REAL ESTATE NEWS
Reading the headlines of any real estate news publication is an eye opener these days. You will see all kinds of interesting stories about interest rates, falling home prices and astronomically high foreclosure rates. With a stagnant economy, a weak dollar and companies laying-off thousands of workers at a time, its no wonder we have a terrible housing market. Let s take a look at how so many different parts came together to cause the problems we read so much about in the real estate news.
FORECLOSURE RATES UP
Currently, through the first six months of this year, there have been 343,000 foreclosures. You can see this when reading a real estate news paper. An amazing 71, 563 homes lost in June alone.
Even last year, 145,000 homes were lost in six months. Total filings of defaults, bank repossessions and auction sales totaled an astounding 1.4 million so far this year. Foreclosures were up 75% in 2007 alone. And over 1% of all American households were in some form of foreclosure proceedings. You could read about these horrors in any real estate news magazine. One analyst noted something a little unnerving in a recent real estate news publication. He made the observation that since we have had year after year increases of over 50% foreclosure rates, that we still have yet to hit our peak.
HOME PRICES DOWN
Single-family home values have fallen by 7.7% in the first quarter of this year alone. You can find it in any real estate news paper. This is the largest fall off of home prices since 1982.
Median home sales prices have fallen to $196,300. That is down 4.8% from last year. Condominium prices fared a little better. According to a leading real estate news magazine, the average price for condos has only fallen 3% since 2007. Another problem is that home prices are down in 20 key market places. For a 12 twelve-month period starting last year, prices dropped 10.7%. This large drop off happened in key metro areas like Atlanta and Las Vegas. That makes it the largest drop off since 2000. All of these statistics seem to be pointing to a national decline of real estate prices as opposed to just regional drop offs. Another factor that is keeping home prices lower is the fact that the market is over saturated with homes. You can read this in any real estate news magazine.
INTEREST RATES DOWN
Pick up any real estate news publication and you will see endless stories on interest rates. The 15 year fixed mortgage interest rates are actually on the decline this week. Just one year ago, the interest rates were 6.3%. This week the interest rates have fallen to 5.91%. Five year adjustable mortgage interest rates were also down this week. They fell from 5.82% to 5.78%. This time last year, the interest rates were at 6.35%. One year adjustable interest rates mortgages were averaging 5.17% this week. You can see all of these interest rates when reading a real estate news magazine. That was a marked decline from last year s interest rates of 5.71%.