Under The Seattle MOON.com Residential RealEstate - Jason Moon 206.388.9969
Contact me 206.388.9969
  • Home
  • About Me
    • Testimonials
  • Neighborhoods
    • Seattle >
      • Ballard >
        • Ballard market trends
      • Belltown >
        • Belltown Market Trends
      • Burien >
        • Burien Market Trends
      • Capitol Hill >
        • CapHill Market Trends
      • Fremont >
        • Fremont Market Trends
      • Green Lake >
        • Green Lake Market Trends
      • Magnolia >
        • Magnolia Market Trends
      • Phinney Ridge >
        • Phinney Market Trends
      • Queen Anne >
        • QA Market Trends
      • Wallingford >
        • Wallingford Market Trends
      • West Seattle >
        • West Seattle Market Trends
    • Search for Homes >
      • Coldwell Banker-Bain
      • ColdWell Banker
  • Market Stats
  • Blog
  • Living Green
  • RL5 Photos

Existing home sales are up but still down.

7/28/2014

 
Okay so even though June's existing home sales are up, they are still below where they were this time last year. The good news is that all signs point to a continuing rise. According to a study from NAR (National Association of Realtors), who counts single family, condo, town homes and Co-ops in the total numbers. Existing home sales are up over 2.5% for the month of June, topping an annual rate of 5 million for the first time since October of last year.
“inventories are at their highest level in over a year, and price gains have slowed to much more welcoming levels in many parts of the country,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “This bodes well for rising home sales in the upcoming months as consumers are provided with more choices.”

But supply shortages in certain areas, particularly the West, means that construction of new homes needs to increase before housing makes a full recovery, he said.

Plus, while the economy is adding jobs at a healthy clip, wage growth is stagnant. This “is leaving a large pool of potential homebuyers on the sidelines who otherwise would be taking advantage of low interest rates,” Yun said.

Source:http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/news-wire/2014/07/22/sales-of-existing-homes-rise-to-fastest-rate-since.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2014-07-22&u=iT6Ej9T4EYz1/uAD4leF5qEYhm3&t=1406124070

Freddie Mac; Mortgage rates dip closer to historic lows

7/23/2014

 
According to Freddie Mac's primary mortgage market survey, mortgage rates have slowed, moving toward historic lows. In the past couple of weeks a 30 year FRM (Fixed Rate Mortgage) was hovering around 4.15%, compared to last weeks 4.13%. It might not seem like much, but trust me if you run the numbers it really can make a difference. These low interest rates are keeping the buyers happy in this competitive market. If you have the means of going with a 15 year FRM, you can really save some money. 15 year FMRs are about a point lower than the 30 year. Compare these numbers to the 2013 averages, the 30 year FMR was around 4.37%. Buy now to save money! Once Freddie and Fannie stop buying up secondary market loans the averages are going to go up!
“Mortgage rates were little changed amid a week of light economic reports.  Of the few releases, industrial production rose by 0.2% in June, below the market consensus forecast. Also, the producer price index for final demand rose 0.4% in June, rebounding from a 0.2% decline the prior month,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist with Freddie Mac.

“Like many Americans, mortgage rates seem to be taking a midsummer vacation. Economic news has been mixed, and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's recent Senate testimony indicated that the central bank will not announce a rate hike anytime soon. That's good news for borrowers who have not refinanced yet or need more time to find a house. But don't expect mortgage rates to rest forever,” Bankrate said.
Source: http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30686-freddie-mac-mortgage-rates-dip-closer-to-historic-lows

Cash is King!

7/14/2014

 
The U.S. housing recovery is still happening and international buyers are giving a huge boost with the Chinese leading the charge. There is a lot of cash out there these days and much of it is coming from China. The Chinese are second only to Canadians in buying real estate in the US but the Chinese are spending a lot more than any other group, on average spending nearly 600,000 per property.  Real estate prices in China are sky high making the US market much more safe and affordable. The other reasons can range from buying condos for the kids to live in while attending college; to buying  homes to use a couple of times a year for vacations. Because of proximity to China the west coast is being bought up more rapidly than other states with California being the most popular.
Chinese buying was up more than 70% to $22 billion -- nearly 1 in 4 dollars of all foreign purchases, according to the National Association of Realtors.

In addition to the tide of Chinese buyers and the Canadians, those from Mexico, India and the United Kingdom filled out the top five list. India also had a notable jump in money spent -- 48% growth.
Source:http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/08/real_estate/home-sales-to-chinese/index.html?section=money_topstories

Pending sales hit eight month high!

7/8/2014

 
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Monday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, increased 6.1 percent to 103.9, the highest level since September of last year. The number of contracts went up in all regions of the country, with the Northeast and West experiencing the largest gains.
"The housing market is likely to continue recovering lost ground following its weather-induced stumble earlier this year," said Gennadiy Goldberg, an economist at TD Securities in New York. "We look for the stronger pending home sales report to help put fears of 'flattening' housing market momentum to rest in the near-term."
Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pending-home-sales-highest-in-eight-months-2014-06-30

Natural disaster risks seem to have no effect on home pricing.

7/1/2014

 
Different states and counties across the US are rated with classifications such as very high, high, medium, low and very low "Risks" of being hit by a natural disaster such as hurricanes, tornados, or earthquakes.  With over half of the homes in the US located in a "very high risk" to "high risk" areas there seems to be no change in the pricing or appreciation in the most populous areas. This is according to reports done by Realty Trac.
“The higher median home prices in many counties with a high risk for natural disaster indicates that other location-based factors such as weather and access to jobs override concerns about home damage as a result of earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, in a statement.

Only 34 counties contained more than 500,000 homes. Of those counties, none fell into the very high risk category, 13 were considered high risk, 13 were medium risk, seven were low risk, and one was very low risk.

The high-risk counties include Kings, New York, Queens, Bronx and Suffolk counties in the New York City area; San Diego and Riverside counties in Southern California; Wayne County in the Detroit metro area; Philadelphia County; and Middlesex County in the Boston metro.

Among those 34 most housing-rich counties, the average median sales price was $268,470 in April, 56 percent higher than the national median of $172,000, RealtyTrac said. The median price in the high-risk counties averaged $377,483 compared with $161,000 in the low-risk or very low-risk counties.

“The potential risk of a natural disaster may not be the first item on most homebuyer checklists for a dream home, but prudent buyers will certainly take this into consideration along with myriad other factors that could affect home value,” Blomquist said.



Source: http://www.inman.com/2014/06/20/high-natural-disaster-risk-doesnt-necessarily-mean-lower-home-prices/

    Author

    Jason Moon Real Estate Broker with ColdWell Banker Bain. Seattle, WA

    Archives

    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2016
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

     Jason Moon, Licensed with Coldwell Banker Bain, 1200 Westlake Ave N, Suite 406, Seattle WA 98109
Some photos provided by RL5 
photography.