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 investing news is short and sweet this week:
- CoreLogic reports home prices rise by 12.2%
- CoreLogic reports U.S. foreclosure inventory down 35%
- The best and worst markets for rental returns
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.
CoreLogic Reports Home Prices Rise by 12.2 Percent
On Tuesday, CoreLogic® released its February CoreLogic Home Price Index report. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 12.2 percent in February 2014 compared to February 2013.
This change represents 24 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices nationally.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationally increased 10.7 percent in February 2014. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.
Get your copy of the Home Price Index Report here >>>
CoreLogic Reports U.S. Foreclosure Inventory Down 35 Percent
—Value of Shadow Inventory Down $70 Billion From One Year Ago—
On Thursday, CoreLogic® released its February 2014 National Foreclosure Report with a supplement featuring quarterly shadow inventory data as of January 2014.
According to the CoreLogic analysis:
- There were 43,000 completed foreclosures in the United States in February 2014, down from 51,000 in February 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 15 percent.
- National residential shadow inventory was 1.7 million homes as of January 2014 compared to 2.2 million in January 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 23 percent.
Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 4.9 million completed foreclosures across the country.
As of February 2014, approximately 752,000 homes in the United States were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 1.2 million in February 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 35 percent. The foreclosure inventory as of February represented 1.9 percent of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.9 percent in February 2013.
At the end of February 2014, there were 1.9 million mortgages, or 4.9 percent, in serious delinquency, defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or real estate owned (REO).
Shadow Inventory Highlights:
- The value of shadow inventory was $254 billion as of January 2014, down from $324 billion a year ago and down from $289 billion six months ago.
- As of January 2014, year-over-year inventory of seriously delinquent homes decreased in all states by double digits. Twenty-four states experienced year-over-year declines in serious delinquency by at least 20 percent.
- The shadow inventory is down 22 percent compared to January 2013.
Download a copy of the National Foreclosure Report here >>>
From RealtyTrac: Best and Worst Markets for Rental Returns – Heat Map
Cash-flowing rental properties allow investors to build wealth over the long term in the form of an appreciating asset while also generating monthly income.
Good cash-flowing rentals can be found in many U.S. markets, but rapidly appreciating home prices are making it more difficult. The heat map below shows where median home prices and average rental rates make for good — and not so good — returns on rental properties.
The rental return for each county is the gross rental yield, calculated by taking the 2014 fair market rent for a three-bedroom home multiplied by 12 (months) and then dividing that 12-month total by the median sales price of residential properties in the county.