Asking Home Prices Move Higher

Asking Home Prices Move Higher

Single-Family Rents at Stand-Still

Asking prices on single-family homes rose in March, while high inventory flattened out rent prices, according to Trulia’s Price and Rent Monitors.

Based on data on for-sale homes and rentals listed on Trulia, the monitors take into account changes in the mix of listed homes and reflect trends in prices and rents for similar homes and similar neighborhoods through the end of March.

With the spring house hunting season upon us, Trulia reported a 7.2 percent year-over-year increase in asking prices on the national level (8.0 percent excluding foreclosures). On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices rose 1.1 percent month-over-month (1.4 percent excluding foreclosures) and 3.5 percent quarter-over-quarter (4.0 percent excluding foreclosures. Read more ..

Get Ready for Big Bidding Wars This Spring

Get Ready for Big Bidding Wars This Spring
With tighter inventories of homes for sale, buyers are finding increased competition through bidding wars. 
But the bidding may not be between only one or two other buyers -- more bidding wars are popping up where dozens or even hundreds of other buyers are all competing for the same property. 

'The only question is not whether a new listing will get multiple bids but how many it will get,

Meanwhile, inventories of for-sale homes continues to be low. The National Association of REALTORS® reported a 19.2 percent drop in inventories year-over-year in February.  See more ...

Top Markets for Single-Family Rentals

Top Markets for Single-Family Rentals

RealtyTrac: With institutional investors playing a major role in the home-buying market as they snagged tens of thousands of homes in 2012, RealtyTrac set to work to determine which markets still offer the best opportunities for investors intending to purchase single-family homes to rent.

Topping the list of top 20 markets were Memphis, Tennessee; Saginaw, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; Ocala, Florida; and Las Vegas, Nevada.
These markets ranked the highest for cash purchase capitalization rate—the percentage of the purchase price accrued in net annual income. RealtyTrac observed these rates for three-bedroom homes in markets with at least 200,000 residents. “Buying single family homes as rentals that actually generate good monthly cash flow has become more difficult over the past year as institutional investors crowded into the market,” said RealtyTrac VP, Daren Blomquist. See the top 20 markets ....

Double-Digit Price Growth in February

Double-Digit Price Growth in February

CoreLogic Reports: Home Price Index (HPI) posted its largest annual increase in nearly seven years in February.

When including distressed sales (short sales and REOtransactions), home prices in February increased by 10.2 percent from February 2012, the data provider reported Wednesday. The annual gain marks the largest increase since March 2006. From January to February, prices still moved in a positive direction, but rose by just 0.5 percent.
“Nationally, home prices improved at the best rate since mid-2006, marking a full year of annual increases and underscoring the ongoing strengthening of market fundamentals,” said Anand Nallathambi, president andCEO of CoreLogic.“Continued home price appreciation will provide fuel needed to drive further recovery in the home purchase market.” Read more ....

NAR: Median Price Rises 15%

NAR: Median Price Rises 15%
Investment-Home Sales Decline in 2012: Investment-home sales in 2012 were down slightly from the year before but remain elevated, while the median price increased, according to a survey from National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Sales for investment homes fell 2.1 percent to 1.21 million, down from 1.23 million in 2011. Overall, investment sales accounted for 24 percent of sales in 2012, the second highest share since 2005, NAR data revealed.
“Investors have been very active in the market over the past two years, attracted mostly by discounted foreclosures that could be quickly turned into profitable rentals,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.  Learn more ....

Interest in Buying Increases Among Young Renters

Interest in Buying Increases Among Young Renters

Survey: Nearly two-thirds of millennials expressed an increased interest in buying, and it’s not because they are tired of apartment living, according to a survey from Pulte Group, Inc., a national homebuilder.

The PulteGroup Home Index Survey (PGHI) showed 65 percent of renters between ages 18 to 34 with an annual income of at least $50,000 said their intention to buy has increased significantly or somewhat over the past year.

The majority of millennials, or 52 percent, are interested in buying because they view a home as an investment and have a desire to own and build equity. Only 12 percent stated they are tired of apartment living.
 Read more

Shrinking Rental Yields to Drive Out Investors

Shrinking Rental Yields to Drive Out Investors

But Not This Year: Lower rental yields might cause investors to lose interest in the housing market, but according to Capital Economics, that scenario is unlikely to play out this year.

Currently, the increase in home prices is outpacing the rise in rents, which “is weighing on rental yields,” the firm noted in a report authored by the property economist Paul Diggle.
For example, national home prices in January rose 9.7 percent year-over-year, according to data from CoreLogic, yet the Consumer Price Index shows rents rose by just 2.7 percent during the same time period, the report noted. Read More ...