Lake Tahoe Real Estate Update

2009 Q4 Existing Home Sales Rise

Foreclosures Down in January

Home Values Down in Fourth Quarter

Mortgage Rates Near Record Lows

California New Home Sales on the Rise

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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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