Confidence, or lack thereof, is also still keeping some sellers sidelined.

“There always is a tendency to time the market, which we know is becoming a little bit harder to do,” said Budge Huskey, CEO of Coldwell Banker in an interview on CNBC. “It’s an assessment of their overall impressions of the economy. I think there’s still a little hesitation. People want to see stronger economic growth, people want to see more progress made toward unemployment rates and just feel better about moving on.”

Lack of inventory means it is a seller’s market, despite so much hesitance by potential sellers themselves. That will keep home prices strong, unless and until more people decide to list their homes and home builders ramp up production, which they have been so far slow to do.

(Read more: $1 million summer homes)

It begs the question, what is housing worth today, market-to-market? A million dollars may buy a McMansion in Oklahoma, but barely buy a bedroom in Manhattan.

In an effort to gauge differing values, CNBC is trawling the million-dollar market again, this time in a “back-to-school” edition.

Starting on “Squawk Box” this Friday, two reporters will show two homes without disclosing their locations; they will document the interiors, exteriors, marketed features and one unique bonus offered by each home.

Real estate maven Dolly Lenz will decide which house gives buyers a better bang for the buck.

We will then reveal where the two houses are located, and with that added to the mix, Lenz will choose a winner. That house will then go up against the next mystery location on the next show.

(Follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #MillionDollarHome and see the early winners here as well).

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick. Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick.

Questions?Comments? facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101009330

Bank repossessions, the final stage of the foreclosure process, fell 9 percent month-to-month and were down 35 percent from a year ago. Still the numbers are on pace for nearly a half a million properties to be repossessed in 2013. That’s an improvement, but still well above normal levels.

(Read More: Dire Predictions For Housing Recovery)

The picture is also mixed geographically – Arkansas (up 143 percent), Oklahoma (up 103 percent), Maryland (up 74 percent), Washington (up 71 percent), New Jersey (up 33 percent), and New York (up 21 percent) –as states that require a judge in the foreclosure process as well as those with new laws protecting borrowers, are seeing a spike in repossessions.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100877414

Bank repossessions, the final stage of the foreclosure process, fell 9 percent month-to-month and were down 35 percent from a year ago. Still the numbers are on pace for nearly a half a million properties to be repossessed in 2013. That’s an improvement, but still well above normal levels.

(Read More: Dire Predictions For Housing Recovery)

The picture is also mixed geographically – Arkansas (up 143 percent), Oklahoma (up 103 percent), Maryland (up 74 percent), Washington (up 71 percent), New Jersey (up 33 percent), and New York (up 21 percent) –as states that require a judge in the foreclosure process as well as those with new laws protecting borrowers, are seeing a spike in repossessions.

“The increases in judicial foreclosure auctions demonstrate that these delayed foreclosure cases are now being moved more quickly through to foreclosure completion,” notes RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist in the report.

(Read More: Map: Tracking the US Real Estate Recovery)

“Given the rising home prices in most of these markets, it is an opportune time for lenders to dispose of these distressed properties, either at the foreclosure auction to a third-party buyer, or by repossessing the property at the auction and subsequently selling it as a bank-owned home.”

Judicial foreclosure auctions were up 34 percent from June of 2012, as Realtors report “brisk” sales of these distressed properties. Investors and regular buyers have been competing for a decreasing supply of properties. Nationwide, inventories of all homes are down dramatically, as a large number of underwater borrowers and borrowers with very little home equity are still unable to sell.

(Read More: Apartments Reap Rewards of Rising Rates)

Florida, Nevada, Illinois, Ohio and Georgia posted the top five state foreclosure rates for the first half of the year, according to RealtyTrac.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100877414

Fewer Bay Area homeowners listed homes for sale in June than last the same month last year. 

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

Email
 | Twitter
 | Google+
 | LinkedIn

Housing inventory was down by more than 30 percent during the past year in the Bay Area, according to real estate website Zillow.

When comparing June of 2013 to June of 2012 in its database of listings, Zillow found there were fewer homes on the market in the San Francisco metro area, but nationwide, the number rose by 5.3 percent.

Zillow listed 4,528 total homes for sale in June of this year, down from 6,496 last year, in the San Francisco metropolitan area including San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties.

In our market, having fewer homes for sale has pumped up prices and sparked bidding wars.

“Inventory will likely remain below year-ago levels for a while yet, as builders ramp up capacity and sellers wait to squeeze every drop of equity from their home before listing,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist.

Experts expect that with prices climbing up, more homeowners will list their properties for sale and prices will stabilize.

“Going forward, as this new supply makes its way to market, we expect the pace of home value appreciation to slow down from unsustainably high annual levels of 5 percent or above to more moderate levels closer to historic norms of 3 percent or 4 percent,” Humphries said.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/06/bay-area-housing-inventory-drops-by-30.html

(Read More: Short Supply Has Home Sales ‘Squeaking’ Out Gains)

While Humphries does not make the connection to rising bank repossessions in the report, his numbers do. They show inventory easing much more on the low end of the market, where distressed homes tend to be.

“The greatest year-over-year decreases in inventory were among more expensive homes, with the availability of top-tier and middle-tier properties each falling 15.7 percent year over year. The number of bottom-tier properties for sale on Zillow nationwide fell only 2.5 percent in early June compared to June 2012.”

As more bank-owned homes hit the market, inventories are likely to turn positive again in the near future.

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick. Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC.

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100812845

Inventories are tightest on the low end of the market, where investors came in and bought most of the distressed properties and are now holding them as single-family rentals. There is about a four-month supply of homes priced under $100,000, while there is around a twelve-month supply of homes priced over $500,000. That’s why sales of those low-end homes are down 16 percent from a year ago, and sales of higher-end homes are up 25 percent, according to the Realtors.

(Read More: Housing’s Big Challenge: Student Debt)

“The housing shortage is going to continue,” claimed Yun, who says the builders need to ramp up housing starts by 50 percent. He admits that is unlikely to happen due to land, labor and supply constraints.

Weak supplies are pushing home prices up far faster than wage growth, which is keeping first-time buyers especially on the sidelines. These buyers made up just 30 percent of the market in March, compared to the historical norm of 40-45 percent. They just can’t compete with all cash investors.

(Read More: Why Housing Affordability Is at Risk)

But if prices get too high, investors could leave the market. Their share was already down in March to 19 percent compared to 22 percent just one month ago. The danger is that they will start to unload the homes they own, which would bring much-needed supply back but which could also turn home prices in the other direction.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100660999

(Read More: When Banks Walk Away, Homeowners Don’t Always Win)

There are, however, still looming headwinds to home prices, as banks ramp up foreclosures especially in states that require these cases to go before a judge. That new inventory could slow price gains in those states. Inventory, or lack thereof, is the primary driver of much of these gains. There were just 2.03 million homes for sale in November, according to the National Association of Realtors, a 23 percent drop from November of 2011 and the lowest supply since September of 2005.

Some are concerned that low inventory and not increased demand is juicing prices faster than is healthy for the housing recovery. If prices start to outpace earnings and employment growth, and then more properties hit the market this Spring, these gains could take a U-turn.

(Read More: One Overlooked Fact About the Housing Recovery)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100380754

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48124623?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/46577054?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS