Growth and real estate look good in Pueblo West

It's a city that's been booming for years, with a high climb in population since 2000.

We found out more about Pueblo West when it comes to people and real estate.

"We get people in and out of here quite a lot," said Laurie Cozzetto, Community Development Manager for Pueblo West Metro.

Nearly 30,000 people now live in Pueblo West.

That's up from around 17,000 in 2000.

"We're doing a lot to beautify and enhance our community," said Cozzetto. "I used to know everybody that lives here, but no longer. There's too many people."

They're proud of that and their metro.

So proud in fact, they're putting in two gateway signs complete with their motto "Where Eagles Soar."

"One on the west end of Highway 50 and one on the east end of Highway 50, and they'll be placed so they are visible from Highway 50 for travelers coming through our community," said Cozzetto.

Just a way to welcome people to the community.

"It's a source of pride for the people that live in Pueblo West," said Cozzetto.

Real estate is also looking good.

"Pueblo West has been very active in the last year and would seem like it would continue," said Gary Miller, Broker and Owner at Remax of Pueblo. "Housing is affordable out there, ammenities are nice. It's just a great place to live."

That could be because there are a lot of newer homes.

"Because Pueblo West is a newer community, I think that's helped them be more attractive to people," said Miller.

"We're pretty proud of the way that we're going with our community and the way we're developing," said Cozzetto.

Real estate sales in all of Pueblo County went up over six percent from 2011 to 2012.

Numbers are looking good in Colorado Springs as well.

For the original post visit: http://www.koaa.com/news/growth-and-real-estate-look-good-in-pueblo-west/

Twin Cities commercial real estate picks up in 2012

The Twin Cities' office market is in its best shape since 2007, as it absorbed nearly 1 million square feet of available space in 2012, and the area's industrial buildings recorded their lowest vacancy rates since 2008.

Those findings -- detailed in a semi-annual report from real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq -- show the local commercial real estate market picked up in the second half of 2012.

"After a slow first half, development and redevelopment activity have bounced back, nearly doubling the square footage under construction since 2011," said Mike Ohmes, Cushman & Wakefield's executive vice president of transaction and advisory services.

The Twin Cities' industrial market had vacancy rate of 12.8 percent in 2012, which was a 3.3 percent reduction from 2011.

Retail properties showed their strongest year since the recession, with vacancy decreasing from 8.9 percent at midyear to 8.3 percent at year's end.

A development boom also continues for apartments, with more than 1,400 new units delivered in 2012, and multi-family vacancy rates were up only slightly, rising from 2.3 percent to 2.7 percent.

"Despite a lingering sense of economic uncertainty, all sectors of the Twin Cities' commercial real estate market continue to show signs of recovery," Ohmes said.

-- John Welbes

For the original post visit: http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_22491301/twin-cities-commercial-real-estate-picks-up-2012

Who’s losing in the housing slump? Real estate agents

Home sales continue to plummet in most parts of the country, and with the decline has come a new reality for organized real estate: a drop in how much money everybody is making.

There are no official statistics on revenue the industry takes in, but December transactions from the Canadian Real Estate Association show the dollar volume for the month was down almost $1.379-billion from a year ago. Using a 5% commission rate, the industry standard, you get almost $70-million in lost revenue for realtors in December alone.

The housing market may not have crashed in terms of prices, but for the agents there is little doubt it’s getting tougher out there.

“It all really depends on where,” said Gregory Klump, chief economist at Ottawa-based CREA, about how agents are being affected by the slowdown. “If you are in Victoria, sales are down 5% for the year. You can be sure their members are hungrier. In Vancouver, it’s not the heady times in 2012 they were in 2011 because activity was down 23%. If you are looking at Calgary, realtors are having a real good time.”

The numbers don’t lie. December was tougher in Vancouver. There was $800.8-million in sales, a 31.6% drop from the $1.17-billion in sales a year earlier. In Toronto, sales dropped to $1.77-billion from $2.13-billion, a 17.1% decline. Compare that to Calgary, which had $563.8-billion in activity in December, a 14.6% increase from the $492-million a year earlier.

For the original post visit: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/01/16/whos-losing-in-the-housing-slump-real-estate-agents/?__lsa=126b-1166

Dallas-Fort Worth commercial real estate transactions

SALES

The Nash Group Real Estate purchased Rosemeade Marketplace, a 40,000-plus-square-foot market and greenhouse at 3646 E. Rosemeade Parkway in Carrollton. The new owners leased the facility to Ruibals Nursery and Chuck Cox. Bill Bledsoe with Henry S. Miller Brokerage handled the sale.

Centric Capital Partners has purchased the Raising Cane’s restaurant property at the southeast corner of Greenville Avenue and Milton Street in Dallas. The 28,225-square-foot corner property is leased to the restaurant and was purchased for long-term investment purposes from Term Partners LTD.

Baruch Cedar Hill LLC has purchased Cedar Hill Crossing, an 187,800-square-foot retail center on the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 67 and Belt Line Road in Cedar Hill. Tom Salanty and Chris Harden from Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. brokered the sale by Kimco Realty.

Slate River Properties L.P. has purchased a 9,960-square-foot building at 4770 Gretna St. in Dallas. Robert Blankinship of NAI Robert Lynn brokered the sale with Clint Riley of Transwestern.

Centric Capital Partners has purchased the Bakers Rib’s restaurant property at 4844 Greenville Ave. in Dallas. The 4,000-square-foot building is leased to the restaurant and was acquired from the Dragna Trust. Joe Jackson and Michael Cotten coordinated the transaction.

Independence Plaza Center L.P. purchased the Independence Plaza Shopping Center on the southwest corner of Galloway Avenue and North Town East Boulevard in Mesquite. The 170,342-square-foot retail center was sold by Weingarten Realty. Tom Salanty and Chris Harden from Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. brokered the sale.

The Charleston Apartments at 723 N. Marsalis Ave. in Dallas sold to a local investor. Thomas Hooke with The Cantrell Co. & Partners brokered the sale.

KLC Concepts has purchased a 22,000-square-foot industrial property at 11241 Gemini Drive in Dallas. David Duwe at Mike Smith Co. brokered the sale with Ryan Boozer at Mercer Co.

John Dryden and Suzanna Dryden Jensen purchased a 56,000-square-foot office, showroom and warehouse at 3033 Kellway Drive in Carrollton from ViewPoint Bank. Ron Hebert with Marcus and Millichap brokered the sale with Robert Powell with Robert Powell Real Estate.

LEASES

Southwest Stainless LP has leased 112,000 square feet of office-warehouse space at 2805 Market St. in Garland. Stephen Cooper and Tom Lynn of NAI Robert Lynn negotiated the lease with Steve Berger of CBRE Group.

Unidos Home Linens has leased 22,500 square feet of office-warehouse space at 10323 Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas. Jim Svidron and Bob Spletter of NAI Robert Lynn negotiated the transaction.

The Federal Aviation Administration signed a lease on a 16,521-square-foot property at 8700 Freeport Parkway in Las Colinas. Stream Realty Partners’ Tim Terrell and Beth Boyd negotiated the lease.

Monarch Office Furniture LLC at 2202 113th St. in Grand Prairie has expanded into 11,528 square feet of industrial space with showroom. Judy Nitzinger with SCM Real Estate Services negotiated the lease with Alan Clark with JSC Realty Services.

Lumber Liquidators Inc. has leased 7,841 square feet of retail space at 808 Interstate 20 in Arlington. Jon McDaniel of NAI Robert Lynn negotiated the lease with Brandon Anapol of Metro Commercial.

Microsemi Corp. has leased 5,573 square feet of office space in the Forum at Belt Line Building 3, 4006 Belt Line Road in Addison, from ARI Forum. Melanie Hughes and Sharon Friedberg of Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services negotiated the lease with Greg Tippin and Kyle Jett of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

Monte Carlos leased 5,400 square feet of retail space at the Shops on Cooper at 3610 S. Cooper St. in Arlington. Dan Avnery and Chris Flesner with Retail Realty negotiated the lease.

Real estate editor Steve Brown compiles this list.

For the original post visit: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20130111-dallas-fort-worth-commercial-real-estate-transactions.ece

Experts warn about real estate as retirement savings

With RRSP season upon us, some financial advisors have some words of caution when it comes to real estate.

Don't count on your home to bankroll your retirement.

Laura Parsons, a mortgage expert with the Bank of Montreal, says many of her clients tend to think of real estate as a sure bet in retirement.

The bank recently put out a report with advice on saving for your golden years.

"There's a lot more weight on the value of our homes, so a lot of in fact, 41 per cent are considering that the equity on their home is really going to be the supplement for their retirement. So, that's a little bit concerning,” Parsons said.

Calgary financial planner Tim Faunt agrees it's a dangerous assumption considering the impact retiring baby boomers could have on the real estate market.

"There's all of these folks looking to downsize and at the same time, there isn't another group of similar size coming up through the demography to purchase those properties -- well then, those folks have a problem,” Faunt explained.

The housing market in Calgary may be in good shape now, but Faunt says it's always wise to diversify.

"They need to be developing their own retirement savings and not be counting on the vagaries of the real estate market to provide for their retirement income."

For the original post visit: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/01/08/calgary-rrsp-real-estate.html

REAL ESTATE: Home prices going up

The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index for October measured a 4.3 percent annual increase within 20 cities it monitors, flagging a housing recovery that’s been gaining steam.

The Los Angeles market, which offers an indication of how the Inland area has fared, out-performed the national average: The S&P report noted a 6.2 percent gain in the Los Angeles region from October 2011.

Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics, said this burst of activity is occurring across Inland Southern California.

Beacon Economics, in an economic forecast released this month, noted that October home prices in Inland Southern California were up more than 23 percent from the earlier trough, and the home price growth was happening at a faster clip than its Southern California neighbors.

The two-county Inland region of Riverside and San Bernardino counties enjoyed eight straight quarters of price appreciation through October.

Foreclosure activity kept a lid on home price increases in the hard-hit Inland area region of Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the past. The Inland region still has a long way to go before it returns to pre-recession levels, but indicators show positive improvement into 2013 for Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“As foreclosures go away, you’ll register solid increases that are greater than the L.A. area,” Thornberg said.

“It is clear the housing recovery is gathering strength,” David Blitzer, S&P index committee chairman, said in a statement. “Higher year-over-year price gains, plus strong performances in the southwest and California regions that suffered during the housing bust confirm that housing is now contributing to the economy.”

The S&P report coincided with the December 2012 release of Zillow’s home price expectation survey on Wednesday, Dec. 27, predicting the future path of the Case-Shiller national home price index.

Taken by a nationwide panel of 105 economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists, the survey predicts a 3.1 percent rise in home prices in 2013, after finishing 2012 with a 4.6 percent gain.

Stan Humphries, chief economist for the real estate information service Zillow, said a 2.3 percent home price gain in 2012 was predicted in September. Around that time, he said an organic recovery in the housing market took hold.

“Record levels of affordability and an improving overall economic picture have really helped buoy the market and have us well positioned for continued growth, albeit slightly slower, in 2013 and beyond,’’ he said.

For the original post visit: http://www.pe.com/business/business-headlines/20121226-real-estate-going-up-home-prices.ece

Puget Sound region's real estate market improving as rest of state sputters along

Ask real estate expert Glenn Crellin when the state's housing market will return to normal and you get a laugh. "I'm not sure what normal is anymore," said Crellin, associate director of the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington.

Indeed, sales of existing homes in Washington have been sputtering along since 2008. The state is not nearly as bad as places such as Arizona and Florida. But the market here hasn't been good either.

There are faint signs that change is coming. The most recent report by the center, for the second quarter of 2012, showed the market improving dramatically in portions of the populous Puget Sound region — the greater Seattle area — while improvement was less pronounced in the rest of the state.

"Central Puget Sound is doing quite well," Crellin said.

In the second quarter, sales of existing homes in King County were up 17.2 percent from the same period a year ago. The median sales price was up 6.5 percent, to $370,000, highest in the state, the center said.

In Snohomish County, second quarter sales were up 23 percent from a year ago and prices were up 8.2 percent, the center said. And in Yakima County, using seasonally-adjusted numbers, existing homes sold in the second quarter were up 4.1 percent from the first quarter, and up 10.5 percent from the second quarter one year ago. The median sale price was $161,900, up 7.4 percent from the previous year.

The Puget Sound region has a stronger economy than the rest of the state, and continues to see an influx of new residents, Crellin said. Sharply rising rental prices there are also pushing more people into becoming homeowners, he said.

Statewide in the second quarter, sales of existing homes rose 10.4 percent from the year before. But Crellin cautioned against putting too much weight on that increase.

He noted that the seasonally adjusted rate of homes sold actually dropped 2.6 percent from the first quarter, which is unusual because home sales are typically higher in the spring than in the winter.

"The market is clearly stronger than a year ago, but it eased off a bit compared with the pace we saw in the first quarter," Crellin said.

The median price of homes in the second quarter was up 4 percent from a year ago, to a statewide average of $236,000.

Crellin does see some positive signs for the statewide housing market.

For one thing, mortgage interest rates have started to creep up in recent weeks, which is a signal to prospective buyers that they'd better hurry if they want to lock in a cheap loan, Crellin said.

Average home prices are also increasing, a signal to buyers that the bottom of the market may have been reached and that prices are now rebounding, he said.

"The combination of those numbers is telling buyers they missed the absolute best bargains, but conditions are still pretty good for being in the market," Crellin said.

The increase in prices is also likely to prompt more people to put their homes up for sale, helping replenish a market that was actually suffering from a shortage of properties, Crellin said.

"My expectation is that as signs continue that prices have stabilized, you are going to see more buyers in the marketplace," Crellin said.

One major problem is the number of distressed properties in the state.

There are about 80,000 mortgages in the state that are either 90 days past due or in foreclosure proceedings now, Crellin said.

"That doesn't include anything that has already been foreclosed," he said. "We've got a very large hill in front of us."

Unlike other states with distressed markets, most of the houses in foreclosure in Washington were existing homes, Crellin said.

"We don't have neighborhoods of new construction that need to be torn down in this state, like they do in California," Crellin said.

The recent rise in home prices produced a modest drop in the Housing Affordability Index, which measures the ability of median-income families to buy median-price homes, assuming a 20 percent down payment and 30-year mortgage at prevailing rates.

But the index still showed that middle-income families - at an annual salary of $72,400 - "still have a significant cushion in terms of buying a median-priced home," Crellin said.

Homes remained affordable for median-income families in all Washington counties, Crellin said, with the highest affordability in Lincoln County and the lowest in San Juan County. For first-time buyers, Benton County was the most affordable and King County the least affordable.

"While the market appears to be improving, the sluggish economy combined with a continuing overhang of distressed properties means a sustained recovery is still tenuous," Crellin said.

Source: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/08/25/2662822/puget-sound-regions-real-estate.html

REAL ESTATE: Home prices YOY rise 2.5% in June

Home prices in June, including distressed property, increased on a year-over-year basis nationwide by 2.5 percent in June, according to a report Tuesday, Aug. 7, by Santa Ana-based CoreLogic.

The June figures represent the fourth month of price appreciation for the real estate industry, an upswing prompting CoreLogic to predict a 4.3 percent increase in home prices nationwide for July.

Across the Inland area of Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario the provider of information on home sales, price trends and foreclosure activity reported that home prices – including distressed property – rose nine-tenths of 1 percent in June year-over year.

With distressed property taken out of the mix, home prices were up 2.9 percent in June compared to June 2011.

The pricing levels were relatively flat from the month before in both categories.

Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic, which measured Multiple Listing Service data for its Home Price Index report, cited reductions in visible and shadow inventory to the pricing increases. “This trend is a bright spot because the decline in shadow inventory translates to fewer distressed sales, which helps sustain price appreciation,”’ Fleming said in a statement.

Source: http://www.pe.com/business/business-insider-headlines/20120807-real-estate-home-prices-yoy-rise-2.5-in-june.ece

Real estate continues to drive UAE stock marts’ positivity

Reuters/Dubai 

Markets in the United Arab Emirates gained yesterday on positive sentiment towards the country’s property sector, as encouraging second-quarter numbers fuel buying, with Dubai’s index rising for a fifth straight session to a fresh 13-week high.

Dubai’s index index jumped 1.6% to 1,575 points, its highest close since May 3, buoyed by further advances in real estate-linked shares.

Heavyweight Emaar Properties gained 1.2%, hitting a new 15-month high. Other gainers included Arabtec , up 1.7%, and Deyaar Development, which registered its largest one-day gain since March 11, jumping 14.8% to a 15-week high.

The positive tone also helped Dubai Financial Market , the Gulf’s only listed bourse, shake off a 31% fall in second-quarter profit to gain 1.5% on the day.

In Abu Dhabi, real estate was also the driver as the index advanced for the sixth session in seven, up 0.1% to 2,511 points.

Aldar Properties, which is due to report its Q2 numbers tomorrow, climbed 3.3% to its highest close since March 28. Sorouh Real Estate rose 1.9%.

Egypt’s main index rose 0.9% to 5,034 points, its seventh straight gain, driven by optimism that a new cabinet put in place by President Mohamed Mursi will move faster than its predecessor on urgent reforms and foreign financial aid.

Mursi reinstated an investment minister, a role that was dropped in the previous, army-backed administration. Investors also welcomed the appointment of the relatively young Hatem Saleh as trade minister.

In Kuwait, the benchmark ticked up in late trade, closing 0.2% higher at 5,733 points. Kuwait Projects Company, which reported marginal growth in quarterly net profit but said it was positive about its outlook for the latter half of 2012, gained 1.4%.

Saudi’s index slipped 0.1% to 6,945 points on profit-taking to give up the previous day’s nine-week high.

Market heavyweights dropped as six of the seven largest stocks by market value finished down — the exception being Saudi Basic Industries Corp, which ended 0.6% higher.

Bahrain’s index slipped 0.2% to 1,096 points, a fresh nine-year low, while in Oman, the measure halted two sessions of sharp gains to close 0.5% lower at 5,439 points.

Blacks and Real Estate

Are you middle-class? One way to know this for sure is through homeownership. Unfortunately, for many Blacks, the American Dream of homeownership is quickly fading. Among racial demographic groups, European Americans have the highest homeownership rate, while African Americans have the lowest. After peaking at 50 percent in 2006, the African-American homeownership rate has fallen to 44.8 percent. By comparison, the homeownership rate for Whites is 74.1 percent, and the national rate currently stands at 66.4 percent.

Right now, the outlook for Black homeownership isn't good. Over the long run, it's downright scary. The Center for Responsible Lending calculates that about 11 percent of African-American homeowners are in some stage of foreclosure, and that by the end of 2012, 1.1 million Black families will lose their homes.

It's the same old story when it comes to class, race and wealth. The median wealth of White households is 20 times that of Black households. And Pew Research analysis indicates that when the housing market bubble burst in 2006 and the recession followed in late 2007 to mid-2009, it took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than Whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 53 percent among Black households, compared with just 16 percent among Whites. As a result of these declines, the typical Black household had just $5,677 in wealth [assets minus debts] in 2009 and the typical White household had $113,149.

Sadly, the alarmingly low number of Black homeowners is likely to dip further. You may want to pull your Congressional representatives' coat regarding your concerns about legislation called, the Qualified Residential Mortgage Rule or QRM, that can make it tougher to get loans by requiring all prospective homeowners to put at least 20 percent down when purchasing a property. The new requirement could make homeownership as we know it a thing of the past. The higher down payments could exclude 75 percent of African Americans from obtaining a fairly priced mortgage. Trade groups that oppose QRM say it would take 14 years for the typical American family to save enough money to amass a 20 percent down payment.

A series of ongoing challenges from the banking industry continues to erode Black homeownership. As the collapse of the housing market lingers, African Americans are being disproportionately impacted by bank lending practices, including stricter credit score requirements, a severe decline in loans made to Blacks, and predatory lending that has made it difficult for Black homeowners with costly subprime loans to swap out of those mortgages and exchange them for more affordable home loans.

The sky hasn't fallen yet, but a recent Pew Research Center analysis found that after years of prosperity, homeownership rates among Black Americans have plummeted to their lowest levels in 16 years. Unemployment has reached levels not seen since the 1980s. And, current and prospective African-American homeowners are being hurt by high levels of unemployment. The jobless rate for Blacks now tops 16 percent nationwide. It's obviously tough to buy or refinance a home – much less save it from foreclosure – if you don't have a steady paycheck.

Two African American titans in real estate have survived the recent real estate downturns in grand style. The grandson of a hotel doorman, Don Peebles is worth $350 million and runs one of the country's largest minority-owned real estate development companies. Peebles Corporation's portfolio includes hotels, apartments and office space in Miami Beach and Washington, D.C. In 1979 Peebles became a real estate agent in the District of Columbia. Today he owns 13 acres of prime Las Vegas land.

Quintin E. Primo III is a minister's son that grew up in Chicago. He earned his MBA at Harvard in 1979 and took a job in Citicorp's real estate lending division. Primo founded Capri Capital in 1992 and achieved initial success extending mezzanine loans to small borrowers that larger firms neglected to serve. Today, Primo is worth $300 million and Capri's portfolio is loaded with apartment complexes. The firm's assets under management are $4.3 billion.

Source: http://washingtoninformer.com/index.php/business/item/11471-blacks-and-real-estate

REAL ESTATE: San Bernardino bankruptcy linked to foreclosure

The city of San Bernardino’s financial woes are directly correlated to a torrent of foreclosures in Inland Southern California, the national foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac said Thursday.

“Property taxes plunged in San Bernardino because of an avalanche of foreclosure activity during the recent housing bust,’’ said RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist.

The city in May and June had the third highest California city foreclosure rate among cities with a population of 200,000 or more.

When houses are in foreclosure, homeowners frequently stop paying the mortgage, and their property taxes, Blomquist said, creating a fiscal problem for local governments which derive most of their revenue from retail sales and property taxes.

With property values capped at 1 percent of the home value, Blomquist said property tax revenue for cities has fallen dramatically and put a strain on local budgets in hard-hit inland areas of California, as opposed to the coastal communities of California where prices are higher and homes retained their value.

That’s why we are seeing inland cities like San Bernardino filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, he said.

Paul Herrera, a spokesman for the Inland Valleys Association of Realtors, said there’s no doubt cities have felt the squeeze from falling property tax revenues since the housing crisis began, but it’s likely many factors contributed to a bankruptcy filing.

“The Inland areas will see stable property tax revenues coming in for the first time in several years,’’ Herrera said. “Losing 40 to 60 percent of the median home price doesn’t help, but many others have been able to plan and budget accordingly.”

In San Bernardino County, officials reported the first increase in property values since 2008. The 2012 assessment roll rose 0.8 percent from 2011 to $162.68 billion. Yet, the city of San Bernardino wrote in a July 9 budget analysis that the decline in taxable sales and property values has resulted in revenue losses of $10 million to $16 million annually since the city’s peak in 2008. At that time, the city’s general fund revenue was $133 million.

But Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lowered the city’s rating on lease revenue refunding bonds by three levels to “CC” from “BBB+” and placed San Bernardino on CreditWatch with negative implications. An S&P analyst said the rating change followed the city’s Chapter 9 filing and the credit watch stems from the firm’s belief that San Bernardino is deemed to have insufficient liquidity and may not be able to meet its bond payment obligations in the next three months. Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi said property tax collection isn’t the only revenue a city banks on to stay afloat. “The key factor hurting almost every city is the sales tax problem,’’ he said. “Consumer spending dropped significantly as a result of the higher unemployment rate; that reduced sales tax revenues to cities.” RealtyTrac’s most recent metropolitan-area rankings for June shows the Inland’s two-county metro area of Riverside and San Bernardino ranked No. 3 in the nation for foreclosure activity, with 8,477 filings or one in every 177 housing units receiving a filing.

The county of San Bernardino, with 3,657 filings affecting one in every 191 households, has one of the nation’s highest foreclosure rates.

The city of San Bernardino, itself, had 2,527 properties in some state of foreclosure or in bank-owned status in June, representing 3.5 percent of all housing units, RealtyTrac statistics show. That is more than three times the national average of 1.02 percent, and is also well above the California state average of 1.9 percent of all housing units, the online foreclosure marketer said.

Source: http://www.pe.com/business/business-headlines/20120712-real-estate-san-bernardino-bankruptcy-linked-to-foreclosure.ece

Real estate prices are going back up in U.S.

House prices, after falling for more than five years, are rising again. All the major sales-price indexes show that there have been modest national increases in recent months, even after adjusting for seasonal patterns.

When foreclosures and distressed sales are excluded from the data, prices are up even more. And we should expect further gains: The asking-price index, a leading indicator of sales prices, published by Trulia Inc. (where I work), climbed at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, adjusted for mix and seasonality, and rose in 84 of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.

Of course, if the U.S. economy falters, due to a deepening of the economic crisis in Europe or a wave of foreclosures, prices may reverse. For now, though, the increases are widespread. For the real-estate market and housing policy, this is cause for relief, but also for some concern.

One immediate effect of the price turnaround is that inventory tightens. In the past year, beginning even before prices rose, the inventory of listed homes shrank 20 percent, due to fewer foreclosures for sale and little new construction.

Smaller inventory contributes to price increases; when there are fewer homes available, sellers can ask more. In some local markets, bidding wars have returned. Now, rising prices could even accelerate the decrease in inventory in the short term, as buyers act quickly in hopes of paying as little as possible, and sellers hold off listing their homes in anticipation of further price increases. In fact, 61 percent of people do expect prices in their local market to rise in the next year, according to a recent Trulia survey.

In the longer term, if rising prices last, inventory will grow. Higher prices will encourage more owners to sell, including some who have been “underwater” on their mortgages, as well as banks holding portfolios of foreclosed homes.

Rising prices will also cue housing developers to accelerate construction. After overbuilding during the real- estate bubble, the construction industry has been very slow to recover. New-home starts are still less than half of normal levels, and construction jobs now account for a smaller share of economy-wide employment ― 4.1 percent ― than at any time since 1946. If rising prices nudge construction closer to normal, the housing market might finally contribute to, rather than hold back, the general economic recovery.

Rising prices should also take some pressure off policy makers to “fix” the housing market, and make some mortgage- modification programs more feasible. In particular, shared- appreciation loan modifications ― in which a lender or government agency reduces the amount of principal a borrower owes in exchange for a share of any future price appreciation ― become possible when there is a reasonable chance that prices will go up.

Crucially, underwater borrowers ― those owing more on their mortgages than the property is worth ― who expect prices to rise have less incentive to default on their loans and abandon their homes.

Yet along with rising prices come two serious concerns.

First, higher prices make homes harder to afford again. When prices plummeted post-bubble, concerns about affordability faded. Even now rents are gaining faster than home prices, according to the Trulia Rent Monitor, which makes owning a better bargain than renting. Still, rising prices make it harder for renters to buy. And, in markets such as coastal California and New York City, where new construction is limited by geography and regulations, high prices put homeownership out of reach for many residents.

While San Francisco is too beautiful and Manhattan too productive ever to become cheap places to live, local policy makers could make homes in expensive cities easier to afford by loosening restrictions on new construction. They could allow higher densities, as California is attempting to do near transit stations.

In Washington, they could relax the height limit. And everywhere they could simplify and clarify the rules for approving projects. More construction in cities would mean less of it pushed out to sprawling exurban areas, where overbuilding during the bubble led to some of the nation’s most widespread foreclosures.

The second reason for concern over rising prices is that they fuel optimism. Some optimism is desirable, but unchecked optimism creates bubbles. In a recent Trulia survey, 58 percent of people said they expect prices in their local market to return to their previous peak in the next 10 years.

In Pittsburgh, Houston and other markets where prices slipped only slightly during the recession, it’s plausible that they will again reach their previous peak.

But even in the hardest-hit markets, such as Las Vegas and Sacramento, where prices rose to unsustainable levels and then fell by half or more, 56 percent of people still expect them to rise to their previous peak in the next 10 years. Such optimism can lead to a bubble if people pay more for homes that they expect to appreciate.

To ensure that rising prices and renewed optimism don’t inflate a new bubble, we must not encourage homeownership and housing construction beyond what our income and demographics can support.

Although full recovery in housing is still years off, rising prices will start reshaping the market right away ― for better and for worse.

By Jed Kolko

Jed Kolko is the chief economist at Trulia Inc., the online real-estate marketplace. The opinions expressed are his own. ― Ed.

(Bloomberg)

Source: http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120711001082&cpv=0

Sales dip fails to shake real estate association’s confidence

WATERLOO REGION — Despite looming layoffs at Research In Motion and tighter mortgage lending rules, Sara Hill kept repeating two words almost like a mantra to describe the local real estate market.

“Sure and steady, sure and steady,” the president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors said Thursday, when asked to sum up the housing market of late.

With 596 properties changing hands, residential sales fell 12.2 per cent in the Kitchener and Waterloo area in June compared to the same month last year.

The June sales slump, which came on the heels of a smaller dip last month, “is pretty typical” for the local market, Hill said.

The market normally experiences robust sales in the spring and fall, and less activity at other times of year, she said.

For the first half of the year, sales are up compared to a year ago, she noted. A total of 3,454 properties have changed hands, up 0.1 per cent from 3,449 for the first six months of 2011.

In Cambridge, it was a different story. June sales rose 22.1 per cent from a year ago. A total of 331 properties acquired new owners, compared to 271 in June 2011.

Year to date sales are up 4.4 per cent to 1,632 units, from 1,563 in 2011, the Cambridge Real Estate Board said Thursday.

Back in Kitchener, sales of detached homes — at 2,278 units — have been about the same as last year for the first six months, while townhouse and condo transactions are up slightly. Semi-detached sales are down 8.9 per cent.

Hill is not worried about the upcoming layoff of 2,000 to 3,000 local employees of RIM over the next nine months as the BlackBerry maker downsizes.

“Enough companies are hiring that are going to take up that slack,” she said.

Nor is she concerned about a recent move by the federal government to cut the amortization period for mortgages to 25 years from 30.

“We’re going back to where we were. It’s probably a good thing,” Hill said, of the government move to lower household debt.

As for recent calls by the provincial environment commissioner for mandatory energy audits when homes are sold, Hill said the Ontario Real Estate Association is all for energy audits, just not mandatory audits.

The costs of such audits can be “extensive,” she said, adding that the federal government should reinstate its rebate program for home-energy improvements.

The average price of a home sold in Kitchener and Waterloo rose 3.4 per cent to $312,661 for the first half of the year. In Cambridge, average prices rose 3.8 per cent to $296,362.

chowitt@therecord.com

Source: http://www.therecord.com/news/business/article/755705--sales-dip-fails-to-shake-real-estate-association-s-confidence

Real estate experts prediction for Malaysian property

There have been plenty of reports suggesting that the property market in Malaysia is set to struggle in 2012. Many real estate forecasts have suggested that prices in the country will fall this year, although that doesn’t appear to be the sentiment of property experts.

A new survey has revealed that most property experts in Malaysia expect prices to rise in the next few months – great news if you’re thinking of buying a home in Malaysia. Keep reading to learn more.

Sales and values of property in Malaysia expected to rise in the second half of 2012

The Sun Daily reports that ‘the recent survey by PropertyGuru Malaysia has found that a majority of people interested in property still believe that prices will rise.’

According to the website’s Malaysia Property Sentiment Survey in the first quarter of 2012, 72 per cent of respondents believe that property prices in the country will rise in the next six months. This is higher than the number who believed the same in the previous quarter (61 per cent).

The newspaper reports that this may be attributed in part to the belief that property transactions will actually rise over the next six months. 64 per cent of respondents to the survey think that transactions will increase in the remainder of 2012, up from 57 per cent in the final quarter of 2011.

More than half of respondents expect transactions and prices for apartments and terrace houses to rise. This is important, as these are the most popular property types.

While there may have been some gloomy pictures painted of the Malaysian property market, the truth is that most property experts in the country expect the number of house sales to rise in 2012.

And, real estate professionals also expect prices to rise which is great news for anyone looking to buy property in Malaysia.

Source: http://www.homesgofast.com/view_news/2541/ Author : Nick Marr

Calgary Is Best For Commercial Real-Estate Returns On Oil Boom

Calgary was the best city for commercial real estate investors last year, according to a global survey by Investment Property Databank Ltd. in which the top 10 locations were all in North America.

Rental income and higher property values in Calgary produced a return of 21.6 percent, the London-based research firm said. The Canadian city benefited from the booming oil and gas industries and a restricted supply of real estate, IPD said. Sydney and Cape Town, also dominated by commodity companies, generated returns of 9.9 percent and 11.2 percent.

“Real estate returns have been influenced by stabilizing or improving income, recovery pricing and safety-seeking capital shifts,” said Bill Hughes, global head of real-estate research and strategy at UBS Global Asset Management, which oversees almost $580 billion of assets.

London had a 6 percent gain in property values last year, the most in Europe, while New York real estate appreciated by 8.6 percent. The U.S. and Canadian markets recovered from the global credit crisis about 12 months after Europe, IPD said. The survey excludes China and some other Asian countries.

“The financial centers of London and New York benefit from the quality of real estate and tenants as well as market transparency and liquidity,” IPD senior director Peter Hobbs said in a statement.

Unsustainable Returns

Nineteen cities, including Boston, Denver and Montreal, had returns of more than 12 percent, the survey showed. That level of returns is probably not sustainable because it was driven by investors seeking a haven for their money or to profit from a recovery in local property markets, Hughes said.

Dublin was the worst-performing market covered by the survey, producing a loss of 1.9 percent. An investment in the city returned 0.6 percent during the past decade as rental income was almost completely erased by the collapse in real estate values, IPD said.

The best-performing cities of the past decade were Cape Town and Johannesburg, returning 19.4 percent and 17.3 percent, according to the survey.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Packard in London at packard@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-28/calgary-is-best-for-commercial-real-estate-returns-on-oil-boom.html

At Home: Roll that real estate

A month ago — and halfway through his two-year lease — the tenant who rents my house in Colorado told me he’d bought a house.

“But wait! You have a house, my house, for another year!”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to pay rent,” he said, dialing my fret factor down from skyrocket-high to merely ceiling-high. “I said I bought a house.”

“But what about ...” and I hated myself for sounding so needy and dependent, but the word flew out ... “us?”

“I’ve thought about that,” he said.

And the negotiations began.

If I’d let him out of his lease by the date he wanted to move into his new house, he would pay me a “convenience” fee. Meanwhile, I could find a new tenant or buyer. If I didn’t find either, he’d still pay rent until I did or until the lease was up, whichever came first. But the house would sit empty.

I considered my options: Cry. Scream. Pretend this wasn’t happening. Get professional help. I tried all of them.

Eventually, I shared my saga with a real estate agent who’s had success selling in my neighborhood: “He wants to be relieved of his liability,” I told her. “I want a warm body in the house that will cover the costs.”

When I was done ranting, she had just one question: “Are you going to write about this?” She sounded worried.

Is anyone else’s life this complicated?

As we talked further about how to best attract a buyer or a tenant, she suggested I hire someone else.

“You’re firing me?” I asked.

“No, in addition to me.”

“Two agents?”

“I do sales. You should also have a leasing agent. I’ll send you some names.”

I flashed back to the time a few years ago when I was almost someone. I was so close to being someone, in fact, that I managed to wind up with three agents — a literary agent, a speaking agent, a talent agent. This wasn’t my idea.

I always knew I was a handful, but having three agents to manage my so-called act was just hilarious. You and I both know I’m just a writer with a neurotic home design obsession and endless other problems.

But that experience taught me that whether it's marketing talent (in the loosest sense) or houses, agents specialize.

As of this month I have two more agents — one to sell my home, one to lease it.

“Was this really necessary?” I asked Alan Smith, a broker/owner for RE/MAX in Littleton, who handles home sales, not rentals. “If I had a client who wanted to rent or sell, I’d do just what your sales broker did. I don’t know many agents who do both, and I’d be very cautious of any who said he did.”

That said, today, homeowners who want to roll their real estate have good reason to enlist both.

While the sales market is improving, Smith hasn’t seen the rental market this hot in his 29 years in real estate.

“Across the country, demand for rentals is very high, and inventory is low,” Smith said. Homeowners can rent out almost any home quickly and for top dollar. The average home will rent in a week.”

If you’re feeling stuck with your house, here are some options and tips to get unstuck:

• Pick the right agents. I chose both our sales and leasing agents based on their track records of closing deals in my neighborhood in my house’s price range and on their willingness to collaborate. Not all agents want to work with a competing interest.

• Start with what you want in mind. You will get off on the right foot if you begin the conversation with, “I need you to help me do what’s best for me.” Agents, like most humans, except maybe Nelson Mandela, typically think in terms of what’s best for them. Ideally, your goals are aligned, but not always. Selling your house at any price is what most agents strive for. Getting the best price quickly is more important to sellers. My goal is to fill the house with someone who will cover the carrying costs and not leave the place vacant. I’d prefer a buyer, but a renter will do.

• Be fair to both sides. Brokers make a lot more money when they sell a house (6 percent split) than when they lease it (typically one month’s rent), but selling usually takes longer. Because our sales broker was going to invest time and money marketing the house and creating a video tour, we agreed to pay her a fee if the house leased before she could sell it. I also negotiated a reduced rate to the leasing agent because he can use the sales agent’s photos and marketing materials, which save him time and money.

• Think outside the walls. In between the options of selling and leasing are other options. Lease options give tenants the first right to buy the property; lease purchases allow tenants to lease the house and ultimately buy it at a pre-agreed price. Smith warns, however, that while he’s in favor of being creative, he’s not a huge fan of these options, because “they rarely work out.” Another option is to rent the house to a tenant who will agree to let you keep it on the market for sale, and show it to prospective buyers — all for a discount on the rent in exchange.

Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is a humorous syndicated home-design columnist, speaker, and author of "House of Havoc" and "The House Always Wins" (Da Capo Press). Reach her at marnijameson.com.

Source: http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/shore/home-and-garden/at-home-roll-that-real-estate/article_c5d1d2c5-9551-557d-a03d-69bccaf53f0d.html

Former real estate agent pleads in meth case

MILLARD K. IVES | Staff Writer

millardives@dailycommercial.com

One of Lake County's most successful real estate agents pled guilty in federal court Wednesday to possessing 200 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute that had been shipped from Arizona in a bag of "Meow Mix."

Robert L. Morris Jr., 49, initially was charged by the state before the case was handed over to federal authorities. The plea deal, which also calls for prosecutors to drop a second charge of possession of cocaine, still has to be approved by a district court judge after a pre-sentencing investigation.

Morris will likely be sentenced sometime in September in the same Ocala federal courthouse. He faces anywhere from the minimum requirement of 10 years in prison to a life term. It was not clear what sentencing terms Morris was seeking as part of the plea deal.

Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith said during Wednesday's hearing that even if the cocaine possession charge is dropped, that charge could still influence the district court judge in the meth sentencing.

Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie, in an interview last year, said the case was handed over to federal authorities because "... basically, the punishment for a case like this is much more stringent on a federal level versus at the state level." Morris, who is out of jail on a half-million dollar bond, was denied his motion during Wednesday's hearing to be taken off an electronic monitoring device. His lawyer had argued Morris already was under too much financial obligation to pay a monitoring charge of $31 a month.

"He gone from a Hummer to a non-vehicle," said defense lawyer Michael Hatfield, adding that was the reason Morris was late to Wednesday's hearing.

Morris attended the hearing, wearing a charcoal-grey suit, but did not speak.

He was arrested last July after arranging to pick up a package shipped from Arizona that contained the meth -- worth $30,000 on the street -- that had been hidden in a bag of "Meow Mix." The package was shipped to a local title company Morris had done business with in the past, but a suspicious company employee turned it over to authorities after the intended recipient claimed no knowledge of it.

According to an arrest affidavit, Morris contacted the title company regarding the package and detectives arranged a meeting for delivery, where he was taken into custody after a brief struggle.

Prosecutor Samuel Armstrong said Morris had picked up at least two prior shipments. A Website listing for Morris said he got his real estate license in January 2003. Between 2005 and 2006, he closed on 222 properties, racking up $62 million in sales. The Website listing also said he belongs to multiple real estate associations and five chambers of commerce in Lake County.

Source: http://www.dailycommercial.com/062112morris

Real Estate Market Improving?

Some real estate agents say the local real estate market is starting to improve. Officials said they're confident that the housing market has stabilized and even started to improve.

"I'm very confident and feel that we're going to have a really good year," said James Harwell, broker with JDH Realty. "I'm very optimistic I would say about the rest of the year."

While there are still plenty of for sale signs around Meridian and Lauderdale County, business has been picking up for local real estate agents and mortgage lenders.

The housing industry appears to be picking up some steam. One of the largest draws for home buyers is Meridian's supply of older homes.

"One of the things we have here in Meridian is the advantage of having a National Historic District inside the city limits," said Harwell. "In fact. we've got several of them, but people move from all over the country, or they're willing to move all over the country to live in an old home, for instance> And Meridian has one of the highest, best inventories of old homes in the whole state."

Now both the real estate agent and mortgage lender we spoke with both have positive expectations for the Meridian real estate market.

"I think some of the people that are first-time buyers are still a little skeptical about jumping in," said Tom Coats, owner, of Howell Realty. "But I think some of the incentives that have been out there might start attracting some of those buyers."

"What I'm seeing over the last few months here across my desk here at Citizens gives me a lot of hope as to the future of our particular area and what's going on out there," said Lisa Goodman of Citizens National Bank.

Interest rates are as low as 2.875 percent, but your credit score and income are still very important in securing a mortgage.

Source: http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/Real_Estate_Market_Improving_159796925.html?ref=925

Real estate on the rebound?

More interest. More volume. More offers, and more sales.

The pulse of San Juan County’s real estate market began to quicken in the past two months. And while the median price of a home sale remains below the same mark of a year ago, $579,000 compared to $597,000 in 2011, an increase in property sales and transactions has San Juan County Land Bank officials breathing just a bit easier, for the moment.

“The first three months of the year were miserable,” Land Bank Director Lincoln Bormann said. “Things started picking up in April and May was pretty good. So far, June has been significantly better.”

In May, the Land Bank saw one of its biggest one-month gains from its principle funding source, a 1-percent excise tax on nearly all local real estate sales. That tax delivered $136,627 in revenue to the publicly owned land conservation agency’s bottom line in the month of May. The mark exceeds all the previous monthly marks dating back to December 2011.

Bormann is keeping his fingers crossed that the momentum of May is no fluke.

“We were almost up to our May level in the first two weeks in June,” he added.

Gary Franklin of Windermere Real Estate San Juan Island isn’t ready to say the market is out of the woods, but a recent surge in sales should not be discounted. Moreover, Franklin believes that prices may well have bottomed out and may begin to rise.

“So far we’ve seen fewer bank-owned properties than last year, less than 5 percent of the total in 2012,” he said. “In 2011, it was closer to 10 percent for the year.”

The overall volume of sales this year, and the number of offers a particular home may draw, are encouraging signs as well, he said.

“We’re seeing a strengthening in prices, more multiple offers and the Seattle market is stronger too,” he said. “That can be good for us in the islands.”

According to Northwest Multiple Listing Service, there were 31 pending sales in May 2012, compared to 13 in May 2011. A total of 18 homes or condos sold in May 2012, versus 12 in 2011.

Year to date, NMLS statistics show 66 home/condo sales in 2012 compared to 50 over the same mark a year ago. Prices have lagged behind, however, with 2001’s median mark, through May, hitting $420,000, compared to a 2012 year-to-date mark of $322,500.

Franklin said buyers looking to “move up”, meaning into a bigger home, account for a good percentage of recent sales and that the sale of waterfront homes this year overshadows the last.

“All of last year we sold 13 waterfront homes,” he said. “So far this year we’ve seen 12 sell through June 1.”

Franklin cautions those looking to sell a home should be patient. He said the average time a home remains on the market, or until a pending sale closes, is still about 325 days.

“There hasn’t been much change in that in 2012,” he said.

Still, Franklin and Bormann agree the market is on a rise and, after years of sluggish sales, may be hitting a stride.

“I think ‘toe-hold would be a good description of where we’re at,” Franklin said.

Source: http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/news/159652095.html

Chilly winter for York real estate sales

YORK, Maine — Houses and condominiums got the cold shoulder from buyers during the winter in town.

The total value of residential sales was down by 25 percent from the fall, according to an analysis of data in transfer tax declarations on file with assessor's office.

The comparison was made of residential property that sold in December 2011, January 2012 and February 2012, versus sales from September, October and November 2011. According to data for the winter period, 38 homes sold for a total value of $14.8 million. That included three homes that each sold for more than $1 million — on Lock Lane for $2 million in December, on Roaring Rock Point for $1.5 million in December and on Freeman Street for $1.2 million in January.

But the house sales total for the period was down 28.7 percent compared to the fall season total of $20.7 million.

Condos also saw a big-ticket sale: for $1.5 million on Norwood Farms Road in December. But the total value of the nine condos that sold during the winter was down 4.9 percent compared to the fall.

The average price of a condo that sold in town was up for the period — from $271,458 in the fall to $401,636. The average price of a house that sold was down 15.6 percent — from $460,419 to $388,497.

Overall, the coastal York County communities of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Wells, Ogunquit, York and Kittery saw a drop in the total value of residential property that sold during the winter.

The region had a strong fall — $94.3 million — when compared to other seasonal quarters dating back to last winter. The winter total was $61.7 million, a 34.6 percent decline.

In terms of average prices in the region as a whole, the price of a house inched up by 1.7 percent, from $405,606 in the fall to $412,404 in the winter. And the average price of a condo increased by 8.6 percent, from $258,348 to $280,504.

Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120617-BIZ-206170320