All the Real Estate News That’s Fit to RE-Print™
Welcome to our weekly edition of Real Estate Investing News This Week. Real estate news highlights include:
- Home prices are still increasing while the number of MLS listings keep falling
- The boost in March housing starts is being bolstered by a surge in multifamily building
- Both first mortgage and second mortgage default rates are falling
- 3 reasons the housing recovery may not last
We hope these real estate news items help you stay up-to-date with your real estate investing strategies and inspire some profitable real estate deals for you.
Home Sales See Seasonal Surge, Listings Fall
Home sales rose 25 percent in March.
By Tory Barringer:
“The seasonal surge in home sales combined with another drop in listings to further drive up prices in March, Redfin observed in its latest Real-Time Price Tracker.
According to the brokerage, home sales rose 25 percent month-over-month in March, reflecting the normal spring spike that occurs every year. On a year-over-year basis, however, sales were up just 0.9 percent—the smallest gain in 14 months….
The number of homes for sale fell 31 percent from March 2012 to March 2013….”
Multifamily Boosts Housing Starts in March
Mark Lieberman reports:
“Led by a surge in multifamily building, housing starts jumped 7.0 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,036,000, the highest level since June 2008, while housing permits dropped 3.9 percent to 902,000, the lowest level since November, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Tuesday.”
First Quarter of 2013 Shows Healthy Consumer Credit Quality
On Tuesday, S&P Dow Jones Indices released the latest results for the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices. Data is through March 2013.
Get Complete details here.
See also:
National Mortgage Default Rates Fall in March
From Ester Cho:
“Mortgage default rates moved lower along with the overall national default rate in March, according to the Consumer Credit Default Indices released by S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian.
The first mortgage default rate fell to 1.41 percent last month from 1.48 percent in February and 1.88 percent from March 2012. The second mortgage default rate was down to 0.69 percent, a monthly and yearly decrease from 0.71 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively.”
OPINION PIECE:
3 Reasons the Housing Recovery May Not Last
This interesting article by CNNMoney’s Les Christie sheds some unique insights on today’s buying frenzy. Read the entire article. Here are some highlights:
“The housing market has made a big comeback over the past year; home prices have surged some 8% and homebuyers can’t seem to buy up properties fast enough….
Here are three reasons the housing market recovery may not last:”
1. The housing recovery is being led by investors.
2. The economic recovery is just not strong enough yet.
3. Government cuts will hurt homeowners. READ MORE >>>