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According to new data released by research company RealtyTrac Inc., rising home prices have made it easier for more than a million Americans to sell their properties, giving a boost to the housing market.
The data, highlighted in an article from Bloomberg, shows that about 1.2 million more homeowners had 10 percent to 20 percent equity at the end of 2014 compared with a year earlier as their property gained value.
According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, as many as 20% of homeowners who gained at least 10% equity in their homes in 2014 may try to make a move this year, giving a lift to the market.
The prospects are brightening for these homeowners as the real estate market approaches the busiest time of the year, from March to June. Families jammed into houses that are too small will finally have enough profit from the sale of their property to pay transaction costs and buy a bigger one, said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac in Irvine, California.
A Commerce Department report, released today and highlighted in an article from Bloomberg, shows that new residential construction in the U.S. rose more than forecast in December – capping the best year since 2007 and signaling that the industry will probably keep expanding this year.
Housing starts increased 4.4 percent to a 1.09 million annual rate, following the prior month’s 1.04 million pace that was higher than previously estimated. The advance was driven by single-family homes, which climbed to an almost seven-year high.
An improving labor market, mortgage costs close to multi-year lows and rising consumer confidence will probably sustain demand for residential real-estate.
“The strength is where you’d like to see it, in single-family housing,” said Brian Jones, a senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York. “It bodes well for residential real estate. It’s another thing going in the right direction for the economy.”
Applications for single-family homes increased to a seven-year high. Builders began work on 1.01 million new homes in 2014, the most since 2007.
This week will be an especially interesting one for the housing market, with several key reports being released – including the January builder sentiment index, December housing starts and building permits, and existing home sales numbers.
A new article from Bankrate theorizes that these continue to be interesting times for the housing market, which has been through a boom, bust and recovery. Most recently, we’ve seen rising home prices and a decline in mortgage interest rates.
Will this be the year that new home sales post a double-digit gain? Two of the nation’s leading economists think so. But even if 2015 is big for home-selling, homebuilding would remain well shy of its pre-recession peak.
Both new and existing home sales are expected to rise this year, with the biggest change anticipated in the housing numbers for new home sales. David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, forecasts a 30 percent increase in new home sales.
Depending on which area of the country you live in, selling your home with an Open House during the winter months can bring a mess into your foyer and beyond. A new “Market Ready” article from The New York Times offers some guidance on how to keep your home clean while you’re showing it to potential buyers.
“Insisting that potential buyers remove their shoes before coming in isn’t the best solution,” said Stacey Max, a sales manager at Bond New York real estate in Manhattan. “You want to avoid having people in their socks in the dirty hallway,” she said.
On all but the sloppiest days, a better option would be to have a supply of contractor-grade shoe covers from a hardware store at the ready, and to ask visitors to slip them on before walking into your home.
But if you’re set on having people take off their shoes, do what you can to make them as comfortable as possible. “Put out a rug or a mat, along with a stool or a bench, where people can sit down,” Ms. Max suggested.
Home buyers are more than willing to pay a premium on their home if it comes with a solar PV energy system, according to the findings of a new study, the largest-ever of its kind.
Conducted by a multi-institutional research team led by scientists from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, the study found that home buyers were willing to pay more for homes with solar PV systems – systems that averaged about $4 per watt of PV installed – to a premium of about $15,000.
The study analyzed almost 22,000 home sales, of which almost 4,000 were fitted with PV installations, across eight states in the US between 1999 to 2013, producing what the author’s claim is “the most authoritative estimates to date of price premiums for US homes with PV systems.”
According to a new article from U.S. News, beating an expected interest rate increase shouldn’t be the only reason to buy a home now. The article highlights six other factors that are likely to be more important than interest rates when potential home buyers do the math about whether 2015 is the right year to buy.
When the Federal Reserve stopped buying Treasury bonds last fall, experts predicted interest rates would rise, sparking a sense of urgency among prospective homebuyers to take advantage of historically low rates before it was too late.
Now the rise in interest rates is looking less certain. Some experts believe rates will fall; others believe they will stay the same and even those who predict an increase say the increase will be small.
Interest rates, however, should not be the primary factor that determines when you purchase a home. For most buyers, other factors are much more important. Rather than buy now for fear that rates might suddenly increase, for example, it might be smart to wait so you can save up a bigger down payment.
Here are six factors that may be more important than interest rates when deciding whether to buy a home this year.
The New York Times reports on new changes in mortgages and credit that will put homeownership within reach of more people.
The coming reduction in insurance premiums on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration will make these loans more attractive to the most creditworthy, lower-risk borrowers, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center.
The F.H.A., which secures loans with down payments as low as 3.5 percent, plans to cut the annual premiums charged to borrowers by 0.5 percentage point, effective Jan. 26. The reduction comes as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are extending credit to a similar audience with new conforming mortgage programs that allow as little as 3 percent down.
Citing factors such as rising incomes and job growth for younger households, which will have a positive impact on home sales, a new article from U.S. News & World Report suggests a positive 2015 for housing, generating benefits for the overall economy. While the headlines may focus on noticeably smaller gains in housing prices, the large economic impact will come from a still recovering housing market as it transitions to more normal conditions and higher levels of activity.
Housing and jobs are strongly connected. When the economy is expanding, job creation promotes household formation, which in turn increases demand for rental and owner-occupied housing. Other economic drivers of housing include population growth, the need to replace or improve existing housing stock and regional population changes. And to the benefit of the overall economy, all of these factors create jobs in housing-focused enterprises including builders/remodelers, realtors and suppliers and business that provide goods and services to these firms.
For this reason, housing often leads an economy out of a recession by creating a virtuous cycle of improving housing demand that creates jobs and in turn fosters additional demand for construction.
A new article from the Chicago Tribune highlights Lennar’s partnership with daytime TV series “The Doctors” – and our focus on healthier living.
According to researchers at Harvard University, 1 in 4 homeowners express some level of concern that an aspect of their homes is negatively affecting the health of someone in their household.
Most of the potential health villains are long-established no-goods: lead paint, combustion pollution, radon. But what seems uppermost in the worried homeowners’ minds is the general notion of overall indoor air quality, according to a report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.
Homebuilders have heard similar worries from would-be buyers and are addressing them, according to Nikki Norman, a spokeswoman for Lennar Corp., a homebuilder that’s promoting the purported healthier aspects of new construction. Lennar has partnered with a daytime talk show devoted to health issues to give away a healthy home, valued at more than $1 million.
“It’s a way to spread the word that the newly built home is really a healthier option than purchasing a resale home,” said Norman, who is a sales rep at Lennar’s Pavilion Park neighborhood in Irvine, Calif., where the home is under construction.
