Justin Howeth’s Blog

JANUARY-2010 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter

Welcome to the most current Housing Trends eNewsletter. This eNewsletter is specially designed for you, with national and local housing information that you may find useful whether you’re in the market for a home, thinking about selling your home, or just interested in homeowner issues in general.The Housing Trends eNewsletter contains the latest information from the National Association of REALTORS®, the U.S. Census Bureau and Realtor.org reports, videos, key market indicators and real estate sales statistics, a video message by a nationally recognized economist, maps, mortgage rates and calculators, consumer articles, plus local neighborhood information and more. Please click here to view the JANUARY-2010 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter.If you are interested in determining the value of your home, click the Home Evaluator link for a free evaluation report.

The Houston Association of Realtors(HAR) just sent out their most recent sales numbers for November 2009 with some great light at the end of the tunnel.According to HAR Single-family home sales rose 32.8%.  This rise marked the third straight month of rising sales in Houston. Total property sales volume city wide rose 37.1%.  The November single-family median home price was $150,000 rose 8.7% from one year ago.  The rise in the median home price marks the seventh straight monthly increase in median home prices.  The average home price in Houston is just under $200,000 at $198,948 which is up 6.7% from one year ago.As of November 2008 Houston was still lingering with the effects of Hurricane Ike, so while these numbers maybe abnormally high, they are still rising.Now on to foreclosures, the topic that everyone is talking about.  Foreclosure sales continued their downward spiral.  Total foreclosed property sales in Houston accounted for 15.8% of all single-family homes in Houston, compare 15.8% to the 27.4% number from November 2008.Total property sales for November 2009 were 5,353; up 37.1%.  Total dollar volume sold was $1 Billion compared to only $714 Million in November 2008.The number of active listings are also falling.  At the end of November 45,452 homes were listed on the HAR MLS.  That 45,000 number represents about 30 more active listings than in October 2009.SUMMARY: Houston has always bucked the trend of the national real estate market.  With a 6 month inventory of housing, compared to a national inventory of 7 months, Houston is doing very well.  The difference between the median home price and the average home price tells you that Houston has one of the lowest costs of living in the nation today. Houston has posted, now one yearly-quarter (3 months) of gains in the home sales, median home price and average home price.  Thanks to the government extending the tax-credit and giving a tax-credit to home sellers, Houston will continue to see the residential real estate market out-grow and out-pace the national market. Houston was not hit very hard by the recession that is continuing to go on, Houston’s unemployment rate is about 8.5% or 1.5% lower than the National rate.  Houston is an amazing place to live, there are tons of opportunities here to find jobs, but there is only one place to find any of your housing needs.  With Me! If you are thinking about Buying or Selling a home give me a call today!

October 2009 brought Houston another consecutive month of rising sales, making it two consecutive rising months.  October also brought a rising Average Sales price and the Median Sales Price.  This may be jaded though when comparing to October 2008, because in October 2008, Houston was still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Ike, but the first-time homebuyer tax credit helped spur sales in October 2009. When looking at a year-over-year basis we can see that October 2009 sales jumped 14% from one year ago.  Houston’s Low Cost of Living is evident by the low Median Sales Price of $149,000 which is a 5% increase from October 2008 and also by the low Average Sales Price of $198, 639 which is a 3.2% from one year ago.  The number of active listings fell in October 2009 7.3% from one year ago. Summary: The Houston real estate market has weathered the recession better than Las Vegas, California, Florida or Arizona.  The First-Time Home buyer tax credit, which has been extended until April 30, 2010; will help Houston stay in the Top 10 for the Fastest Recovering Cities according to Forbes’ Magazine.  We will wait and see the November numbers in a few weeks, but looking at the past my guess is that November will see another rise in Sales, Average Price and Median Price.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, of Georgia; and Sen. Chris Dodd (sponser) are going to be introducing a bill soon that would increase the now $8,000 tax credit to $15,000.   The proposed credit would have income restrictions, unlike the $8,000 credit; which phases individuals out at $75,000/year and couples at $150,000/year.  Keep watch and keep checking back for updates.  Join me on Facebook and LinkedIn to follow along as well.

I have just created another new web poll about mortgage rates.  Mortgage rates have gone up dramatically in the last few weeks.  Today, according to bankrate.com 30 year fixed rates are at 5.27%.  Last week rates were at 4.98%.  Things are starting to get back to “normal”.  Click Here for the web poll.

Should Realtors be forced to disclose listing and expiration dates on the MLS?  That is the question in my latest poll.  The rest of my polls can be found at howethproperties.com.

Should Realtors be forced to disclose listing and expiration dates on the MLS? 

The local MLS board came out with April sales numbers today and they are looking much better than before.  Both Average and median home prices reached the highest levels since September 2008, and the sales volume was the second highest for 2009.  Although the season of the year does account for some of this up-ticking, however, overall April property sales fell 24.3 percent from a year ago and single-family homes fell 22.5 percent from one year ago. 

The single-family home median price held steady versus one year earlier.  Without foreclosures factored into the median home price, the price rose to $170,000.  The average price dropped 5.8% to $194,222.

Sales of foreclosed properties, which typically sell below market; continue to taper off.  In April 2009, foreclosures made up 23.6% of single-family home sales, compared to 34.0% in January, 28.0% in February, and 24.5% in March. 

In conclusion:The spring and summer seasons are typically the “hot” times of the year to buy a home.  Typically from March thru September.  Yes home prices are down about 20 percent from one year ago, but the world is not comming to an end as the national media would like you think it is.  Houston has always come out on-top thanks to the petro-chemical industry. 

If you are looking to buy…do it NOW!  As you can read things are turning around.  Prices will only go higher.  Interest rates are low, low 4%-High5% range.  BUY, BUY, BUY.

According to the Wall Street Journal the median house price dropped 14% in the first quater of 2009 according to NAR.  Nar has stated that in the first quater of 2009 half of the homes that were sold were sold to first-time homebuyers, and many of them bought foreclosed homes and that is what dropped home prices.  There were some areas of the country that showed an increase in the country, like the Cumberland area of Maryland and West Virgina, the median price jumped 21%. 

This is amazing news coming from NAR.

In February the number of homes sold rose 5.1% to a seasonally adjusted 4.72 Million units, compared to 4.49M annualized units.  The bulk of the increase in sales is due to the increase of distressed homes.  The Nation Wide average home price is $165,400 down 15.5% from one year ago. 

As it has been for the past couple months, existing home sales were stronger in the West than the rest of the nation — primarily in the struggling housing market of California. Existing home sales in the region were up 2.6% from a month ago to 1.2 million annualized units, and are up 30.4% from a year ago.

In the Northeast, sales rose 15.6% to an annualized rate of 740,000 units and are down 14.9% from a year ago. In the Midwest, sales were basically flat — up 1% — to 1.04 million units.

In the struggling Southern market, existing home sales rose 6.1% to an annualized rate of 1.74 million units, according to the trade organization. 

Texas Topped the job growth market last year.  Five Texas cities were ranked in the top ten with three of them securing the top three spots. 

Houston added 57,300 jobs in 2008, Dallas-Ft. Worth was next with 43,300 and then San Antonio with 14,900.  Austin came in fifth with 9,600 jobs created and El Paso came in ninth with 5,300 jobs in 2008. 

Coastal Markets Still Moving

Hurricane Ike brought commerical and residential construction on the Texas coast to a halt.  But now the experts in the area are seeing construction and consumer interest picking up again. 

Hurricane Ike was one of the most costly and destructive storms to ever hit the Texas Gulf Coast, but that has not deterred buyers’ interest in beach homes, as made clear by December’s increased home sales along the coast.