US Home Builders Begin to See Credit Thaw

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:55:54 +0000

The U.S. home building industry is finally coming off its lowest volumes ever, albeit in fits and slow starts.

New single family home starts fell 6.5 percent in July from the previous month but are still up 17 percent from a year ago. Building permits, considered a more dependable future indicator, rose 4.5 percent month-to-month and are up 23 percent from a year ago. (Related: Housing Starts Drop, Permits Jump; Jobless Claims Rise.)

Much of the demand is coming from potential buyers who have been shut out of the lower-priced, distressed market by avid, all-cash investors. The big public builders, almost across the board, reported huge jumps in new orders in the first half of this year. Smaller builders are still hampered by lack of credit to build and therefore meet the demand. Construction loans nearly ground to a halt after the latest housing crash.

Just last month PNC Bank
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] announced it was getting out of the construction loan business for home builders entirely. PNC had acquired the business when it bought Raleigh’s RBC bank, which was apparently already winding down the unit.

“Builders do still rank this as one of the confounding issues that limits their ability to respond to the budding demand,” said National Association of Home Builders chief economist David Crowe. “It is especially important for builders to be able to build enough spec homes to respond to immediate demand, since trade-up buyers in particular are waiting until their home is sold before signing a contract, and then they need a home very soon.”

That may be about to change. This week Wells Fargo
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] announced it is forming a homebuilder banking group to serve clients on the east coast, Texas and the Midwest. The team will offer “a comprehensive suite of financial solutions,” according to a release, including project and corporate financing facilities, and a referral network to treasury management, insurance, mortgage and capital markets products. (Related: Homebuilders Most Confident in More Than 5 Years.)

“It’s not as if we were all in then, all out now, all in again,” said Wells Fargo’s head of Homebuilder Banking, Bird Anderson, in an interview.

“It is more of a sense of the opportunities within an improving market that we can be more entrepreneurial in looking for new business opportunities,” Bird added, citing increased demand in the homebuilding sector in many markets.

Texas homebuilder Bruno Pasquinelli of CB Jeni Homes is still relying on private capital, hoping to deliver 400 homes per year, but he says he is beginning to see a credit thaw.

“My understanding is that several banks in our market wanted to get more volume out the door,” Pasquinelli said. “Simple economics — they need to take market share or they will only grow at the rate that housing is growing.”

The view, however, is not so bright further east in Columbia, South Carolina, where homebuilder Wade McGuinn says financing is still scarce. (Related: Home Price Bottom or Bubble?)

“The biggest issue in recovering markets is that lot inventory has equalized, and the banks, because of the Feds, won’t lend money for land development. This will make all recovering markets ripe for the picking by publicly held companies who are not in need of bank financing,” McGuinn said. “This ultimately could be the death nail in the coffin of the small and family builders, who although they have money and credit, won’t be able to compete.”

Like the rest of the nation’s housing market, improvement will come slowly and locally, with some areas seeing improved demand and improved access to credit, while others will be slower to rise from the ashes.

“It feels like there’s a little bit more credit supply out there, but not a lot of credit supply out there,” Wells Fargo’s Bird admitted.

For now, that will have to be enough.

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick
—CNBC Realty Check producer Stephanie Dhue contributed to this report.

Questions? Comments? And follow me on Twitter @Diana_Olick

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48690097?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS

Glen Park News Debuts Zephyr Agent Bill Berry as New Real Estate Columnist

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 03:41:36 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire – Apr 28, 2011) – Glen Park News, a quarterly publication distributed in the Glen Park neighborhood, has added a new real estate column to its regular format. Bill Berry, a real estate agent with Zephyr Real Estate in San Francisco will write the column, sharing his expertise and insights on the real estate market in San Francisco.

Berry has been in the real estate profession for more than 12 years. He also has an award-winning background in graphic design. He is an active volunteer and fundraiser for his daughter’s school and several other Bay Area non-profit organizations, including Project Inform, an advocacy agency representing people who are HIV-positive.

Berry’s first column debuted in the Spring Edition of the Glen Park News, which is out now. The article charts homes recently bought and sold in the neighborhood, listing vs. selling prices and how long the properties were on the market. He shares his perception of the market, comparing the energy of the economy to last month, last quarter and last year. Advice is offered on how and when to put a home on the market, how to set expectations, how to prepare the property and an overview of interest rates, tax cuts and other factors to be considered. Even more interesting are the market trends and economic forecasts he offers.

Glen Park is in the central portion of San Francisco, just south of Noe Valley. Known as “The Village” among locals, the neighborhood has a small-town feel with an active neighborhood association (http://www.glenparkassociation.org/) as evidenced by the quarterly newspaper.

“We are proud of Bill and his contribution to the community in his professional capacity and in his volunteerism,” Randall Kostick, Chief Operating Officer of Zephyr, commented. “His contribution to the News will be an invaluable tool for buyers and sellers alike,” he added.

Berry is a member of the San Francisco, California and National Associations of REALTORS®. He can be reached at: billberry@zephyrsf.com or 415-378-7300.

About Zephyr Real Estate
Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco’s largest independent real estate firm with $1 billion in annual gross sales in 2010 and a current roster of more than 200 full-time agents. In 2010, Zephyr launched its new website, which has earned two web design awards, including the prestigious Interactive Media Award. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the luxury real estate network, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate; and the local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco. Zephyr has six strategically located offices in San Francisco, a business center in Marin County, and serves a large customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.zephyrsf.com.

Article source: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/glen-park-news-debuts-zephyr-agent-bill-berry-as-new-real-estate-columnist-1507742.htm

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US Home Builders Begin to See Credit Thaw

Glen Park News Debuts Zephyr Agent Bill Berry as New Real Estate Columnist