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 5.6%

• Institutional Investor Share and Cash Sales Drop

• Foreclosure Activity Increases 15% In October

Home Prices Rose by 5.6 Percent Year Over Year in September

––National Home Prices Are Expected to Rise 5 Percent Year Over Year—

According to CoreLogic®, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 5.6 percent in September 2014 compared to September 2013. This change represents 31 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices nationally.
The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices, including distressed sales, are projected to increase 0.1 percent month over month from September 2014 to October 2014 and, on a year-over-year basis, by 5 percent from September 2014 to September 2015.
 

Institutional Investor Share Drops, Cash Sales Also Lower

RealtyTrac’s® U.S. Institutional Investor & Cash Sales Report, which shows sales to institutional investors — entities that purchase at least 10 properties in a calendar year — accounted for 4.3 percent of all sales of single family homes and condos in the third quarter.
That’s down from 5.0 percent in the previous quarter and down from 5.3 percent a year ago — the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2010.
Meanwhile, all-cash sales accounted for 33.9 percent of all sales of single family homes and condos nationwide in the third quarter, down from 36.9 percent in the second quarter and unchanged from a year ago.
“Cash sales continue to be an important piece of the real estate puzzle right now, representing one in every three home sales nationwide in the third quarter of 2014 and helping to drive up U.S. median home prices 38 percent over the last two and half years,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

 

Foreclosure Activity Increases 15 Percent In October

RealtyTrac’s®  U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for October 2014, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions —  increased 15 percent from the previous month, but still down 8 percent from a year ago.
The 15 percent monthly increase was the largest month-over-month increase since U.S. foreclosure activity peaked in March 2010.
“The October foreclosure numbers are not a complete surprise given that over the past three years there has been an average 8 percent monthly uptick in scheduled foreclosure auctions in October as banks try to get ahead of the usual holiday foreclosure moratoriums,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.
“But the sheer magnitude of the increase this year demonstrates there is more than just a seasonal pattern at work. Distressed properties that have been in a holding pattern for years are finally being cleared for landing at the foreclosure auction.