Real Estate

The construction of single family home fell in the month of June to the slowest pace that the market has seen in 17 years. The only thing that helped to give them a reprieve was a change in certain New York laws - which helped to increase apartment building.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of single-family homes dropped by 5.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000 units, the weakest performance since January 1991, another period when the housing industry was going through a severe downturn.

Southern California is full of beautiful beaches, warm weather, and free homes? A San Diego developer is trying hard to clear away some of their inventory to potential home buyers by giving them a chance in a lifetime.

Michael Crews Development is giving away a row home that has been valued at $400,000 when someone purchases a 1.6 million luxury estate home that is located in the upscale city of Escondido. “We are targeting a niche market of investors who are interested in the opportunity to buy a new home for themselves and get a free rental property or second home for family members,” developer Michael Crews said in a statement.

Bank of America stated this week that he would be raising the stakes in China Construction Bank Corp to close to $1.86 billion. This is a reflection of the initial investment that they made three years ago and is a signal that they have confidence in the bank prospects in China.

The increased stake also squashes rumors that Bank of America was in a rush to sell its stake to offset woes back home. Bank of America has posted dismal results for three quarters running, hammered last year by bad trading bets and this year by ballooning losses on home-equity loans and other credit exposure. The bank posted a 77% plunge in first-quarter profit and has given a bleak outlook for the rest of this year.

Karl Case – the co-founder – of a home price index has said that more auctions of foreclosed properties are working to remove the inventory from the housing market and could lead to a fast recovery. “I think we’re going to see some signs of life in the next few months,” Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. “The market is beginning to clear somewhat. There is some good news in this.”

Finding a vacation home for your family this summer is fun. It takes them to a whole new and exciting place that helps everyone to unwind from the stress of everyday life. However, before you sign the contract and pay the money make sure that you know all of the things that you have to be looking out for before you choose the house you want.

The Housing Industry Association is looking forward to the federal budget in hopes that it will help to increase the housing and make it more affordable for consumers. Ron Silberberg – the HIA manager – stated that the $21.7 billion will help to relieve the interest rate pressures and the infrastructure skills and investments in order to reduce the constraints that many people are facing.

“Measures aimed at boosting the supply of new housing along with desperately needed urban infrastructure will assist in pegging the gap between underlying demand and current production,” Dr Siberberg said in a statement.

New Home sales have dropped and are lower now than they have been in 16 years. There was hope that the beginning of Spring would bring more sales and would give home owners and potential home owners the chance to start over. Yet, it seemed that things just got worse and there is no silver lining.

The median price of a new home in March, compared with a year ago, fell by the largest amount in nearly four decades. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes dropped by 8.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, the slowest sales pace since October 1991. The median price of a home sold in March dropped by 13.3 percent compared with March 2007, the biggest year-over-year price decline since a 14.6 percent plunge in July 1970.

The National Association of Realtors this week reported that the sales of existing homes located in the United States have increased 3% during February 1st. This has been the first increase since July of last year. The reason the increase has occurred is because the prices have been lowered.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of twenty major markets showed that home prices fell almost two and a half percent in January. Prices were down almost eleven percent from a year before. And still another report this week showed that sales of new single-family houses fell in February. Sales were down almost two percent from January, to a thirteen-year low. The Commerce Department estimated there was a ten-month supply of newly built houses waiting to be sold.

The Treasury Department, Urban Development, and the Department of Housing are gathering this week to announce a way to help at risk borrowers who have different types of mortgages (not narrowed down to high cost mortgages and subprime loans) may be eligible for the new Project Lifeline. This project will give homeowners who are seriously overdue a 30 day suspension of a foreclosure for lenders to work out a loan that is more affordable for them.

On December 28th the Commerce Department reported that home sales have gone down a steep 9% - which was more than what people were looking for. People were hoping that the number would drop at a more decreased rate.

New-home sales dropped by 19.3% in the Northeast, 27.6% in the Midwest, and 6.4% in the South. However, sales increased by 4% in the West. Over the last 12 months, new-home sales nationwide have tumbled by 34.4%, the biggest annual slide since early 1991, and stark evidence of the painful collapse of the once high-flying housing market.
The supply of homes for sale rose to 9.3 months’ worth from 8.8 (revised from 8.5). Whereas earlier sales and price data had suggested big price cuts by homebuilders were clearing inventory, this pattern has been reversed with the November data and revisions.