All the Real Estate News That’s Fit to RE-Print™
Welcome to our weekly edition of Real Estate Investing News This Week. Highlights this week include:
- Home prices rise only slightly in March
- Existing home sales show modest improvement
- Foreclosure inventory is down 35%
- Credit default rates at new low
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.
Case-Shiller: Home Prices Rise Slightly in March
According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the 10-City and 20-City Composite Indices gained 0.8% and 0.9% month-over-month. In the first quarter of 2014, the National Index gained 0.2%.
The National and Composite Indices saw their annual rates of gain slow significantly.
“The year-over-year changes suggest that prices are rising more slowly,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Annual price increases for the two Composites have slowed in the last four months and 13 cities saw annual price changes moderate in March. The National Index also showed decelerating gains in the last quarter….
“Housing indicators remain mixed. April housing starts recovered the drop in March but virtually all the gain was in apartment construction, not single family homes. New home sales also rebounded from recent weakness but remain soft. Mortgage rates are near a seven month low but recent comments from the Fed point to bank lending standards as a problem.”
Median Prices up 11% from Year Ago – Highest Since December 2008
RealtyTrac’s April 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report, shows that U.S. residential properties, including single family homes, condominiums and townhomes, sold at an estimated annual pace of 5,213,793 in April, a decrease of less than 1 percent from March but an increase of 4 percent from April 2013.
The median sales price of U.S. residential properties — including both distressed and non-distressed sales — was $172,000 in April, an increase of 4 percent from the previous month and an increase of 11 percent from April 2013 — the biggest year-over-year increase since U.S. median prices bottomed out in March 2012.
Existing-Home Sales Show Modest Improvement
Existing-home sales increased for the first time this year in April, while inventory meaningfully increased and home price growth moderated, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 1.3 percent, but are 6.8 percent below the level in April 2013.
Total housing inventory at the end of April jumped 16.8 percent to 2.29 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 5.9-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 5.1 months in March.
Foreclosure Inventory Down 35%
According to CoreLogic, for the month of April 2014, there were 46,000 completed foreclosures nationally, down from 56,000 in April 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 18 percent.
As of April 2014, approximately 694,000 homes in the United States were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 1.1 million in April 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 35 percent.
Download a copy of the National Foreclosure Report: CoreLogic Foreclosure Report April 2014
National Credit Default Rates Reach New Post-Recession Low
According to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices, the national composite recorded its lowest post-recession rate; it posted 1.11% in April, the lowest default rate since June 2006.
The auto loan rate of 0.92% is a new historic low beating out the previous low of 0.99% set last month.
The first mortgage default rate continued its downward trend, recording 1.01% in April, the seventh consecutive month of decline and lowest level seen since July 2006. Both the bank card and second mortgage saw their default rates increase; the bank card rate was 2.84% and the second mortgage posted 0.63% in April 2014.