short sales (when the property is sold for less than the value of the loan), fell to 31 percent of all sales from 37 percent in April. Investors, who purchase a large share of these distressed properties, also represented a smaller share in May. So what’s going on?

We know there is still a huge supply of bank owned (REO) properties, and we also know that banks are pushing short sales on many more properties than ever before. But they are also pushing REO sales, thanks to new sales incentives from lenders and the GSE’s (Government-Sponsored Enterprises).

“Realtors and mortgage loan officers nationwide are driving mid-to-high end organic, short and distressed sales on the fear that buyers will be unable to qualify for loans once the QRM (Qualified Residential Mortgage) rules are in place requiring 20 percent down,” says mortgage market analyst Mark Hanson, describing new rules being considered for risk retention by banks (part of the banking overhaul legislation passed last summer).

Some bloggers though, writing in to me after the existing home sales report, claimed that Fannie and Freddie are holding on to REOs, trying to game home prices. Fannie strongly disputes that.

Page 1 of 3 | Next Page
Show Entire Article

Bonus Cuts, Pay Raises, Then Layoffs

El-Erian: What’s Weighing Heavily on the Markets

Harrisburg Hoping God Can Help Balance the Books

Money Anxiety Index Latest Indicator of a Double-Dip

U.S. Competitiveness Becoming A Tale of Two Economies

More Top Stories

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43483088?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS