All the Real Estate News That’s Fit to RE-Print™
Welcome to our weekly edition of Hot Real Estate Investment News.
New this week:
- Sales are up, mortgage performance is improving and prices are improving.
- Foreclosure starts in August decreased 13 percent from year earlier.
- Bank repossessions (REOs) in August were down 19 percent annually.
- Trulia says buying a home is 45% cheaper than renting.
Here are the details about real estate investing related news items that caught our attention this past week…
CoreLogic Releases September MarketPulse Report
Good Real Estate News
Key findings in the September MarketPulse Report include:
- While robust economic growth remains elusive, the housing market is accelerating in all areas. Sales are up, mortgage performance is improving and prices are rapidly improving.
- Land is a critical cyclical component that drives home values. Currently land share of total home value is historically low, but if land sales begin to increase rapidly, home prices could rise more quickly than traditional income and rent-to-price fundamental indicators warrant, and would contribute to overall economic growth.
Foreclosures Down 15% from Year Earlier
As reported by David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee S&P Dow Jones Indices, key findings from RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for August 2012 include:
- Foreclosure starts in August decreased 13 percent from a 17-month high in August 2011.
- Bank repossessions (REOs) in August decreased 2 percent from the previous month and were down 19 percent annually — the 22nd consecutive month with a year-over-year decline in REOs.
CoreLogic Reports Number of Residential Properties in Negative Equity Decreases Again in Second Quarter of 2012
600,000 More Borrowers Now “Above Water” For a Total of 1.3 Million in First Half of 2012
Data released by CoreLogic this week:
- 10.8 million, or 22.3 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2012. This is down from 11.4 million properties, or 23.7 percent, at the end of the first quarter of 2012….
- Approximately 600,000 borrowers reached a state of positive equity at the end of the second quarter of 2012, adding to the more than 700,000 borrowers that moved into positive equity in the first quarter of this year.”
The full Q2 2012 negative equity report, with charts and state-level data, is available here: CoreLogic Q2 2012 Negative Equity Report.
Trulia: Buying a home is 45% cheaper than renting
Housing Wire‘s Justin T. Hilley reports:
“It’s more affordable to buy a home than to rent in the 100 largest metros in the nation. That’s the case if you plan to stay in the home for seven years, which is the average time Americans traditionally live in a home before moving.
The findings come from real estate data provider Trulia, which conducted a study of key market factors impacting the cost of homeownership. Based on asking prices and rents from the summer, the company claims that, on average, buying is 45% cheaper than renting those areas. That’s a savings of $771 a month.”