Lake Tahoe Real Estate Update

Rental Resurgence

Mortgage Rates Near Record Lows

California New Home Sales on the Rise

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MLS Statistics

C.A.R. Statistics

Mortgage Rate Update

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SLT Real Estate

RISMEDIA, January 12, 2011—As leisure travel continues to rebound, owners of vacation rentals are expressing optimism about their bookings in 2011. In fact, HomeAway, Inc.—one of the world’s leading online vacation rental marketplaces—finds in its latest “HomeAway Vacation Rental Marketplace Report” that eight of 10 vacation rental owners anticipate their rental business this year will be stronger or about the same as it was in 2010.

The year is already off to a good start for some owners. According to HomeAway’s seventh quarterly report, about 60% of vacation rental owners say their bookings for the first quarter of the year (January through March) are about the same or higher than the same time period last year.

“It’s clear an increasing number of travelers are considering vacation rentals as an alternative to hotels,” says Brian Sharples, chief executive officer of HomeAway. “We’ve done a lot of work to promote the benefits of vacation rentals—extra space, added privacy and full kitchens—and that marketing and advertising is having an impact. More travelers are asking themselves, ‘Why hotel when I can HomeAway?’”

Good News for Travelers: Prices Stable, Choices Continue to Grow
The HomeAway report also found that a majority (59%) of vacation rental owners will keep their 2010 rental rates in place this year—good news for travelers looking to stretch their travel dollar in 2011. About 10% will decrease their rental rates from last year, and approximately 31% expect to increase their rates.

While rates look to be consistent in 2011, vacation rental inventory continues to grow. For the sixth consecutive quarter, Austin makes the list of the top 10 fastest-growing cities for vacation rental listings. Last year’s list, comprised of three markets in California (Carnelian Bay, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills), three ski towns (Estes, Colo.; Truckee and Carnelian Bay, Calif.) and two lake destinations (Canyon Lake, Texas; Lake Norman, Illinois) is a change from this year’s list that featured beaches and less traditional vacation rental destinations.

In addition to a greater selection of vacation rentals, travelers will also benefit from owners’ efforts to improve their properties and the experience that travelers have while staying in them. The report found that 59% of vacation rental owners are planning an upgrade to their homes in 2011.

Of those owners who say they’ll embark on an improvement project:
-41% plan to paint the interior of their vacation home
-29% will add new bedding
-23% will update the home’s exterior (landscaping, roofing, painting, etc.)
-21% will add new electronics
-17% will add new furniture
-11% will upgrade the appliances
-9% will make their vacation rental more energy efficient

“For most vacation rental owners, it’s about providing a great vacation experience for their renters,” says Sharples. “They’re looking to create a little piece of paradise that brings families together.”

In fact, when asked how they describe their vacation home to travelers, 19% say they use the word “paradise;” 18% say “retreat;” and 14% use the word “peaceful.” Other descriptors included:
-Private (9%)
-Convenient (8%)
-Cozy (7%)
-Fun (5%)
-Middle of the action (5%)
-Other (12%)

If they could afford to buy another vacation rental today, nearly half (49%) of the owners surveyed say they’d buy in a beach destination—more than any other type of destination. Fourteen percent would buy in a ski or mountain destination; 9% would buy near a lake; and 6% would buy in a big city like New York, Dallas, Los Angeles or San Francisco. The remaining owners would buy in a destination built around family attractions or a mid-sized city like Austin, New Orleans or Santa Fe.

However, for those who are serious about buying vacation real estate with the intent to rent, Sharples says they should consider markets where travelers are looking to vacation. McCall, Idaho, was the fastest-growing destination among travelers looking for vacation rentals in the third quarter of 2010. The resort city in the southwestern part of the state is known for its annual winter carnival. The destinations with the largest year-over-year percent increase (from Q3 2009 to Q3 2010) in inquiries from travelers looking to rent vacation homes:

-McCall, Idaho – up 467%
-New Orleans – up 226%
-Indio, Calif. (near Palm Springs) – up 157%
-Haiku, Maui – up 143%
-Chicago – up 121%
-Canyon Lake, Texas (in Texas Hill Country) – up 118%
-Portland, Ore. – up 115%
-Amelia Island, Fla. – up 113%
-Haena, Kauai – up 108%
-Wimberly, Texas (in Texas Hill Country) – up 108%

For more information, visit www.homeaway.com.

Greetings from Tahoe this lovely Spring Season 2010.

As hope springs eternal so does the optimism and excitement that the Spring season brings with it and this year this is particularly true.

Not only is the Spring season creating a sense of new beginnings within the our homes and the economy, but also within the real estate industry. Buyer's are tiptoeing out from their winter's den in search of values that will compel them to purchase their second home and or investment property, particularly while the rates are still so attractive.

Sellers are coming to the negotiating table ever more knowledgeable about the market conditions and the long-term trend forecasts that indicate we are at or near the bottom of the market and that we will likely bounce along the bottom for the period of economic recovery. The bottom line is if you need to sell in the foreseeable future, prices are as good as they're going to get (for the short term that is).

The South Tahoe Association of Realtors trends indicate that the market has flattened at $317K median home price also evidenced by the lower decline in price year over year (click here for more details). The year-to-date numbers confirm a trend of increasing sales and decreasing price (year over year). However the very interesting trend we are witnessing is the stabilization of prices for the past 3 months as our median home price is hovering around $315-$317K and on a month over month basis the prices are even showing some increase for the past month. While I'm fairly confident that we're at the bottom of the market, I'll wait to claim that we are starting the move upwards in prices until we have 3 months of statistics to confirm.

The good news is, however, that we are enjoying favorable selling conditions; sellers are realistic with pricing and buyers are serious about jumping in (finally). Fence sitters are moving off the fence!

More to follow as we ramp up for summer selling season!

Sincerely,

Deb Howard

Q4 '09 EXISTING HOME SALES RISE

The expanded homebuyer tax credit helped boost existing-home sales in the fourth quarter of 2009, NAR announced. Total existing-home sales in the fourth quarter were 27.2 percent above the level recorded a year earlier. Fourth quarter sales were 13.9 percent higher than the previous quarter, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.03 million. Distressed properties accounted for 32 percent of fourth quarter transactions, which marks a decline from the Q4 2008 rate of 37 percent.

Quarterly sales increased in 48 states and the District of Columbia, with 32 states posting double-digit gains. Year-over-year sales rose in 49 states. But pricing pressure was still a factor in the market. The national median existing single-family home price was $172,900 in the fourth quarter, which is 4.1 percent below the median price recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.

“The surge in home sales was driven by buyers responding strongly to the tax credit combined with record low mortgage interest rates,” says NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “With inventory levels trending down over the past 18 months, we expect broadly balanced housing market conditions in much of the country by late spring with more areas showing higher prices.”

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Source: Council of Residential Specialists

Foreclosure filings, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, were reported on 315,716 U.S. properties during January, a 10 percent decrease from December but still 15 percent higher than January 2009, according to the latest RealtyTrac figures released today. One in every 409 U.S. homes received a foreclosure filing during the month.

REO activity fell 5 percent from the previous month, but was up 31 percent from a year ago. Default notices were down 12 percent in January, but were up 4 percent from January 2009, while scheduled auctions were down 11 percent for the month but were 15 percent higher than a year ago.

RealtyTrac’s CEO James J. Saccacio says the January foreclosure data is similar to a year ago, when a double-digit jump in foreclosure activity in December 2008 was followed by a 10 percent drop in January 2009. “If history repeats itself, we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives works,” Saccacio says.

Nevada continues to lead the country in foreclosure activity with one in every 95 households receiving a foreclosure filing during January, more than four times the national average. Arizona was second with one in every 129 households receiving a foreclosure filing.

Las Vegas had the highest metro foreclosure rate in the country, with one in every 82 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, despite a decrease of 2 percent in foreclosure activity from the previous month and 21 percent drop in activity from a year ago. Phoenix was the only metro area among the top 10 to post a month-over-month increase (4 percent) in foreclosure activity.

Source: Council of Residential Specialists

U.S. home values fell 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 over the previous year, marking the 12th consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines, according to the Q4 2009 Zillow Real Estate Market Report. Home values nationwide also fell 0.5 percent from the previous quarter to a median price of $186,200.

After showing at least five consecutive month-to-month increases in home values during 2009, 29 of the 143 markets tracked by Zillow showed flat or decreasing values in the second half of the year. Negative equity remained high at 21 percent of all single-family homes with mortgages.

The number of homeowners who lost their home to foreclosure peaked in December, with more than one in every 1,000 homes being foreclosed, Zillow reports. Foreclosure re-sales made up more than one-fifth of all U.S. home sales in December. Additionally, 28.5 percent of home sales nationwide sold for less than what the seller originally paid.

Source: Council of Residential Specialists

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.93 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 18, 2010, down from last week when it averaged 4.97 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.04 percent.

“Mortgage rates eased for the second week, while economic data releases suggest that the housing market may be in a slow state of recovery,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported that existing home sales rose in 48 states and the District of Columbia between the third and fourth quarters of 2009; 32 states experienced double-digit growth. In addition, 67 metropolitan areas saw positive annual house price growth in the fourth quarter, more than double that in the third quarter, according to the NAR.

“New home construction is also slowly improving. One-family housing starts rose to an annual pace of 484,000 homes in January, which is up almost 36 percent from January 2009, based on the U.S. Census figures. Moreover, homebuilder assessments of market conditions over the first half of 2010 improved in February, according to National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.”

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(Courtesy of Freddie Mac)

Sales in new-home communities of 10 units or more in California rose 25 percent in October compared with a year ago, according to the monthly California Building Industry Association (CBIA)/HanleyWood Market Intelligence report. The increase marked the first year-to-year sales appreciation since December 2006, according to CBIA. Sales of single-family homes increased 4 percent, while sales of townhomes and multiple-unit homes rose 36 percent. Condominium sales increased 94 percent compared with a year ago, according to the report.

“While this month’s figures are encouraging, we must keep in mind that we’re comparing the figures to October of 2008, which was the second lowest month of nominal sales we’ve seen during the downturn,” said Jonathan Dienhart, director of published research for HanleyWood Market Intelligence.

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