National home prices lost ground with declines of 1% over the past year, but REO demand — fueled by enthusiastic investors — showed price gains, Clear Capital said in its April home data index report.
Investor demand could be a driving force behind increasing prices for REO properties, as measured on a median price per square foot, which is increasing at a much faster pace than non-REO sales.
Over the last year, REO-only prices have jumped a healthy 5.5%, while fair market sales prices dropped 2.9%.
The portion of national REO sales relative to total sales continued its creep in April, marking the third straight month of quarterly growth — without the typical price decline seen when REO saturation rises. Saturation was at 27.9% in April, up from 25.3% in December.
The sensitive balance between REO supply and demand will help determine how market prices react to shifts in REO saturation, Clear Capital said. If REO-to-rental investment activity increases, it likely will provide the lift needed to support price increases.
“Home prices continue to show relative strength in April with virtually no change over the short term and tapering losses over the longer term,” said Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital.
“Should investor interest continue to drive the expansion of REO-to-rental programs over the next several months, there could be a significant impact on the market overall in terms of providing a rising floor to home values,” he said.
Clear Capital’s index looks at rolling quarters. The index compares the most recent four months to the previous three months.
The firm said quarter-over-quarter results were notable only in how little change was seen, with numbers very similar with the price changes reported last month.
This footage was taken at what was supposed to be the end of their stay at Palomar Airport, but due to the overcast the planes were grounded – I had hoped to see them take off.
I’m hoping that we have the BTR format down tonight – it just took more money! We will be discussing the real estate purchase contract, disclosures, disputes, liquidated damages, specific performance, REOs/short sales, MERS, and other general legal topics relating to real estate. Copy of our purchase contract here: Residential Purchase Contract
Click below to listen at 7:00pm, and call (877) 317-7373 with your questions and comments!
We’ve complained that the board of realtors has no short-sale guidance or enforcement.
Well, now they do. The North San Diego County Association of Realtors (NSDCAR) created a task force of local realtors who wrote a guideline package entitled, “Short-Sale Practices and Suggestions”, though they skipped over the most hotly-contested problems.
Unfortunately, they didn’t address the short-sale fraud. There is no mention of a) how many days to keep the listing active in the MLS, b) how to ensure that the home is available to be shown to buyers, and c) how to create an open and fair bidding process.
With the large tracts of land mostly built out, and the smaller in-fill projects being the only feasible options closer to town, this looks like the future of San Diego homebuilding – catering to wealthy (and typically older) folks with features like smaller yards and first-floor master suites:
Join us Monday night, April 30th, at 7:00 pm on Blog Talk Radio when we are joined by Rob Kovalsky, long-time local real estate attorney.
We will be discussing the real estate purchase contract, disclosures, disputes, liquidated damages, specific performance, REOs/short sales, MERS, and other general legal topics.
We will be taking your questions and comments too!
The Plan Three in Arista, a neighborhood of 43 homes being built in the gated golf course community of The Crosby. All three models have the option of having the master suite on the ground floor, as well as additional flexibility – the Plan Three can be 5 br/5 ba plus bonus room:
Santaluz and The Crosby cater to the uber-rich, yet these Davidson-built homes at Arista appear to be somewhat affordable, compared to their Crosby brethren:
An Orange County man who swindled elderly people out of their homes after promising to help them avoid foreclosure was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under California’s tough three-strikes law.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors across the state could not recall any other case in which a white-collar offender received such a lengthy sentence under a statute typically applied in violent crime cases.
The sentencing of Timothy Barnett was unusual because his entire criminal record involved fraud. The 49-year-old was convicted last month of 17 felonies for tricking five people into unknowingly granting him title to their homes. He had been convicted of similar charges in the 1990s.
“The worst thing you can do is take somebody’s home,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus said Friday in explaining the lengthy sentence. “Instead of helping people, he stripped the equity from their homes and left five people homeless,” the judge said. “Even Bernie Madoff didn’t take people’s homes from them.”
