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:
- Housing Starts Fall 17%
- 1.2 Million Borrowers Regained Equity
- Home Prices Rose by 5.7%
Housing Starts Fall 17 Percent in February
According to the U.S. Commerce Department, housing starts dropped 17 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 897,000 units in February.
“February’s numbers indicate that wavering consumer confidence continues to impact the housing recovery,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Buyers are waiting for a stronger, more reliable economy before making a home purchase, and builders are responding to their reluctance….”
Single-family housing production fell 14.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000 in February while multifamily starts dropped 20.8 percent to 304,000 units.
1.2 Million Borrowers Regained Equity in 2014
—5.4 Million Properties Remain in Negative Equity as of Q4 2014—
According to CoreLogic, 1.2 million borrowers regained equity in 2014. The total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity at the end of Q4 2014 is approximately 44.5 million or 89 percent of all mortgaged properties.
The CoreLogic analysis also indicates approximately 172,000 homes slipped into negative equity in the fourth quarter of 2014, increasing the total number of mortgaged residential properties with negative equity to 5.4 million, or 10.8 percent of all mortgaged properties.
Nevada had the highest percentage of mortgaged properties in negative equity at 24.2 percent, followed by Florida (23.2 percent); Arizona (18.7 percent); Illinois (16.2 percent) and Rhode Island (15.8 percent). These top five states combined account for 31.7 percent of negative equity in the United States.
Home Prices Rose by 5.7 Percent
––Home Prices Projected to Increase by 4.9 % by January 2016––
The January 2015 CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI®) shows that home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 5.7 percent in January 2015 compared to January 2014.
This change represents 35 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 0.4 percent month over month from January 2015 to February 2015 and, on a year-over-year basis, by 5.3 percent from January 2015 to January 2016.
Full-month January 2015 national data can be found at the Home Price Index Report page.