Expiring tax credits boost new home sales; mortgage rates, falling prices help

By Renae Merle
Thursday, May 27, 2010

New home sales surged last month as home buyers rushed to take advantage of tax credits that have helped lift the housing market, according to government data released Wednesday.
Sales of new single-family homes rose 14.8 percent in April, compared with March, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000, according to Commerce Department data. Sales were up 47.8 percent, compared to the same period a year ago. That was a much bigger jump than financial analysts had expected, bringing the sales rate to its highest level in about two years...

Top Updates week of May 17th, 2010

Senate passes financial regulation bill
By Brady Dennis
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Senate approved far-reaching new financial rules on Thursday aimed at preventing the risky behavior and regulatory failures that brought the economy to the brink of collapse two years ago and cost millions of Americans their jobs and savings.

Fairfax approves $2.2B school budget that cuts jobs, adds fees
By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 21, 2010; 2:10 AM
The Fairfax County School Board approved a $2.2 billion budget Thursday night that cuts 200 positions, introduces fees for sports and Advanced Placement tests, and phases out some longstanding programs that have supported the county's poorest schools.

Stocks plunge to their lowest level in a year on bad economic news
By Dina ElBoghdady and Tomoeh Murakami Tse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 21, 2010; 3:20 AM
U.S. stocks suffered their worst one-day losses in more than a year on Thursday as unfavorable news about unemployment and the prospects of economic growth in this country piled onto deepening angst about the debt crisis in Europe.

N.Va. Home Sales Spurt Upward in April

by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer
(Created: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 10:14 AM EDT)

A combination of higher sales and increasing prices sent the Northern Virginia real estate market up 30.5 percent in total volume in April, compared to a year before.

The $817 million in sales volume for the inner suburbs was up from $626.1 million a year before, according to figures reported May 10 by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the area’s multiple-listing service.

The figures represent transactions in Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church.

Sales likely were strengthened by the federal home-buyer tax credit, which expired at the end of the month. The increasing sales also may have played a role in propping up prices.

All told, there were 1,793 closed sales during the month, up 16.1 percent from the 1,544 transactions recorded in April 2009.

And average sales prices jumped even higher, up 12.4 percent to $455,686. Average prices were up in all segments of the market:

* The average sales price of single-family homes was $621,683, up 18.2 percent.

* The average sales price of attached homes, such as townhouses, was up 12.3 percent, to $390,849.

* The average sales price of condominiums was up 2.4 percent, to $277,151.

The median sales price also rose, up 9.3 percent to $390,000. The median is the point at which half of homes sell for more, half for less, and is seen by some as a more accurate gauge of the direction of the market.

Of all homes that sold during the month, it took a brisk 45 days to go from original listing to ratified sales contract. That’s down from 85 days a year ago, and compares favorably to the long-term regional average of 90 days.

Nearly 70 percent of homes that sold during April spent less than a month on the market, a figure not seen since the tail end of the 2000-05 boom market. Less than 11 percent took longer than four months to find a purchaser.

Loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) continued to be used by many buyers. FHA-backed loans represented nearly 30 percent of the financing across the region during the month. During the boom market, FHA loans were almost never used in Northern Virginia transactions.

Of all homes that sold, the average sales price represented 96.2 percent of original listing price, up from 92.3 percent a year before.

At the end of the month, there were 8,327 properties on the market across the region. Just over 4,000 properties came onto the market during April.

Figures represent most, but not all, homes sold during the period. All sales figures are preliminary, and are subject to revision.

Top Updates week of May 3rd, 2010

House Financial Services Committee Approves Plan for FHA
by Karen Lawson
May 6th, 2010
Shrinking FHA capital reserves were recently addressed by the House Financial Services Committee; Representatives were faced with balancing the FHA’s significant role in providing mortgage loans for first time and moderate income homebuyers with the need to increase the agency’s reserves to legally mandated levels. FHA reserves have fallen to approximately .53% of the value of FHA insured mortgage loans, well below the legally mandated level of 2%.
By Les Christie, staff writer
May 4, 2010: 10:21 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage giant, announced Friday that it would tighten lending requirements for the interest-only loans and adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) it backs.
To get a Fannie Mae-backed interest-only mortgage, for example, homebuyers will have to make down payments of 30% of the sale price.

The (sickly) return of housing
By Shawn Tully, senior editor-at-large
April 26, 2010: 1:46 PM ET
(Fortune) -- For the most accurate, up-to-date view of where America's housing market stands today, the best source is Mike Castleman. This tall, lean Texan rancher who fits the Hollywood image of a retired bronco buster is the founder of Metrostudy, a firm that dispatches researchers to inspect 4.5 million building lots every ninety days in the busiest cities for homebuilding, from Washington, D.C., to Chicago to Phoenix to Sacramento.

Foreclosure map: See the worst hit metro areas
April 29, 2010: 12:07 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Foreclosure filings declined in more than half of the country's top 20 worst-hit cities, most of which are concentrated in the Sunbelt "bubble" states of California, Arizona, Florida and Nevada. But those improvements bucked the market's general trend: Nationwide, foreclosures rose 16% during the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.

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Foreclosure is hitting well-off families, too
Posted by Lisa Gibbs
May 4, 2010 9:57 am
Who is falling into foreclosure? The Florida Association of Realtors wanted to find out, so it commissioned an analysis that cross-referenced three years of foreclosure filings with demographic data. The study focused only on primary residences; the idea was to ignore investors and speculators, looking instead at people who'd bought homes to live in themselves.

The best outdoor jobs to tackle now
By Josh Garskof, Money Magazine contributing writer
May 3, 2010: 4:41 AM ET
(Money Magazine) -- You probably know that boosting your home's curb appeal is one of the most important ways to maximize its value. But that doesn't mean you need to take on a pricey job like replacing the windows or installing a blue-stone walk. In fact, you'll probably get a bigger bang for your buck with upkeep that costs a few hundred dollars at most -- like touching up the paint, mulching planting beds, and staining fences and decks. "A lot of buyers expect to invest in big projects to customize the house, but no one wants to deal with deferred maintenance," says Rick Wohlfarth, a realtor in Cundy's Harbor, Maine.

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