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U.S. home prices jumped 10.9 percent in March compared with a year ago, the most since April 2006.

A growing number of buyers are bidding on a tight supply of homes, driving prices higher and helping the housing market recover. The Standard Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday also showed that all 20 cities measured by the report posted year-over-year gains for the third straight month. And prices rose in 15 cities in March from February. That’s up from only 11 in the previous month.

The monthly figures aren’t seasonally adjusted and may reflect the beginning of the spring buying season.

Prices rose in Phoenix by 22.5 percent over the past 12 months, the biggest gain among cities. It was followed by San Francisco (22.2 percent) and Las Vegas (20.6 percent). New York City had the smallest year-over-year increase at 2.6 percent, followed by Cleveland at 4.8 percent.

“Rising home prices may begin to alleviate a lack of housing inventory … by encouraging more homeowners to put their properties on the market,” said Maninder Sibia, an economist with Economic Advisory Service, in a note to clients.

“The housing market is clearly improving.” The index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The March figures are the latest available.

The U.S. housing market is steadily recovering, buoyed by solid job gains and near-record low mortgage rates.

Sales of new homes rose in April to nearly a five-year high. And sales of previously occupied homes ticked up in April to the highest level in three and a half years. Despite the gains, a limited number of homeowners are putting their houses on the market. That’s helped lift home prices. And it’s made builders more willing to ramp up construction. Applications for building permits rose in April to the highest level in nearly five years.

The supply of available homes jumped in April, but was still 14 percent below its level a year earlier. Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow, a real estate data provider, said that the increase in the Case-Shiller index has been skewed higher by cities such as Phoenix and San Francisco.

Fewer homes are available in those areas because many homeowners still owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

That makes it difficult to sell. Still, even excluding those markets, home prices are rising steadily nationwide, Humphries said. The increases are “certainly confirmation that the housing market is experiencing a brisk recovery,” he added.

The housing recovery is creating more construction jobs and bolstering the economy in other ways. Higher home prices make homeowners feel wealthier and encourages them to spend more.

Rising prices also encourage more would-be buyers to purchase homes, before prices rise further.

They also enable more homeowners to sell homes, by reducing the number of people who owe more on their mortgages than the homes are worth. Prices have been increasing steadily since last summer.

Still, they are about 29 percent below the peak reached in July 2006. Banks have raised their credit standards since the housing bubble burst and are demanding larger down payments. That’s made it particularly hard for potential first-time buyers to get a mortgage.

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Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bay-Area-Housing-Prices-Take-Big-Jump-209268641.html

The median home price in Marin also rose to $650,000 last month, a 21.4 percent increase over February 2012 and a $10,000 jump from the median sale price in the county in January.

Marin fell in line with regional and statewide real estate trends last month, which saw fewer homes sales than in February 2012, according to figures provided by DataQuick, a San Diego-based analysis service.

Sales are generally flat from January to February, according to DataQuick’s analysts.

Marin saw a slight decline in the number of homes sold between February 2013 (201 homes) and February 2012 (203 homes). But more homes were sold in Marin County in February than in January of this year, when 181 houses traded hands.

The median price of a home sold in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area skyrocketed nearly 25 percent when comparing February 2013 to February 2012, the data showed. The median has had a double-digit year-over-year increase the last nine months, and the past four months have seen gains above 20 percent.

Other interesting real estate market facts this month? DataQuick supplied these:

• The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,460. That was down from $1,479 in January, and up from $1,243 a year ago.
• The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 15.0 percent of the market, Stearns Lending with 4.0 percent, and RPM Mortgage with 3.7 percent.
• Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 13.6 percent in the Bay Area in February. That’s the lowest since November 2007.

“…[W]ith a recovering economy, prices still closer to the bottom than to the top, with ultra-low mortgage interest rates and tight supply, the stage is set for price gains,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president. “This spring is going to be interesting.”

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Article source: http://larkspurcortemadera.patch.com/articles/marin-home-prices-rose-more-than-20-percent-in-february-323dc8ba

A total of 5,404 houses and condominiums were sold, down 1.8 percent from January and more than 6 percent from February of 2012, DataQuick said.

The median sales price for a home in the nine-county area was $405,000. That was down 2.4 percent from January but still nearly 25 percent higher than a year ago.

Although prices remain well below the peak of several years ago, they have soared by double digits each month for the past nine months when compared with the same months a year earlier. The gains have topped 20 percent in the past four months in year-over-year comparisons, DataQuick said.

“Isn’t this Economics 101? Supply and demand?” DataQuick President John Walsh asked in a statement. “If demand outstrips supply in a free market, the price goes up.”

“Now, with a recovering economy, prices still closer to the bottom than to the top, with ultra-low mortgage interest rates and tight supply, the stage is set for price gains. This spring is going to be interesting,” Walsh said.

There were continuing indications that California’s housing market is recovering from its five-year slump.

“Foreclosure activity is well below peak levels reached in the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, and down payment sizes are stable,” DataQuick said in a statement.

Sales in February shifted from low-cost, distressed homes to mid-market and higher properties, with the number of homes selling for $500,000 or more jumping by 27.7 percent, DataQuick reported.

Foreclosures and short sales, those in which the price was less than the amount owed on the property, both were down over January and there were a lot fewer of them compared with February a year ago.

Investors, as compared with first-time homebuyers, accounted for a sizeable chunk of the sales. Absentee buyers, who mostly are investors, bought 28.2 percent of all Bay area homes.

That was an all-time high based on DataQuick figures going back to 2000, the company said.

In Southern California, homes sales continued strong, with 15,945 sold – the most for a February in the past six years.

The median sales price in Los Angeles and five other counties was $320,000, DataQuick reported Wednesday.

Article source: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/mar/14/sf-bay-area-february-home-sales-dip/

A total of 5,404 houses and condominiums were sold, down 1.8 percent from January and more than 6 percent from February of 2012, DataQuick said.

The median sales price for a home in the nine-county area was $405,000. That was down 2.4 percent from January but still nearly 25 percent higher than a year ago.

Although prices remain well below the peak of several years ago, they have soared by double digits each month for the past nine months when compared with the same months a year earlier. The gains have topped 20 percent in the past four months in year-over-year comparisons, DataQuick said.

“Isn’t this Economics 101? Supply and demand?” DataQuick President John Walsh asked in a statement. “If demand outstrips supply in a free market, the price goes up.”

“Now, with a recovering economy, prices still closer to the bottom than to the top, with ultra-low mortgage interest rates and tight supply, the stage is set for price gains. This spring is going to be interesting,” Walsh said.

There were continuing indications that California’s housing market is recovering from its five-year slump.

“Foreclosure activity is well below peak levels reached in the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, and down payment sizes are stable,” DataQuick said in a statement.

Sales in February shifted from low-cost, distressed homes to mid-market and higher properties, with the number of homes selling for $500,000 or more jumping by 27.7 percent, DataQuick reported.

Foreclosures and short sales, those in which the price was less than the amount owed on the property, both were down over January and there were a lot fewer of them compared with February a year ago.

Investors, as compared with first-time homebuyers, accounted for a sizeable chunk of the sales. Absentee buyers, who mostly are investors, bought 28.2 percent of all Bay area homes.

That was an all-time high based on DataQuick figures going back to 2000, the company said.

In Southern California, homes sales continued strong, with 15,945 sold – the most for a February in the past six years.

The median sales price in Los Angeles and five other counties was $320,000, DataQuick reported Wednesday.

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Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/14/5262908/sf-bay-area-february-home-sales.html

La Jolla, CA. – January 16, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — The pace at which the Bay Area housing market is making up for lost ground quickened at the end of 2012 as sales increased year-over-year for the 18th month in a row and the median price rose at its fastest rate in more than 25 years. The market remained constrained by a tight supply of homes for sale and a fussy home loan environment, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area was $442,750 in December. That was up 1.1 percent from $438,000 in November and up 32.0 percent from $335,500 in December a year ago. Last month’s median was the highest since August 2008 when it was $447,000, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The 32.0 percent year-over-year increase in the median is the highest in DataQuick’s statistics, which go back to 1988. At least half that increase is due to a change in market mix, with sales shifting away from low-cost distress homes toward more mid-market and move-up homes.

The median reached a high of $665,000 in June/July 2007 and then fell to a low of $290,000 in March 2009. On a year-over-year basis it dropped more than 30 percent each month from August 2008 through May 2009. At the median’s current rate of increase, sometime this spring it will have recovered about half of its loss since its summer 2007 peak.

“Prices are in the midst of bouncing off bottom right now, and nobody really knows what the trajectory of this bounce will be beyond this point. So far, supply has been a bottleneck, but as prices go up, more homes will be put up for sale,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“Another bottleneck these days is that mortgage lenders are swamped. Not only by home buyers, but by homeowners who want to refinance. Rising home prices also mean higher appraisals, and tens of thousands of homeowners who couldn’t refinance half a year ago, now can,” Walsh said.

The number of new and resale houses and condos sold last month in the Bay Area was 7,832. That was up 7.3 percent from 7,296 in November, and up 4.5 percent from 7,494 for December 2011.

While last month’s sales count was the highest for any December since 8,372 were sold in 2006, it was still 9.0 percent below the 8,611 average for all Decembers since 1988. December sales have ranged from 5,065 in 2007 to 12,349 in 2003.

The number of homes sold for less than $500,000 decreased 12.6 percent year-over-year, while the number that sold for more than $500,000 shot up 61.2 percent, DataQuick reported.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up 34.2 percent of the resale market. That was down from 35.5 percent in November and down from 52.4 percent a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 11.8 percent of resales in December, down from a revised 12.5 percent in November, and down from 27.8 percent a year ago. Last month was the lowest since 10.1 percent in November 2007. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 22.4 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 23.0 percent in November and down from 24.6 percent a year earlier.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 40.2 percent of last month’s purchase lending, down from a revised 40.3 percent in November, and up from 26.5 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped to 17.1 percent in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), an important indicator of mortgage availability, accounted for 11.1 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans. That was down from a revised 12.0 percent in November, and down from 11.6 percent in December last year. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 48.7 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 18.9 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in December, up from 17.0 percent in November and down from 22.9 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA level has the been the lowest since summer 2008, reflecting both tougher qualifying standards and the difficulties first-time buyers have competing with investors and other cash buyers.

The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 15.5 percent of the market, RPM Mortgage with 4.2 percent and Stearns Lending with 3.4 percent.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 25.8 percent of all Bay Area homes, an all-time high (absentee statistics go back to January 1999). Last month’s absentee level was up from 24.9 percent in November, and up from 23.8 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $315,000 in December, up 34.0 percent from $235,000 a year earlier.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 29.3 percent of sales in December. That was unchanged from November, and up from 27.3 percent a year ago. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.5 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $312,500 in December, up 36.2 percent from $229,500 a year earlier.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,561. That was up from $1,544 in November, and up from $1,336 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 44.9 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 59.3 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but well below peak levels reached three years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

(chart)

All Homes           #Sold     #Sold     Pct.     $Median      Median      Pct.

Dec-11    Dec-12     Chng      Dec-11      Dec-12      Chng

Alameda             1,584     1,623     2.5%    $328,000    $410,000     25.0%

Contra Costa        1,534     1,530    -0.3%    $259,000    $333,500     28.8%

Marin                 280       291     3.9%    $517,818    $660,750     27.6%

Napa                  132       129    -2.3%    $317,500    $350,000     10.2%

Santa Clara         1,611     1,822    13.1%    $440,000    $544,500     23.8%

San Francisco         499       646    29.5%    $594,500    $720,000     21.1%

San Mateo             602       626     4.0%    $500,000    $600,000     20.0%

Solano                714       610   -14.6%    $182,250    $218,000     19.6%

Sonoma                538       555     3.2%    $279,500    $345,000     23.4%

Bay Area            7,494     7,832     4.5%    $335,500    $442,750     32.0%

Source: DataQuick, DQNews.com

edia calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157

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Article source: http://www.realestaterama.com/2013/01/16/rate-of-recovery-for-bay-area-real-estate-speeds-up-ID018152.html