Real Estate
Home prices: 1st drop in 11 years
Sales slow, prices hit by second biggest year-over-year drop on record; surge of homes for sale seen keeping prices weak.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home sales slowed and a key measure of prices fell for the first time in 11 years last month, spurred by the biggest glut of new homes on the market in more than a decade, an industry group said Monday.
The National Association of Realtors report on existing home sales showed that the median home price in August was $225,000, down 1.7 percent from a year earlier.
More on housing weakness
More home markets 'extremely' overvalued
Still rising prices and interest rates leave dozens of markets in dangerous territory, according to a new report. (more)
Foreclosures spiked in August
Rising payments on adjustable-rate mortgages contribute to 53% jump in foreclosures. (more)
Sharp home price pullback
Government index shows the largest quarter-to-quarter fall off in home price increases in three decades. (more)
Getting real about the housing bubble
Fortune's Shawn Tully dispels four myths about the future of home prices. (more)
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It was the first year-over-year decline in median prices since April 1995, when that measure slipped only 0.1 percent. And it was the biggest year-over-year drop since the record 2.1 percent decline recorded in November 1990, when the nation was in recession.
While month-over-month declines in prices are not uncommon, year-over-year decreases in prices are a more serious sign of a slumping housing market. Even in other recessions, home prices generally have risen year-over-year on a national basis. The median price is the point at which half the homes sell for more and half sell for less.
The decline in home prices follows a period of record sales and very strong sales gains up through the end of 2005. The average price of a home in 2004 was up 9.3 percent from the previous year, and last year the full-year price average was up 12.4 percent.
The downward pressure on prices came from the record inventory of homes on the market in August. The group said there were 3.9 million homes on the market, up 38 percent from a year earlier. That gave the market a 7.5-month supply of homes, also up sharply from the 4.7-month supply available in August 2005, and the average 4.3-month supply throughout 2004.
The last time the group estimated a 7.5 month supply was April 1993. The report also showed the pace of sales essentially leveling off, slipping to an annual pace of 6.30 million in August from a revised July reading of a 6.33 million rate. While that's down just a bit from July, the pace of sales is down 12.6 percent from a year earlier.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast that sales would slow to a 6.20 million pace in August. The group's report also showed the average price, which is typically higher than the median price, slipped 1.5 percent from a year ago to $271,000 in August.
David Lereah, the trade group's chief economist, said the relatively small drop in sales in August suggested that housing has cooled to a more sustainable pace, although he conceded the weakness in prices is likely to continue.
"We do expect an adjustment in home prices to last several months as we work through a buildup in the inventory of homes on the market," he said in the group's statement.
Mortgage rates have come down in recent weeks, with the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage now at 6.4 percent, according to mortgage financing firm Freddie Mac (Charts).
That's down from 6.79 percent in early July. The drop in rates, which reduces the cost of home ownership, won't necessarily show up in existing home sales figures for several months, though.
But some in the industry say lower mortgage rates won't be enough to revive the sales market, which hit its ninth record in 10 years in 2005. Sellers also will have to start reducing prices to get sales back on track.
"In some areas home sellers are not making sufficient adjustments in their listing price, so their homes are staying on the market and contributing to the buildup in inventory," said Thomas Stevens, a realtor in Vienna, Va., and the president of the trade group.
Existing home sales is not the only portion of the real estate market to show weakness.
New home sales and prices for new homes have fallen sharply as well, with many of the nation's leading builders, including KB Home (Charts), Lennar (Charts), Toll Brothers (Charts) and Hovnanian (Charts), lowering guidance on home sales in recent weeks, reporting lower prices and excess supply of homes on the markets.
The government report on new home sales in August is due Wednesday. While that's a fraction of the overall market, the new home sales report is closely watched as a leading indicator of the market since it's based on sales when contracts are signed, not on closings, which are often months later.
More home markets 'extremely' overvalued
Price drops seen for 10 top housing markets
Foreclosures spiked in August
More on the real estate market
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Real Estate
Builders to buyers: Take this house, please!
The once-hot housing market's about-face has created amazing incentives for buyers. What are you waiting for?
By Jean Chatzky, Money Magazine editor-at-large
How would you like a $10,000 gift certificate for Pottery Barn? A $30,000 in-ground swimming pool - installed? The chance to toss back a few drinks with rocker John Legend? These and many other fabulous prizes can be yours if...you buy a house!
That's right, Bob Barker. After years of soaring prices, in the past few months the real estate market has dropped faster than most people thought it would, even in markets where most people thought it wouldn't. Home builders, mortgage lenders and even some enterprising individual sellers have been racking their brains to come up with tantalizing incentives to get potential buyers to the closing table and to convince top brokers to work with them.
As buyer's markets go, this is shaping up to be a good one - as long as you know how to play it to your advantage.
But gimmicks like new pools and mingling with rock stars are a distraction, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com. If you're truly savvy about selecting and bidding on a home, you may be able to do better, he says. Much better.
Home inventories have gone skyward in the past year. In August (the most recent month for which data are available) there were 4 million homes on the market in the United States, a million more than at the same point in 2005. Combine that with the boost in interest rates and you have a lot of nervous sellers.
"Until now sellers didn't want to cut their prices. They were much more willing to provide an incentive - refinish the deck, seal the driveway, help with the financing, anything but cut the price," says Zandi. That's because incentives are cheaper for the seller in most cases.
Knocking 5% off a $300,000 home, for example, costs $15,000, but giving away that Pottery Barn shopping spree costs less and sounds sexier.
Right now, however, there's enough inventory that sellers are starting to do both: lower prices and provide incentives. This sharp change is not happening at all times in all markets, Zandi says, and only by knowing what kinds of freebies are being doled out can you jump on the trend and score a better deal (and maybe a new pool too). Here's what to do.
Hit the Incentive Piñata
It makes sense that people selling on their own are often quick to offer incentives instead of dropping the price. Many have trouble coming to grips with the fact that their home is worth less than they thought it would be, so they resist cutting the price until absolutely necessary.
List: See forecasted declines for largest U.S. markets
Instead they offer to pay your closing costs or to leave the Sub-Zero behind. Let your eyes - and the inspector you hire to check the place out - guide your requests. If the house needs painting, new windows or a fresh buffer of trees, now's the time to ask. And ask for a price cut to boot. Builders and developers use incentives first for a different reason: Reducing the price on one house in a neighborhood could hurt the prices of the remaining homes (and it peeves buyers who already paid full price).
Anyone shopping for a newly constructed home has the most to gain. After drying up during the boom, explains David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, incentives are back in force. A recent survey of NAHB members revealed that 55% of builders are offering more amenities, 42% are paying closing costs and 26% are absorbing points on mortgages.
In addition, the survey showed that 80% are encountering buyer resistance to the price of homes, the most since the early 1990s. As a result, nearly 45% of builders are trimming prices.
Improve Your Mortgage
Buyers are also getting incentives for taking out mortgages, says Anthony Hsieh, president of LendingTree.com. For example, 20% of home builders are using "buy-down" programs, in which they buy down your mortgage by two percentage points in year one and one point in year two.
That can, in fact, be a great deal. But tread carefully. Some other trendy mortgage offers are a little too much like credit cards with teaser rates attached. They're cheaper in the early years than what you might qualify for, but they escalate quickly.
"Buyers have to be very careful not to be swept off their feet to take the wrong product," says Hsieh. "You don't want to get blinded into the wrong mortgage." The key to knowing whether the loan being offered to you is a good deal or a bummer is to run the numbers on a few scenarios, says Keith Gumbinger of HSH.com, a publisher of mortgage information. You want to know what your actual payment will be not just in years one and two but for as many years as you're planning to live in the house.
Gumbinger recommends watching financing offers for early-termination fees and prepayment penalties. A lender's goal in offering subsidized financing is to keep you there until the payment escalates - and beyond - which often means making it expensive for you to get out.
Look for Alternative Cuts
The buyer's market has created a market for something that's not usually on the list of negotiable factors in the sale of a home: title insurance. (It's rarely on the list of comprehensible factors either, but that's another story.) That is changing thanks to Titleinsurance.com, a new Web site that operates kind of like a LendingTree.com for title insurance.
Consumers go to the site, fill in information about their transaction and get a handful of quotes from title insurers in the county. The site currently has some 325 title insurers signed up to bid and is limiting itself to five per county. The service is nonbinding and is free to consumers. Revenue comes from title insurers who pay, essentially, for leads.
How much money you will save depends on the competition in your area, but with title insurance averaging less than 0.5% of your loan but sometimes costing as much as 1.5%, the gap can be a couple thousand dollars or more
Builders to buyers: Take this house, please!
The once-hot housing market's about-face has created amazing incentives for buyers. What are you waiting for?
By Jean Chatzky, Money Magazine editor-at-large
How would you like a $10,000 gift certificate for Pottery Barn? A $30,000 in-ground swimming pool - installed? The chance to toss back a few drinks with rocker John Legend? These and many other fabulous prizes can be yours if...you buy a house!
That's right, Bob Barker. After years of soaring prices, in the past few months the real estate market has dropped faster than most people thought it would, even in markets where most people thought it wouldn't. Home builders, mortgage lenders and even some enterprising individual sellers have been racking their brains to come up with tantalizing incentives to get potential buyers to the closing table and to convince top brokers to work with them.
As buyer's markets go, this is shaping up to be a good one - as long as you know how to play it to your advantage.
But gimmicks like new pools and mingling with rock stars are a distraction, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com. If you're truly savvy about selecting and bidding on a home, you may be able to do better, he says. Much better.
Home inventories have gone skyward in the past year. In August (the most recent month for which data are available) there were 4 million homes on the market in the United States, a million more than at the same point in 2005. Combine that with the boost in interest rates and you have a lot of nervous sellers.
"Until now sellers didn't want to cut their prices. They were much more willing to provide an incentive - refinish the deck, seal the driveway, help with the financing, anything but cut the price," says Zandi. That's because incentives are cheaper for the seller in most cases.
Knocking 5% off a $300,000 home, for example, costs $15,000, but giving away that Pottery Barn shopping spree costs less and sounds sexier.
Right now, however, there's enough inventory that sellers are starting to do both: lower prices and provide incentives. This sharp change is not happening at all times in all markets, Zandi says, and only by knowing what kinds of freebies are being doled out can you jump on the trend and score a better deal (and maybe a new pool too). Here's what to do.
Hit the Incentive Piñata
It makes sense that people selling on their own are often quick to offer incentives instead of dropping the price. Many have trouble coming to grips with the fact that their home is worth less than they thought it would be, so they resist cutting the price until absolutely necessary.
List: See forecasted declines for largest U.S. markets
Instead they offer to pay your closing costs or to leave the Sub-Zero behind. Let your eyes - and the inspector you hire to check the place out - guide your requests. If the house needs painting, new windows or a fresh buffer of trees, now's the time to ask. And ask for a price cut to boot. Builders and developers use incentives first for a different reason: Reducing the price on one house in a neighborhood could hurt the prices of the remaining homes (and it peeves buyers who already paid full price).
Anyone shopping for a newly constructed home has the most to gain. After drying up during the boom, explains David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, incentives are back in force. A recent survey of NAHB members revealed that 55% of builders are offering more amenities, 42% are paying closing costs and 26% are absorbing points on mortgages.
In addition, the survey showed that 80% are encountering buyer resistance to the price of homes, the most since the early 1990s. As a result, nearly 45% of builders are trimming prices.
Improve Your Mortgage
Buyers are also getting incentives for taking out mortgages, says Anthony Hsieh, president of LendingTree.com. For example, 20% of home builders are using "buy-down" programs, in which they buy down your mortgage by two percentage points in year one and one point in year two.
That can, in fact, be a great deal. But tread carefully. Some other trendy mortgage offers are a little too much like credit cards with teaser rates attached. They're cheaper in the early years than what you might qualify for, but they escalate quickly.
"Buyers have to be very careful not to be swept off their feet to take the wrong product," says Hsieh. "You don't want to get blinded into the wrong mortgage." The key to knowing whether the loan being offered to you is a good deal or a bummer is to run the numbers on a few scenarios, says Keith Gumbinger of HSH.com, a publisher of mortgage information. You want to know what your actual payment will be not just in years one and two but for as many years as you're planning to live in the house.
Gumbinger recommends watching financing offers for early-termination fees and prepayment penalties. A lender's goal in offering subsidized financing is to keep you there until the payment escalates - and beyond - which often means making it expensive for you to get out.
Look for Alternative Cuts
The buyer's market has created a market for something that's not usually on the list of negotiable factors in the sale of a home: title insurance. (It's rarely on the list of comprehensible factors either, but that's another story.) That is changing thanks to Titleinsurance.com, a new Web site that operates kind of like a LendingTree.com for title insurance.
Consumers go to the site, fill in information about their transaction and get a handful of quotes from title insurers in the county. The site currently has some 325 title insurers signed up to bid and is limiting itself to five per county. The service is nonbinding and is free to consumers. Revenue comes from title insurers who pay, essentially, for leads.
How much money you will save depends on the competition in your area, but with title insurance averaging less than 0.5% of your loan but sometimes costing as much as 1.5%, the gap can be a couple thousand dollars or more
Monday, October 23, 2006
Real Estate
Buy my house, please!
As the market cools, it will take more work to get that 'For Sale' sign out of your front yard. –
To say that it's been a seller's housing market is the understatement of the year. Homeowners looking to sell in most parts of the country haven't had to wait around very long for a suitable offer, and those in the best markets have seen their homes swooped up in a matter of days, even hours.
In early 2003, in fact, 21 percent of all houses went into contract less than one week after going on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). On average, houses sold in just five weeks – nearly half the time it took throughout the 1990s.
"I believe this may be our best year ever," said David Hemenway, a realtor in Cottage Grove, Ore., who's been in the business since 1968. On the other side of the country in Sebring, Fla., realtor Chip Boring is enjoying a record year.
Yet, both are aware that great times can't last forever. "Up until the last 2 1/2 years the average time on the market was anywhere from 180 days to 210 days," Boring said. And Hemenway recalls the early 1980s when his listings lingered on the market, sometimes for years.
As interest rates creep up, buyers' budgets creep down and markets return to more normal levels, sellers will discover that it takes a little more work (and patience) to unload their homes. Many already have. While there is little you can do to change the laws of supply and demand, you have some control over whether your house sits or sells.
Here are the most common reasons houses don't sell, in order of importance.
The price is not right
Even in the best of markets, setting your price too high is a mistake -- unless you really don't want to sell your house.
"Starting too high is the worst thing you can do," said Hemenway.
Why? Because your greatest opportunity for selling your house is immediately after it goes on the market. That's when the majority of serious buyers will see the house.
"Even if you lower the price to reflect the market, you'll have fewer people coming through than if you'd just priced it right to begin with," said Hemenway.
In fact, it's not until after you bring the price down below the market – something few sellers want to do – that interest will pick up again.
To make matters worse, say real estate agents, the longer a house sits the harder it is to sell. "Everyone thinks there must be something wrong with the house if it hasn't sold," said Boring, adding that for this reason he won't take on a listing if the seller insists on asking more than the house is worth.
To drum up new interest among buyers, sellers sometimes pay for extra advertising or offer to, for example, pay for closing costs as a way to get buyers' attention. "In markets where people don't have a lot of cash, paying for closing costs or buying down interest rates with points up front can put you at a huge advantage," said Ron Phipps, a realtor in Warwick, R.I.
The house is in the wrong place
When markets are good, buyers are more willing to buy on the outskirts of an area or turn a blind eye to busy streets, bad views and other problems. But when markets cool down, it's these spots that suffer the most, said Hemenway.
Short of moving the house, there is not much you can do if it is in the wrong location. But while in the house you can take care to make sure you don't over-improve your property relative to the ones around it.
"If you have a $300,000 house in a neighborhood of $100,000, be prepared to lower the price or let it sit," said Boring.
Buyers can't get past the front door
Realtors say that getting buyers to take a look inside a house is the biggest challenge of selling a house. Once they've stepped through the door buyers are more likely to consider a place.
"I recently sold a house that from the front was not very inspired," said Phipps. "The buyers came to the open house only because they needed to kill time, but once inside they were interested."
For this reason, a little time and money spent on curb appeal will go a long way. Trimming the grass, washing the windows and planting a few flowers may be all it takes.
In the case of houses whose best features are inside or out back, Phipps recommends taking good interior pictures and putting 360-degree tours online.
Sellers sometimes get buyers to look past their homes' imperfections with creative extras. "I've seen sellers offer decorating allowances, and pay for cleaning service and landscaping," said Phipps. "Several years ago a seller in the bakery business offered to bring the buyer a different cake every month."
Too much chintz and tchotchkes
Less is more when it comes to attracting buyers.
"Put all of those pictures of your family and other personal treasures away," said Sheryl Gregory, a broker in Wynthrop, Maine. "It distracts buyers and makes it harder for them to picture themselves in the house."
She also recommends taking down distracting curtains and putting on a fresh coat of paint. "Buyers sometimes get scared if they wander through a house and think they're going to have to do a lot of painting," she added.
According to Sarah Max cnn/money
Buy my house, please!
As the market cools, it will take more work to get that 'For Sale' sign out of your front yard. –
To say that it's been a seller's housing market is the understatement of the year. Homeowners looking to sell in most parts of the country haven't had to wait around very long for a suitable offer, and those in the best markets have seen their homes swooped up in a matter of days, even hours.
In early 2003, in fact, 21 percent of all houses went into contract less than one week after going on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). On average, houses sold in just five weeks – nearly half the time it took throughout the 1990s.
"I believe this may be our best year ever," said David Hemenway, a realtor in Cottage Grove, Ore., who's been in the business since 1968. On the other side of the country in Sebring, Fla., realtor Chip Boring is enjoying a record year.
Yet, both are aware that great times can't last forever. "Up until the last 2 1/2 years the average time on the market was anywhere from 180 days to 210 days," Boring said. And Hemenway recalls the early 1980s when his listings lingered on the market, sometimes for years.
As interest rates creep up, buyers' budgets creep down and markets return to more normal levels, sellers will discover that it takes a little more work (and patience) to unload their homes. Many already have. While there is little you can do to change the laws of supply and demand, you have some control over whether your house sits or sells.
Here are the most common reasons houses don't sell, in order of importance.
The price is not right
Even in the best of markets, setting your price too high is a mistake -- unless you really don't want to sell your house.
"Starting too high is the worst thing you can do," said Hemenway.
Why? Because your greatest opportunity for selling your house is immediately after it goes on the market. That's when the majority of serious buyers will see the house.
"Even if you lower the price to reflect the market, you'll have fewer people coming through than if you'd just priced it right to begin with," said Hemenway.
In fact, it's not until after you bring the price down below the market – something few sellers want to do – that interest will pick up again.
To make matters worse, say real estate agents, the longer a house sits the harder it is to sell. "Everyone thinks there must be something wrong with the house if it hasn't sold," said Boring, adding that for this reason he won't take on a listing if the seller insists on asking more than the house is worth.
To drum up new interest among buyers, sellers sometimes pay for extra advertising or offer to, for example, pay for closing costs as a way to get buyers' attention. "In markets where people don't have a lot of cash, paying for closing costs or buying down interest rates with points up front can put you at a huge advantage," said Ron Phipps, a realtor in Warwick, R.I.
The house is in the wrong place
When markets are good, buyers are more willing to buy on the outskirts of an area or turn a blind eye to busy streets, bad views and other problems. But when markets cool down, it's these spots that suffer the most, said Hemenway.
Short of moving the house, there is not much you can do if it is in the wrong location. But while in the house you can take care to make sure you don't over-improve your property relative to the ones around it.
"If you have a $300,000 house in a neighborhood of $100,000, be prepared to lower the price or let it sit," said Boring.
Buyers can't get past the front door
Realtors say that getting buyers to take a look inside a house is the biggest challenge of selling a house. Once they've stepped through the door buyers are more likely to consider a place.
"I recently sold a house that from the front was not very inspired," said Phipps. "The buyers came to the open house only because they needed to kill time, but once inside they were interested."
For this reason, a little time and money spent on curb appeal will go a long way. Trimming the grass, washing the windows and planting a few flowers may be all it takes.
In the case of houses whose best features are inside or out back, Phipps recommends taking good interior pictures and putting 360-degree tours online.
Sellers sometimes get buyers to look past their homes' imperfections with creative extras. "I've seen sellers offer decorating allowances, and pay for cleaning service and landscaping," said Phipps. "Several years ago a seller in the bakery business offered to bring the buyer a different cake every month."
Too much chintz and tchotchkes
Less is more when it comes to attracting buyers.
"Put all of those pictures of your family and other personal treasures away," said Sheryl Gregory, a broker in Wynthrop, Maine. "It distracts buyers and makes it harder for them to picture themselves in the house."
She also recommends taking down distracting curtains and putting on a fresh coat of paint. "Buyers sometimes get scared if they wander through a house and think they're going to have to do a lot of painting," she added.
According to Sarah Max cnn/money
Real Estate
Buy my house, please!
It's been a seller's housing market is the understatement of the year. Homeowners looking to sell in most parts of the country haven't had to wait around very long for a suitable offer, and those in the best markets have seen their homes swooped up in a matter of days, even hours.
In early 2003, in fact, 21 percent of all houses went into contract less than one week after going on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). On average, houses sold in just five weeks – nearly half the time it took throughout the 1990s.
"I believe this may be our best year ever," said David Hemenway, a realtor in Cottage Grove, Ore., who's been in the business since 1968. On the other side of the country in Sebring, Fla., realtor Chip Boring is enjoying a record year.
Yet, both are aware that great times can't last forever. "Up until the last 2 1/2 years the average time on the market was anywhere from 180 days to 210 days," Boring said. And Hemenway recalls the early 1980s when his listings lingered on the market, sometimes for years.
As interest rates creep up, buyers' budgets creep down and markets return to more normal levels, sellers will discover that it takes a little more work (and patience) to unload their homes. Many already have. While there is little you can do to change the laws of supply and demand, you have some control over whether your house sits or sells.
Here are the most common reasons houses don't sell, in order of importance.
The price is not right
Even in the best of markets, setting your price too high is a mistake -- unless you really don't want to sell your house.
"Starting too high is the worst thing you can do," said Hemenway.
Why? Because your greatest opportunity for selling your house is immediately after it goes on the market. That's when the majority of serious buyers will see the house.
"Even if you lower the price to reflect the market, you'll have fewer people coming through than if you'd just priced it right to begin with," said Hemenway.
In fact, it's not until after you bring the price down below the market – something few sellers want to do – that interest will pick up again.
To make matters worse, say real estate agents, the longer a house sits the harder it is to sell. "Everyone thinks there must be something wrong with the house if it hasn't sold," said Boring, adding that for this reason he won't take on a listing if the seller insists on asking more than the house is worth.
To drum up new interest among buyers, sellers sometimes pay for extra advertising or offer to, for example, pay for closing costs as a way to get buyers' attention. "In markets where people don't have a lot of cash, paying for closing costs or buying down interest rates with points up front can put you at a huge advantage," said Ron Phipps, a realtor in Warwick, R.I.
The house is in the wrong place
When markets are good, buyers are more willing to buy on the outskirts of an area or turn a blind eye to busy streets, bad views and other problems. But when markets cool down, it's these spots that suffer the most, said Hemenway.
Short of moving the house, there is not much you can do if it is in the wrong location. But while in the house you can take care to make sure you don't over-improve your property relative to the ones around it. "If you have a $300,000 house in a neighborhood of $100,000, be prepared to lower the price or let it sit," said Boring.
Buyers can't get past the front door
Realtors say that getting buyers to take a look inside a house is the biggest challenge of selling a house. Once they've stepped through the door buyers are more likely to consider a place.
"I recently sold a house that from the front was not very inspired," said Phipps. "The buyers came to the open house only because they needed to kill time, but once inside they were interested."
For this reason, a little time and money spent on curb appeal will go a long way. Trimming the grass, washing the windows and planting a few flowers may be all it takes.
In the case of houses whose best features are inside or out back, Phipps recommends taking good interior pictures and putting 360-degree tours online.
Sellers sometimes get buyers to look past their homes' imperfections with creative extras. "I've seen sellers offer decorating allowances, and pay for cleaning service and landscaping," said Phipps. "Several years ago a seller in the bakery business offered to bring the buyer a different cake every month."
Too much chintz and tchotchkes
Less is more when it comes to attracting buyers.
"Put all of those pictures of your family and other personal treasures away," said Sheryl Gregory, a broker in Wynthrop, Maine. "It distracts buyers and makes it harder for them to picture themselves in the house."
She also recommends taking down distracting curtains and putting on a fresh coat of paint. "Buyers sometimes get scared if they wander through a house and think they're going to have to do a lot of painting," she added.
According to Sara Max CNN/MONEY
Buy my house, please!
It's been a seller's housing market is the understatement of the year. Homeowners looking to sell in most parts of the country haven't had to wait around very long for a suitable offer, and those in the best markets have seen their homes swooped up in a matter of days, even hours.
In early 2003, in fact, 21 percent of all houses went into contract less than one week after going on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). On average, houses sold in just five weeks – nearly half the time it took throughout the 1990s.
"I believe this may be our best year ever," said David Hemenway, a realtor in Cottage Grove, Ore., who's been in the business since 1968. On the other side of the country in Sebring, Fla., realtor Chip Boring is enjoying a record year.
Yet, both are aware that great times can't last forever. "Up until the last 2 1/2 years the average time on the market was anywhere from 180 days to 210 days," Boring said. And Hemenway recalls the early 1980s when his listings lingered on the market, sometimes for years.
As interest rates creep up, buyers' budgets creep down and markets return to more normal levels, sellers will discover that it takes a little more work (and patience) to unload their homes. Many already have. While there is little you can do to change the laws of supply and demand, you have some control over whether your house sits or sells.
Here are the most common reasons houses don't sell, in order of importance.
The price is not right
Even in the best of markets, setting your price too high is a mistake -- unless you really don't want to sell your house.
"Starting too high is the worst thing you can do," said Hemenway.
Why? Because your greatest opportunity for selling your house is immediately after it goes on the market. That's when the majority of serious buyers will see the house.
"Even if you lower the price to reflect the market, you'll have fewer people coming through than if you'd just priced it right to begin with," said Hemenway.
In fact, it's not until after you bring the price down below the market – something few sellers want to do – that interest will pick up again.
To make matters worse, say real estate agents, the longer a house sits the harder it is to sell. "Everyone thinks there must be something wrong with the house if it hasn't sold," said Boring, adding that for this reason he won't take on a listing if the seller insists on asking more than the house is worth.
To drum up new interest among buyers, sellers sometimes pay for extra advertising or offer to, for example, pay for closing costs as a way to get buyers' attention. "In markets where people don't have a lot of cash, paying for closing costs or buying down interest rates with points up front can put you at a huge advantage," said Ron Phipps, a realtor in Warwick, R.I.
The house is in the wrong place
When markets are good, buyers are more willing to buy on the outskirts of an area or turn a blind eye to busy streets, bad views and other problems. But when markets cool down, it's these spots that suffer the most, said Hemenway.
Short of moving the house, there is not much you can do if it is in the wrong location. But while in the house you can take care to make sure you don't over-improve your property relative to the ones around it. "If you have a $300,000 house in a neighborhood of $100,000, be prepared to lower the price or let it sit," said Boring.
Buyers can't get past the front door
Realtors say that getting buyers to take a look inside a house is the biggest challenge of selling a house. Once they've stepped through the door buyers are more likely to consider a place.
"I recently sold a house that from the front was not very inspired," said Phipps. "The buyers came to the open house only because they needed to kill time, but once inside they were interested."
For this reason, a little time and money spent on curb appeal will go a long way. Trimming the grass, washing the windows and planting a few flowers may be all it takes.
In the case of houses whose best features are inside or out back, Phipps recommends taking good interior pictures and putting 360-degree tours online.
Sellers sometimes get buyers to look past their homes' imperfections with creative extras. "I've seen sellers offer decorating allowances, and pay for cleaning service and landscaping," said Phipps. "Several years ago a seller in the bakery business offered to bring the buyer a different cake every month."
Too much chintz and tchotchkes
Less is more when it comes to attracting buyers.
"Put all of those pictures of your family and other personal treasures away," said Sheryl Gregory, a broker in Wynthrop, Maine. "It distracts buyers and makes it harder for them to picture themselves in the house."
She also recommends taking down distracting curtains and putting on a fresh coat of paint. "Buyers sometimes get scared if they wander through a house and think they're going to have to do a lot of painting," she added.
According to Sara Max CNN/MONEY
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Real Estate
More Homeowners Going Into Default
A housing market slowdown combined with rising payments on adjustable-rate loans is leading to a sharp hike in notices from lenders.
By David Streitfeld and Martin Zimmerman, Times Staff WritersOctober 19, 2006
The number of Californians who are significantly behind on their mortgage payments and at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure more than doubled in the three months ended Sept. 30, providing the latest evidence of trouble in the housing market, figures released Wednesday show.Lenders sent out 26,705 default notices — the first step toward a foreclosure — during the July-to-September period, up from 12,606 during the same quarter in 2005, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
Defaults are still well below their peak level of 59,897, which came in the first three months of 1996, as the state's last housing slowdown was ending. But the report shows that the slumping housing market is taking a toll on more homeowners especially those with mortgages that offer low initial payments at the cost of higher bills down the road."We were putting buyers in homes with loans they could not afford to sustain over the long haul," said Bob Casagrand, a San Diego real estate agent. "If you're a marginal buyer with an adjustable mortgage, you're rolling the dice on the future."Foreclosures are rare when the housing market is strong and prices are rising. In those conditions, borrowers can usually sell their homes quickly, or they have enough equity to allow them to refinance their loans. But in another disquieting sign, DataQuick reported that 19% of the owners who went into default earlier in the year actually lost their homes to foreclosure in the third quarter, more than triple the 6% in 2005.Mortgage payments are such a big part of the household budget for many Californians that it takes only a little trouble to fall behind.
For Stacey and Mike Broussard, all it took was an exceptionally rainy spring. That meant Mike Broussard was laid off from his job as a heavy equipment operator."I tried to juggle things around — we were eating a lot of peanut butter and a lot of beans — but it got out of control," said Stacey Broussard, 39.She was in charge of the bills and each month would pay what she could of the $1,300 the lender expected for the mortgage on their home northeast of San Francisco in Antioch. At the end of August, she said, she tried to make another partial payment, but the lender said anything less than a full payment would lead to a default.
One day her husband said she had a notice from the post office to pick up a special letter. She knew what it was, but he didn't. "I was trying to fix it before I told him," she said. "That was the worst moment."Mike Broussard is now employed again, and the couple — who are lucky enough to have equity in their home — are working with TerraCotta Group, a Manhattan Beach real estate and mortgage company that specializes in helping delinquent homeowners get out of default.
When she started TerraCotta 2 1/2 years ago, company President Tingting Zhang said two or three people would come through her door on the typical day looking for help. Now, it's 30 to 40. "And we haven't reached the peak yet," said Zhang, who believes that the combination of rising interest rates and high-risk mortgages could spell defeat for a rising number of borrowers.Just Wednesday morning, Zhang dealt with a Lancaster resident who had taken out a $310,000 adjustable-rate mortgage with a starter interest rate of 5.4% and a monthly payment of $1,050. In July, the interest rate climbed to 8.5% and the monthly payment jumped to $2,306. A year-end adjustment will send the monthly payment to $2,744."The borrower is totally unprepared for this rate adjustment," Zhang said.The fallout is starting to show up in the workload at credit counseling outfits.
Gary Aguilar, counseling manager for Springboard, a nonprofit credit counseling agency in Riverside, said the amount of mortgage-related work he and his staff were doing had "pretty much tripled this year."The softening of the housing market was the trigger, as new homeowners with little or no equity in their properties found themselves unable to sell at a high enough price to pay off the balance of the loan and still cover all of the sale expenses."Whereas a year ago, people could have put their house on the market and sold their way out of the problem, now they're stuck with the house," said Richard Pittman, housing services coordinator for credit counselor ByDesign Financial Solutions in Los Angeles
Provided by Los Angeles Times
More Homeowners Going Into Default
A housing market slowdown combined with rising payments on adjustable-rate loans is leading to a sharp hike in notices from lenders.
By David Streitfeld and Martin Zimmerman, Times Staff WritersOctober 19, 2006
The number of Californians who are significantly behind on their mortgage payments and at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure more than doubled in the three months ended Sept. 30, providing the latest evidence of trouble in the housing market, figures released Wednesday show.Lenders sent out 26,705 default notices — the first step toward a foreclosure — during the July-to-September period, up from 12,606 during the same quarter in 2005, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
Defaults are still well below their peak level of 59,897, which came in the first three months of 1996, as the state's last housing slowdown was ending. But the report shows that the slumping housing market is taking a toll on more homeowners especially those with mortgages that offer low initial payments at the cost of higher bills down the road."We were putting buyers in homes with loans they could not afford to sustain over the long haul," said Bob Casagrand, a San Diego real estate agent. "If you're a marginal buyer with an adjustable mortgage, you're rolling the dice on the future."Foreclosures are rare when the housing market is strong and prices are rising. In those conditions, borrowers can usually sell their homes quickly, or they have enough equity to allow them to refinance their loans. But in another disquieting sign, DataQuick reported that 19% of the owners who went into default earlier in the year actually lost their homes to foreclosure in the third quarter, more than triple the 6% in 2005.Mortgage payments are such a big part of the household budget for many Californians that it takes only a little trouble to fall behind.
For Stacey and Mike Broussard, all it took was an exceptionally rainy spring. That meant Mike Broussard was laid off from his job as a heavy equipment operator."I tried to juggle things around — we were eating a lot of peanut butter and a lot of beans — but it got out of control," said Stacey Broussard, 39.She was in charge of the bills and each month would pay what she could of the $1,300 the lender expected for the mortgage on their home northeast of San Francisco in Antioch. At the end of August, she said, she tried to make another partial payment, but the lender said anything less than a full payment would lead to a default.
One day her husband said she had a notice from the post office to pick up a special letter. She knew what it was, but he didn't. "I was trying to fix it before I told him," she said. "That was the worst moment."Mike Broussard is now employed again, and the couple — who are lucky enough to have equity in their home — are working with TerraCotta Group, a Manhattan Beach real estate and mortgage company that specializes in helping delinquent homeowners get out of default.
When she started TerraCotta 2 1/2 years ago, company President Tingting Zhang said two or three people would come through her door on the typical day looking for help. Now, it's 30 to 40. "And we haven't reached the peak yet," said Zhang, who believes that the combination of rising interest rates and high-risk mortgages could spell defeat for a rising number of borrowers.Just Wednesday morning, Zhang dealt with a Lancaster resident who had taken out a $310,000 adjustable-rate mortgage with a starter interest rate of 5.4% and a monthly payment of $1,050. In July, the interest rate climbed to 8.5% and the monthly payment jumped to $2,306. A year-end adjustment will send the monthly payment to $2,744."The borrower is totally unprepared for this rate adjustment," Zhang said.The fallout is starting to show up in the workload at credit counseling outfits.
Gary Aguilar, counseling manager for Springboard, a nonprofit credit counseling agency in Riverside, said the amount of mortgage-related work he and his staff were doing had "pretty much tripled this year."The softening of the housing market was the trigger, as new homeowners with little or no equity in their properties found themselves unable to sell at a high enough price to pay off the balance of the loan and still cover all of the sale expenses."Whereas a year ago, people could have put their house on the market and sold their way out of the problem, now they're stuck with the house," said Richard Pittman, housing services coordinator for credit counselor ByDesign Financial Solutions in Los Angeles
Provided by Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Real Estate
HOME VALUESHousing's hottest markets
REAL ESTATEHome prices dip Existing-home prices fell in August for the first time in 11 years.•
Bakersfield once hot, now cold
Census survey looks at the biggest winning cities in home values from 2000 to 2005.• Ready for 'me' time at home• Fishy rehab-at-closing scheme• The condo-investment hangover
TRENDSLiving it up by living smallDefying trends, some homeowners have decided to do more with less.• Using design to ease downsizing• The weeHouse way
INSURANCEOverpaying on the house Homeowners' claims behavior may be costing them hundreds of dollars on policies.
RealEstateJournal coverage
House TalkWall Street Journal writer June Fletcher answers your questions.My investmentLearn firsthand from those who buy and sell income property.Search houses for sale or rent
MORTGAGESShouldering a big burden
Facing payments that could double, holders of option ARMs now find their choices limited.• Legal cash back at closing•
Senate hears of loan confusion
Dip in gas prices should ease winter heating bills WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The recent drop seen in natural gas prices is likely to help soften U.S. consumer heating bills this winter, the
American Gas Association said at a briefing on Monday.
Realty Q&A: More tricky ways mortgage fraudsters seek to prosper WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Question: I have read your articles and enjoy them and learn from them. Now I have a question. A "friend" has $300,000 in equity in his house. A broker asks him to flip to another mortgage, guaranteeing him a $6,000 dollar profit every three months if every three months he agrees to do this. Also, the broker agrees to take care of all the cost; "friend" pays nothing, zip, zero, nada. How is it possible? Sean.
U.S. mortgages hold at 7-month lows CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Mortgage rates held at seven-month lows this week, propelling a round of refinancing, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey released Thursday.
Who's exposed to the housing chill? Look around your home SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- It's not just homeowners and homebuilders that have a lot to lose if tremors roiling the real estate market turn into a full-scale quake.Contractors see their prices rising faster than inflation Pending-home sales rise 4.3% in August Can U.S. curb the mortgage frenzy that puts homeowners at risk?
Real Estate Library
•
Home Buying & Selling
•
Home Improvements
•
Mortgages & Home Loans
•
Renting
More...
See More Stories in the Library
HOME VALUESHousing's hottest markets
REAL ESTATEHome prices dip Existing-home prices fell in August for the first time in 11 years.•
Bakersfield once hot, now cold
Census survey looks at the biggest winning cities in home values from 2000 to 2005.• Ready for 'me' time at home• Fishy rehab-at-closing scheme• The condo-investment hangover
TRENDSLiving it up by living smallDefying trends, some homeowners have decided to do more with less.• Using design to ease downsizing• The weeHouse way
INSURANCEOverpaying on the house Homeowners' claims behavior may be costing them hundreds of dollars on policies.
RealEstateJournal coverage
House TalkWall Street Journal writer June Fletcher answers your questions.My investmentLearn firsthand from those who buy and sell income property.Search houses for sale or rent
MORTGAGESShouldering a big burden
Facing payments that could double, holders of option ARMs now find their choices limited.• Legal cash back at closing•
Senate hears of loan confusion
Dip in gas prices should ease winter heating bills WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The recent drop seen in natural gas prices is likely to help soften U.S. consumer heating bills this winter, the
American Gas Association said at a briefing on Monday.
Realty Q&A: More tricky ways mortgage fraudsters seek to prosper WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Question: I have read your articles and enjoy them and learn from them. Now I have a question. A "friend" has $300,000 in equity in his house. A broker asks him to flip to another mortgage, guaranteeing him a $6,000 dollar profit every three months if every three months he agrees to do this. Also, the broker agrees to take care of all the cost; "friend" pays nothing, zip, zero, nada. How is it possible? Sean.
U.S. mortgages hold at 7-month lows CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Mortgage rates held at seven-month lows this week, propelling a round of refinancing, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey released Thursday.
Who's exposed to the housing chill? Look around your home SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- It's not just homeowners and homebuilders that have a lot to lose if tremors roiling the real estate market turn into a full-scale quake.Contractors see their prices rising faster than inflation Pending-home sales rise 4.3% in August Can U.S. curb the mortgage frenzy that puts homeowners at risk?
Real Estate Library
•
Home Buying & Selling
•
Home Improvements
•
Mortgages & Home Loans
•
Renting
More...
See More Stories in the Library
Real Estate
Mortgage defaults up 67% in California
Notices filed on late loans highest in more than three years
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By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
Aug 3, 2006
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The number of defaults on mortgage payments rose to a three-year high in the second quarter in California, a 67% increase from the year earlier period, according to DataQuick, a real estate data-compiling firm.
Lenders sent 20,752 default notices to homeowners across the Golden State, up 10.5% from 18,778 the previous quarter and up 67.2% from 12,408 in the second quarter of 2005. Notices of default are formal documents filed with the county recorder's office which mark the first step of the foreclosure process.
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Coverage of home buying and selling, housing prices, mortgage information and home improvement.• Decade's hottest housing markets• 'Me' houses for boomers• Reining in exotic mortgages• Homeowners living smallGet our free Real Estate newsletter
The 20,752 defaults were the highest since 25,511 were filed in the first quarter of 2003.
"This is an important trend to watch but doesn't strike us as ominous," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick's president. "We would have to see defaults roughly double from today's level before they would begin to impact home values much."
Because the number of defaults had fallen to extreme lows in recent years, it was widely expected that they would start spiking up as home-price appreciation slowed, he said.
"We hear a lot of talk about rising payments on adjustable-rate loans triggering borrower distress," Prentice said. "While there's no doubt some of that is going on, as far as we can tell the spike in defaults is mainly the result of slowing price appreciation."
Slowing prices make it harder for homeowners who fall behind on mortgage payments to sell their homes and pay off the lender. Price increases level off
Some parts of California, along with others in Florida and the northeast region, had seen some of the sharpest increases in home prices in the nation over the past few years, fueling what many observers described as a speculative bubble.
Historically low interest rates helped fuel the surge in home sales and prices, also encouraging homeowners to borrow on their home equity to finance their consumption.
But with the Federal Reserve gradually lifting short-term rates over the past two years, the housing market began to slow late last year.
California defaults had hit a low of 12,145 in the third quarter of 2004, a year during which home prices were on average rising by more than 20% annually. But so far this year, annual price gains have slipped into single digits in many of the state's key housing markets, DataQuick said.
In July, median home prices in San Diego and Sacramento counties dipped about 1% from the year earlier. As a result, second-quarter defaults rose by 99% in San Diego County and 109% in Sacramento County. Still, that represented just 1,778 default notices in San Diego and 1,352 in Sacramento. DataQuick said overall defaults remain about one-third their peak level reached in 1996 in the last housing recession in California.
Among the banks that have issued the largest amounts of mortgages in California, such as Wells Fargo & Co (WFC :
Wells Fargo & Company
Sponsored by:
WFC36.22, -0.06, -0.2%) , most said credit quality remained solid when they reported second-quarter earnings.
But a slowing housing market has still caused some trouble. Earnings at Golden West Financial (GDW :
Golden West Financial Corporation
GDW77.25, 0.00, 0.0%) , which is in the process of being acquired by Wachovia (WB :
Wachovia Corp
WB56.02, +0.19, +0.3%) , came in below expectations as mortgage demand slowed.
Golden West specializes in adjustable-rate mortgages, which have fallen out of favor as interest rates increased.
Countrywide Financial (CFC :
Countrywide Financial Corp. The largest mortgage lender in the U.S., saw a 26% improvement in earnings but lowered its outlook for new loan production, while its chief executive warned that expectations of a "soft landing" in housing is overly optimistic.
Many banks have been ditching lower-quality loans while some have gone further, selling entire slices of the business.
Washington Mutual (WM : Reported a 9% drop in second-quarter earnings on charges stemming from the sale of mortgage-servicing rights to Wells Fargo.
KeyCorp (KEY : It is exploring the sale of its subprime mortgage lending unit. Three weeks ago National City Corp
(NCC :
National City Corporation said it has similar intentions. Nick Godt is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.
Mortgage defaults up 67% in California
Notices filed on late loans highest in more than three years
Del.icio.us
By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
Aug 3, 2006
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The number of defaults on mortgage payments rose to a three-year high in the second quarter in California, a 67% increase from the year earlier period, according to DataQuick, a real estate data-compiling firm.
Lenders sent 20,752 default notices to homeowners across the Golden State, up 10.5% from 18,778 the previous quarter and up 67.2% from 12,408 in the second quarter of 2005. Notices of default are formal documents filed with the county recorder's office which mark the first step of the foreclosure process.
Lots morereal estate
Coverage of home buying and selling, housing prices, mortgage information and home improvement.• Decade's hottest housing markets• 'Me' houses for boomers• Reining in exotic mortgages• Homeowners living smallGet our free Real Estate newsletter
The 20,752 defaults were the highest since 25,511 were filed in the first quarter of 2003.
"This is an important trend to watch but doesn't strike us as ominous," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick's president. "We would have to see defaults roughly double from today's level before they would begin to impact home values much."
Because the number of defaults had fallen to extreme lows in recent years, it was widely expected that they would start spiking up as home-price appreciation slowed, he said.
"We hear a lot of talk about rising payments on adjustable-rate loans triggering borrower distress," Prentice said. "While there's no doubt some of that is going on, as far as we can tell the spike in defaults is mainly the result of slowing price appreciation."
Slowing prices make it harder for homeowners who fall behind on mortgage payments to sell their homes and pay off the lender. Price increases level off
Some parts of California, along with others in Florida and the northeast region, had seen some of the sharpest increases in home prices in the nation over the past few years, fueling what many observers described as a speculative bubble.
Historically low interest rates helped fuel the surge in home sales and prices, also encouraging homeowners to borrow on their home equity to finance their consumption.
But with the Federal Reserve gradually lifting short-term rates over the past two years, the housing market began to slow late last year.
California defaults had hit a low of 12,145 in the third quarter of 2004, a year during which home prices were on average rising by more than 20% annually. But so far this year, annual price gains have slipped into single digits in many of the state's key housing markets, DataQuick said.
In July, median home prices in San Diego and Sacramento counties dipped about 1% from the year earlier. As a result, second-quarter defaults rose by 99% in San Diego County and 109% in Sacramento County. Still, that represented just 1,778 default notices in San Diego and 1,352 in Sacramento. DataQuick said overall defaults remain about one-third their peak level reached in 1996 in the last housing recession in California.
Among the banks that have issued the largest amounts of mortgages in California, such as Wells Fargo & Co (WFC :
Wells Fargo & Company
Sponsored by:
WFC36.22, -0.06, -0.2%) , most said credit quality remained solid when they reported second-quarter earnings.
But a slowing housing market has still caused some trouble. Earnings at Golden West Financial (GDW :
Golden West Financial Corporation
GDW77.25, 0.00, 0.0%) , which is in the process of being acquired by Wachovia (WB :
Wachovia Corp
WB56.02, +0.19, +0.3%) , came in below expectations as mortgage demand slowed.
Golden West specializes in adjustable-rate mortgages, which have fallen out of favor as interest rates increased.
Countrywide Financial (CFC :
Countrywide Financial Corp. The largest mortgage lender in the U.S., saw a 26% improvement in earnings but lowered its outlook for new loan production, while its chief executive warned that expectations of a "soft landing" in housing is overly optimistic.
Many banks have been ditching lower-quality loans while some have gone further, selling entire slices of the business.
Washington Mutual (WM : Reported a 9% drop in second-quarter earnings on charges stemming from the sale of mortgage-servicing rights to Wells Fargo.
KeyCorp (KEY : It is exploring the sale of its subprime mortgage lending unit. Three weeks ago National City Corp
(NCC :
National City Corporation said it has similar intentions. Nick Godt is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Real Estate
California August Home Sales
By Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll-->September 20, 2006
A total of 49,800 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That's up 12.5 percent from 44,250 for July and down 25.1 percent from a revised 66,500 for August 2005.
The median price paid for a home last month was $472,000. That was down 0.6 percent from July's $475,000, and up 3.5 percent from $456,000 for August a year ago.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $2,258. That was down from $2,353 in July, and up from $2,034 for August a year ago.
DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. The numbers cover all sales, new and resale, houses and condos.
Market stress indicators are still low: Down payments are stable, speculation buying is moderate, there are no significant shifts in market mix and default rates are rising, but still low. Earlier increases in non owner-occupied purchase activity and flipping activity have leveled off. The use of adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped the last half year.
California August Home Sales
By Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll-->September 20, 2006
A total of 49,800 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That's up 12.5 percent from 44,250 for July and down 25.1 percent from a revised 66,500 for August 2005.
The median price paid for a home last month was $472,000. That was down 0.6 percent from July's $475,000, and up 3.5 percent from $456,000 for August a year ago.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $2,258. That was down from $2,353 in July, and up from $2,034 for August a year ago.
DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. The numbers cover all sales, new and resale, houses and condos.
Market stress indicators are still low: Down payments are stable, speculation buying is moderate, there are no significant shifts in market mix and default rates are rising, but still low. Earlier increases in non owner-occupied purchase activity and flipping activity have leveled off. The use of adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped the last half year.
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