Buying ain’t easy. First prices soar, then they slow down, but rising interest rates make up the difference.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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The rapid rise of home prices may be slowing, but too bad interest rates are now creeping up.

In the Bay Area, home prices are still growing, but not as fast, according to Trulia, the San Francisco-based online real estate marketplace.

The firm found that while home prices jumped 17.2 percent in the month of July compared with July 2012, price growth slowed down during the last six months. From January to March, prices rose by 6.5 percent and from April to June, they went up 3 percent.

“The biggest price slowdowns have come to some of the hottest local markets,” said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist. “California and Nevada remain the Wild West for asking home prices, with some of the sharpest drops during the bust, strongest rebounds over the past year, and now biggest slowdowns in the past quarter.”

Nationwide, asking home prices dropped slightly— 0.3 percent — in July compared with the previous month. It’s the first time since November 2012 that prices didn’t go up.

They are still up 11 percent for the month of July compared with the same month last year.

One major factor deflating home prices is rising interest rates during the past six months.

In the past couple of years, historically low interest rates boosted sales and skyrocketing price growth, but higher rates are now dampening the mood.

“Asking home prices are now starting to lose steam as mortgage rates rise, inventory expands and investor demand declines,” said Trulia in a recent market report.

A year ago, a buyer could afford to pay a higher asking price because interest rates were low. Now, buyers may end up paying the same per month, but more of their payment will go toward interest versus the principal value on the loan.

So even if prices level off or go down in the months to come, buying a home in the Bay Area will still be just as costly if not more.

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

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/08/bay-area-home-price-growth-leveling-off.html

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 25, 2012

Blocksy.com, formerly known as Blockhawk.com, a growing New York-area website designed to make it easier and more intuitive for consumers to find homes and apartment rentals in New York’s five boroughs, announces today its official name change and the unveiling of a refined website design at http://www.blocksy.com.

Jason White, one of Blocksy’s Co-Founder explains, “We’re thrilled to announce our new website brand name, Blocksy, because among other things, it’s shorter, easier to pronounce, and more memorable than our previous brand.” White continues that “the Blocksy brand is now much more aligned with our team’s vision of creating the simplest, cleanest, and most consumer-friendly real estate site and brand online.”

In the coming weeks, the company plans to make additional announcements about product and feature extensions, as well as various industry partnerships which it expects will underscore the strength of its brand and the growing traction of Blocksy in the online real estate marketplace.

Launched in late 2011 by White, a serial entrepreneur, along with a handful of entrepreneurs in the technology and real estate industries, Blocksy has grown rapidly into a significant source for New York area real estate information.

In addition to its fresh user interface which is intended to make searching for real estate simpler and less cluttered than other real estate sites, Blocksy imports real estate information and home sale and apartment rental listings multiple times each day. All of which is intended to create the freshest and most up to date informational resource for New York real estate.

The site also offers reports, currently in beta mode, letting consumers and real estate professionals see, in an easy snapshot, information about home sales and apartment rentals in New York City. Reports are also available for each of the five boroughs and hundreds of neighborhoods in NYC.

About Blocksy

Blocksy is a new site that provides the highest quality, cleanest, and fastest method of searching for real estate in the New York area. The site combines listings of townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, rental apartments, and more. Blocksy listings are updated hourly and constitute the most comprehensive and up to date information for New York home buyers and apartment renters online.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/6/prweb9630069.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Growing-Real-Estate-Website-Blocksy-com-Announces-3660635.php

Zillow on Thursday released new data on the potential impact of Facebook Inc.’s 
 

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IPO on real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Zillow is a home and real estate marketplace that aims to empower consumers with information and tools to make decisions about homes, real estate and mortgages.

The company suggests that for cities near the social networking company’s Menlo Park headquarters, median home values are more than $2 million. In nearby places such as San Jose or Francisco, buyers can pay a quarter of the amount for the same home.

During the three months between Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) IPO filing and its IPO debut, Zillow noted an upward trend of $1 million plus homes for sale — the number of $1 million listings in Menlo Park increased 87 percent during this time period.

Zillow also analyzed what a $1 million, 1,580-square-foot home in Menlo Park would buy elsewhere around the country.

Click here to see Zillow’s graphic representing the data.

Written by Lisa Sibley. She can be reached at 408.299.1830 or lsibley@bizjournals.com.

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Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2012/06/07/zillow-weighs-on-facebook-effect-on.html