“In many areas, we are seeing more interest in urban infill locations than in remote exurbs, which is having a pronounced shift in neighborhood design elements,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker. “And regardless of city or suburban dwellers, people are asking more from their communities in terms of access to public transit, walkable areas and close proximity to job centers, retail options and open space.”

Half of residential architecture firms highlight demand for multi-generational housing, up from 44 percent in 2011. Fifty-nine percent said access to public transportation is key, up from 47 percent a year ago. (Read More: New Nightmare for Home Builders: Not Enough Skilled Workers)

More homeowners are also upsizing what they have, with 58 percent of architects reporting improvement in additions and alterations, up from just 35 percent a year ago; kitchen and bath, as usual, top the must-have list.

During the last housing boom, extravagance drove new construction and remodeling. Now, the trends are more practical, with energy efficiency and the need to accommodate growing families driving the gains. Home owners are also looking to builders to help them use the space they have more efficiently, especially Baby Boomers.

“They have a lot of desires for the home, and we’re hearing this group say they want functionality and smartly-designed homes without wasted space,” said Meyer, who adds that this doesn’t necessarily translate into smaller homes. While these findings bode well for the home builders, they may also add optimism to the upper end of the market, and all those so-called “McMansions,” many of which lost significant value during the housing crash. (Read More: Pending Home Sales Surge to Five Year High)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100321206

San Francisco Bay Area Home Sales Below Average

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Real estate agent Paul Barbagelata, left, talks with a client during an open house in San Francisco.

Real estate agent Paul Barbagelata, left, talks with a client during an open house in San Francisco. Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Home sales in the San Francisco Bay
Area were 22 percent below average last month as buyers waited
for better mortgage availability, DataQuick said today.

A total of 6,749 houses and condominiums sold in the nine-
county region, below the average of 8,644 property deals for
September since 1988, the San Diego-based data seller said in a
statement. Last month’s total was down 10 percent from August
and up 6.6 percent from a year earlier.

“Demand continues to accumulate,” DataQuick President
John Walsh said in the statement. “Empty-nesters want something
smaller, growing families want something bigger. People still
die, they get married, retire — all of this generates demand.
And only a fraction of that demand is being met in today’s
market.”

The number of transactions financed with adjustable-rate
loans, an indicator of mortgage availability, fell to 13 percent
in September from 16 percent in August, according to DataQuick.
Such loans were used in 45 percent of Bay Area sales over the
past decade. Jumbo mortgages, or those higher than $417,000,
were used in almost a third of all deals, little changed from
August and about half 2007’s tally.

The median home price in the Bay Area fell to $365,000,
down 1.4 percent from August and 7.6 percent from a year
earlier, DataQuick said. All nine counties had price declines
from a year earlier, led by a 13 percent decrease to $252,000 in
Contra Costa. Santa Clara fell 6 percent to $470,000 and San
Francisco fell 1 percent to $613,750.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Dan Levy in San Francisco at
dlevy13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kara Wetzel at
kwetzel@bloomberg.net

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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-14/san-francisco-bay-area-home-sales-below-average-as-buyers-wait.html