California leading US out of housing bust

KHB

California, the state that led the US into the housing “Boom and Bust” with some of the most reckless subprime mortgage lending, is now leading the way out.
A fall in new defaults in California helped push US foreclosure filings to the lowest level in almost 5 yrs, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of home-loan data.

Across the country, 531,576 properties received notices of default, auction or repossession in Q-3, down 13% from a year earlier and the lowest since Y 2007, 1 in every 248 households got a filing, RealyTrac said today.

California, the home of subprime mortgage lending, saw a burst of foreclosures thanks to such industry innovations as “no-doc” loans that required no proof of income.

The state’s recovery is mirrored by US home values that rose 1.2% in July from a year earlier, according to the SP/Case Shiller index of property prices in 20 major cities. It was the 2nd straight 12-month advance and the biggest jump for the real estate gauge since August 2010.
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The gains are moving in tandem with foreclosure declines as lenders control the flow of bank-owned homes that come to market, crimping inventory and pushing up prices, said Daren Blomquist of Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac.

Initial filings in September fell in 31 states, led by California which dropped to a 69-month low. Defaults dropped 45% from a year earlier, 34% in Arizona, 22% in Michigan and 21% in Georgia, RealtyTrac said.
Home sales in California’s biggest population centers rose in August to the highest level since Y 2006, according to real estate research firm DataQuick.

Median house and condominium prices in 6 Southern California counties rose 11% from a year earlier to $309,000, while values in 9 counties in the San Francisco Bay Area gained 11% to $410,000, the San Diego-based company said.

“Much of the pickup reflects a continuation of trends we have seen for months, like the unleashing of pent-up demand in move-up markets and high levels of cash and investor buying,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in a 13 September statement about the Southern California sales surge.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) is seeing “dramatic improvement” in California, where strength in the coastal markets, including the Bay Area and Orange County, is spreading inland, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Mezger said on a conference call with analysts last month. The West Coast is KB Home’s largest market.

“It’s simply a different market than it was 6 months ago in the Inland areas as inventories have declined significantly and prices are now rising,” Mr. Mezger said.

The Los Angeles-based homebuilder’s shares fell 1.4% today trimming its gain this year to 118%. That compares with the 75% advance for the 11-member Standard Poor’s 1500 Homebuilding index.

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Knightsbridge Law is a boutique law firm in Thailand. The lawyers of our firm have provided legal advice on a variety of areas of the legal practice, including:

Investment Grade Real Estate;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Establishing Business in Asia;
Corporate and Commercial consultancy;
Asset Management;
Banking, Finance and Securities;
Listing Companies in Asia;
Global Metals and Mining

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Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. writes and publishes The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a weekly, highly-regarded financial market letter, read by opinion makers, business leaders and organizations around the world.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr has studied the global financial and stock markets since 1984, following a successful business career that included investment banking, and market and business analysis. He is a specialist in equities/commodities, and an accomplished chart reader who advises technicians with regard to Major Indices Resistance/Support Levels.

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Article source: http://www.livetradingnews.com/us-real-estate-news-california-89457.htm

California leading US out of housing bust

KHB

California, the state that led the US into the housing “Boom and Bust” with some of the most reckless subprime mortgage lending, is now leading the way out.
A fall in new defaults in California helped push US foreclosure filings to the lowest level in almost 5 yrs, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of home-loan data.

Across the country, 531,576 properties received notices of default, auction or repossession in Q-3, down 13% from a year earlier and the lowest since Y 2007, 1 in every 248 households got a filing, RealyTrac said today.

California, the home of subprime mortgage lending, saw a burst of foreclosures thanks to such industry innovations as “no-doc” loans that required no proof of income.

The state’s recovery is mirrored by US home values that rose 1.2% in July from a year earlier, according to the SP/Case Shiller index of property prices in 20 major cities. It was the 2nd straight 12-month advance and the biggest jump for the real estate gauge since August 2010.
.
The gains are moving in tandem with foreclosure declines as lenders control the flow of bank-owned homes that come to market, crimping inventory and pushing up prices, said Daren Blomquist of Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac.

Initial filings in September fell in 31 states, led by California which dropped to a 69-month low. Defaults dropped 45% from a year earlier, 34% in Arizona, 22% in Michigan and 21% in Georgia, RealtyTrac said.
Home sales in California’s biggest population centers rose in August to the highest level since Y 2006, according to real estate research firm DataQuick.

Median house and condominium prices in 6 Southern California counties rose 11% from a year earlier to $309,000, while values in 9 counties in the San Francisco Bay Area gained 11% to $410,000, the San Diego-based company said.

“Much of the pickup reflects a continuation of trends we have seen for months, like the unleashing of pent-up demand in move-up markets and high levels of cash and investor buying,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in a 13 September statement about the Southern California sales surge.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) is seeing “dramatic improvement” in California, where strength in the coastal markets, including the Bay Area and Orange County, is spreading inland, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Mezger said on a conference call with analysts last month. The West Coast is KB Home’s largest market.

“It’s simply a different market than it was 6 months ago in the Inland areas as inventories have declined significantly and prices are now rising,” Mr. Mezger said.

The Los Angeles-based homebuilder’s shares fell 1.4% today trimming its gain this year to 118%. That compares with the 75% advance for the 11-member Standard Poor’s 1500 Homebuilding index.

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Contact the Author

Share Us

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Knightsbridge Law is a boutique law firm in Thailand. The lawyers of our firm have provided legal advice on a variety of areas of the legal practice, including:

Investment Grade Real Estate;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Establishing Business in Asia;
Corporate and Commercial consultancy;
Asset Management;
Banking, Finance and Securities;
Listing Companies in Asia;
Global Metals and Mining

Contact the Author

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. writes and publishes The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a weekly, highly-regarded financial market letter, read by opinion makers, business leaders and organizations around the world.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr has studied the global financial and stock markets since 1984, following a successful business career that included investment banking, and market and business analysis. He is a specialist in equities/commodities, and an accomplished chart reader who advises technicians with regard to Major Indices Resistance/Support Levels.

Read the Terms of Service

Article source: http://www.livetradingnews.com/us-real-estate-news-california-89457.htm

Few have noticed, but citrus growers in Southern California and wine grape growers in the Napa Valley have established something close to an agricultural aristocracy.

Neither of them intended for that to occur, but economic circumstances, land values and population dynamics have made it happen, like it or not.

Concerted development in Southern California in the early part of the last century was largely fueled by the establishment and growth of the citrus industry. Sending sunshine wrapped in orange rinds to markets across America not only resulted in significant profit for orange growers, but brought the sunshine-seekers to the Golden State.

Some came in search of real estate, preferably with orange trees present, and that lit the fuse of what became one of the world’s most notable and longest- lasting real estate booms. Original citrus farmers retreated to their estates on the hilltops to preside over their acreage and watch the valleys below explode with people, industry and freeways.

In the Napa Valley, wise old-world wine producers quickly recognized the soil, water and climatic conditions of the area as superior for producing high-quality grape varieties and the wine that they yielded.

Some built impressive estates, with mansions overlooking their vineyards and wineries. Tourists and residents from nearby population centers such as the San Francisco Bay Area could not resist the growers’ invitations to taste their wine. The mansions and the vineyards are still growing as weekends in the valley emulate pilgrimages to corked wine bottles.

However, consumer preferences have proven more powerful than economic and societal status. Growers in both the citrus and high-value wine industries are having to take notice. Economic erosion is threatening the ground supporting their estates.

An ailing economy in the United States has forced wine consumers to express their preferences for lower-priced wines. Those originate in the warmer Central Valley, not the Napa Valley and its Sonoma and Mendocino county neighbors. Bay Area wine tasters still navigate the crowded Napa Valley highway, but overall sales have leaned to bargain bottles in the past year or two.

Article source: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20110404/BUSINESS/104040319/1057/entertainment05/Don-Curlee-Elite-farmers-relish-their-aristocratic-status?odyssey=nav%7Chead