Category: Real Estate News

527 Cities that Experienced Home Value Declines of 10% or More Now at or Close to Peak, According to Q1 Zillow Real Estate Market Reports; Affordability Problems Could Spread as Interest Rates Rise

-U.S. home values climbed 5.7 percent year-over year in the first quarter, to a Zillow® Home Value Index of $169,800. National home values have climbed year-over-year for 21 consecutive months.

-Rents rose 2.7 percent year-over-year in the first quarter and 0.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, to a Zillow Rent Index of $1,315.

-Inventory fell in March for the first time in six months, down 0.5 percent year-over-year.

SEATTLE, April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Declines in home values experienced during the recession have already been, or are close to being, erased in almost 20 percent of metro housing markets nationwide as values continue to rise, according to the first quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports[i]. U.S. home values climbed 5.7 percent year-over year in the first quarter, to a Zillow Home Value Index[ii] of $169,800.

Home values nationwide rose 0.5% from the fourth quarter of 2013, the ninth straight quarter of increasing home values. U.S. home values are expected to rise another 3.3 percent through the first quarter of 2015, according to the Zillow Home Value Forecast[iii].

Nationally, home values remain 13.5 percent below their 2007 peak, after falling 22.6 percent during the recession before bottoming in 2011. But the housing recession is almost entirely in the rearview mirror in 1,080 of the more than 8,700 cities and towns covered by Zillow, with home values already at or expected to reach pre-recession levels in the next year, including in many hard-hit areas. Among 6,781 cities and towns that experienced home value declines of 10 percent or more during the recession, values in 527 have either fully recovered or are expected to recover fully by the first quarter of 2015.

Among the more than 300 metros covered by Zillow, home values in 60 have already exceeded or are expected to exceed their pre-recession peaks in the next year, including in Dallas, Houston, Denver, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, San Jose and Austin. In a majority of metros, housing affordability is and will remain strong even as prices continue to rise. But homes in a handful of metros – including San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego – are already unaffordable, with the share of residents’ incomes currently devoted to monthly mortgage payments exceeding historic norms.

“The lows of the housing recession are becoming an increasingly distant memory as home values reach new highs and homes become more expensive than ever in many areas. This is a remarkable milestone coming only two and a half years after the end of the worst housing recession since the Great Depression, and is a testament to just how robust this housing recovery has been,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “So far, this steady appreciation has not created affordability issues in the majority of places. But there are a handful of markets where affordability is again a challenge, even with mortgage interest rates incredibly low. Mortgage interest rates won’t stay low forever. And rents have also been marching steadily higher for several years. As a result, the housing affordability issues we’re already seeing in select markets could become a much more widespread concern a few years from now. As affordability worsens, more residents will be forced to search for affordable housing farther from urban job centers, and home values in some areas may have to come down.”

Nationally, rents rose 2.7 percent year-over-year in the first quarter and 0.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, to a Zillow Rent Index[iv] of $1,315. U.S. rents have risen year-over-year for more than two years straight.

The inventory of homes listed for sale on Zillow[v] at the end of the first quarter fell by 0.5 percent year-over-year, after showing annual gains in each of the past six months. Inventory fell month-over-month in each of the three months of the first quarter.

Metropolitan Areas	Zillow Home Value Index		Zillow Rent Index		Zillow Home Value Forecast
	Q1 2014	Year-Year % Change	Q1 2014	Year-Year % Change	% Change in ZHVI, Q1 2014-Q1 2015	At Peak/ Expected to hit peak in next year?
United States	$      169,800	5.7%	$    1,315	2.7%	3.3%	No
New York/Northern New Jersey	$      371,200	6.4%	$    2,311	1.8%	2.8%	No
Los Angeles, CA	$      508,400	15.2%	$    2,365	2.5%	6.0%	No
Chicago, IL	$      178,800	8.3%	$    1,624	6.6%	1.5%	No
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	$      143,200	7.0%	$    1,387	3.9%	4.2%	Yes
Philadelphia, PA	$      192,700	2.0%	$    1,521	1.8%	1.2%	No
Houston, TX	$      156,100	3.9%	$    1,419	4.4%	3.7%	Yes
Washington, DC	$      345,900	7.7%	$    2,068	-0.6%	1.4%	No
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$      189,100	16.9%	$    1,744	6.8%	5.8%	No
Atlanta, GA	$      138,300	14.2%	$    1,190	3.5%	4.8%	No
Boston, MA	$      350,000	6.0%	$    2,071	4.5%	0.3%	No
San Francisco, CA	$      655,400	16.6%	$    2,711	6.7%	5.3%	No
Detroit, MI	$      107,300	16.5%	$    1,062	3.1%	3.6%	No
Riverside, CA	$      262,300	23.3%	$    1,600	0.9%	12.0%	No
Phoenix, AZ	$      188,000	8.9%	$    1,174	1.1%	1.6%	No
Seattle, WA	$      316,000	10.3%	$    1,750	7.0%	6.1%	No
Minneapolis-St Paul, MN	$      197,300	6.4%	$    1,521	3.8%	0.3%	No
San Diego, CA	$      447,900	13.8%	$    2,214	4.4%	3.9%	No
St. Louis, MO	$      131,500	-2.2%	$    1,097	0.5%	2.2%	No
Tampa, FL	$      136,200	14.4%	$    1,231	2.8%	6.2%	No
Baltimore, MD	$      235,400	3.9%	$    1,696	1.3%	1.0%	No
Denver, CO	$      245,200	7.0%	$    1,674	7.1%	1.7%	Yes
Pittsburgh, PA	$      118,900	5.3%	$    1,074	8.7%	2.5%	Yes
Portland, OR	$      263,200	10.4%	$    1,489	4.6%	4.2%	No
Sacramento, CA	$      308,500	18.2%	$    1,572	2.9%	7.2%	No
San Antonio, TX	$      153,700	4.6%	$    1,255	3.2%	3.9%	Yes
Orlando, FL	$      156,800	17.3%	$    1,291	5.4%	8.2%	No
Cincinnati, OH	$      130,000	1.8%	$    1,179	9.6%	0.9%	No
Cleveland, OH	$      115,800	1.4%	$    1,131	2.0%	1.2%	No
Kansas City, MO	$      144,200	0.2%	$    1,133	2.8%	2.0%	No
Las Vegas, NV	$      170,900	22.4%	$    1,177	2.1%	6.0%	No
San Jose, CA	$      759,100	13.4%	$    2,856	7.5%	5.0%	Yes
Columbus, OH	$      137,300	6.8%	$    1,225	3.6%	1.5%	No
Charlotte, NC	$      147,700	4.8%	$    1,170	0.6%	2.0%	No
Indianapolis, IN	$      135,300	6.5%	$    1,187	5.5%	2.3%	No
Austin, TX	$      221,300	8.2%	$    1,576	7.6%	3.6%	Yes

About Zillow:
Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) operates the largest home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow’s Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. Dr. Humphries and his team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. The Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs®, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Agentfolio®, Mortech®, HotPads™ and StreetEasy®. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow, Postlets, Mortech, Diverse Solutions, StreetEasy, Agentfolio and Digs are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. HotPads is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

[i] The Zillow Real Estate Market Reports are a monthly overview of the national and local real estate markets. The reports are compiled by Zillow Real Estate Research. For more information, visit www.zillow.com/research/. The data in Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports are aggregated from public sources by a number of data providers for 928 metropolitan and micropolitan areas dating back to 1996. Mortgage and home loan data are typically recorded in each county and publicly available through a county recorder’s office. All current monthly data at the national, state, metro, city, ZIP code and neighborhood level can be accessed at www.zillow.com/local-info/ and www.zillow.com/research/data.

[ii] The Zillow Home Value Index is the median estimated home value for a given geographic area on a given day and includes the value of all single-family residences, condominiums and cooperatives, regardless of whether they sold within a given period. It is expressed in dollars, and seasonally adjusted.

[iii] The Zillow Home Value Forecast uses data from past home value trends and current market conditions, including leading indicators like home sales, months of housing inventory supply and unemployment, to predict home values over the next 12 months for the nation and for more than 250 markets across the country.

[iv] The Zillow Rent Index is the median Rent Zestimate® (estimated monthly rental price) for a given geographic area on a given day, and includes the value of all single-family residences, condominiums, cooperatives and apartments in Zillow’s database, regardless of whether they are currently listed for rent. It is expressed in dollars.

[v] Each week, a count of the number of single-family, condominium and cooperative housing units listed for sale on Zillow is taken. The median of these values within a month is calculated as the monthly value. Because inventory can be seasonal, a seasonally adjusted value is reported using a standard STL procedure. This seasonally adjusted series is then smoothed using a three-month rolling average. More information is available at www.zillow.com/research.

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.

Bay to Gulf Holdings is a seller of Tampa Wholesale Properties.

Seen as the gateway to Latin America, the US state is also drawing keen interest from Hong Kong and the mainland as property prices slump

Florida’s strategic position as a gateway to Latin America is one of the factors attracting mainland Chinese and Hong Kong investors to buy real estate in the southeastern US state.

“Investors from around the world, including China, consider Miami’s relationship with Latin America as a significant catalyst for growth. This, combined with the fact that property prices are 40 per cent below their peak, is the main reason why investors are buying property in Florida,” said Charlie Rosier, a director of Blackfish, a consultancy which helps Asian clients invest in US property.

Rosier said Florida was a gateway to Latin America in the same way as Hong Kong was for mainland China. “As such, it is the third-largest wealth management centre in the world after New York and London.”

Chinese investment in Miami, Florida’s biggest city, accounted for 3.7 per cent of the city’s property sales, he said.

This was the same as Brazil in 2010, which more than doubled its property investment in Florida in 2011, he said.

“We expect similar increase from Chinese investment in 2014 and 2015,” Rosier said.

“Miami has been described as the Hong Kong of Latin America. South Florida has a huge advantage for Chinese businesses looking to locate their headquarters for Latin America,” said Gray Swoope, the chief executive of Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development organisation.

There were more than 1,000 corporate headquarters and logistics facilities serving Latin America in south Florida, including Miami, said Manuel Mencia, a senior vice-president of Enterprise Florida.

Florida handled 40 per cent of US trade with Latin America and the Caribbean, said Bill Johnson, a director of Miami Port, in a report by Blackfish.

Miami had more flights to Latin America than all the other US cities combined, Swoope said.

Florida has 15 deepwater ports, while Miami airport is the largest international airfreight hub in the US.

“It’s natural for us to trade with China,” said Swoope, who is also the state’s commerce secretary.

Seen as the gateway to Latin America, the US state is also drawing keen interest from Hong Kong and the mainland as property prices slump

China is the third-largest trading partner of Florida, after Brazil and Colombia. Last year, China’s trade with Florida grew 7.9 per cent to US$9.65 billion, close to Colombia’s US$9.95 billion but far behind Brazil’s US$20.5 billion, according to official US data.

China was Florida’s largest import source, accounting for most of the trade worth US$9.65 billion between the two sides, Mencia said.

Florida’s exports to Hong Kong surged 41 per cent to US$1.3 billion last year, making the city the top Asian destination for the US state, according to Enterprise Florida.

Swire Properties is one of the biggest developers in Florida and is constructing the tallest building in the region, the 80-storey One Brickell City Centre.

The US$1.05 billion mixed-use development in Miami has a gross floor area of 5.4 million square feet and will house office, residential, hotel, shops and entertainment facilities. The project is scheduled to be completed next year.

Fortune International Realty, property firm in Florida, has sold 25 properties in the state since November last year.

Six were sold to mainland Chinese and two to Hong Kong buyers, said Fernando De Nunez, the company’s international vice-president, in the Blackfish report.

“Mainland China will be the most important market,” De Nunez said.

Not all Asian investors are enjoying smooth sailing with their projects in Florida.

In 2011, Malaysian gaming company Genting paid US$400 million for an old-waterfront site and a nearby commercial complex to develop a US$3 billion hotel resort with 5,200 rooms and 8,000 slot machines.

This project was at least a year behind schedule, the Miami Herald reported in January.

Last year, Genting sued the US government in an effort to continue using foreign labour for its casino ship in Miami. In January, a US judge ruled against the request.

Genting did not reply to queries from the South China Morning Post.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Florida’s key position attracts investors

September sales cool off, but higher than last year

Members of the Sarasota Association of Realtors® sold 648 properties in September 2012, up almost 14 percent from last September, when only 570 transactions were closed. The figure was down almost 21 percent from the 819 sales in August 2012, continuing the historic trends that normally show a sales lull in the early autumn.

The category totals were 500 single family homes and 148 condos sold, compared to last September when only 430 single family and 140 condos were sold. This summer was an exceptional one for local Realtors® who normally have a respite after the spring season. This year, traffic at open houses has been heavy and multiple offers on available properties have become the norm. Part of the reason for this has been the continuing decline in the inventory of available properties on the market.

“Our inventory is now down to 3,460 – the lowest level since 1998,” reported SAR President Laura Benson. “The downward trend in inventory started four years ago, when we had over 9,500 properties for sale. We have a great demand for homes and potential sellers should know it’s a great time to list their properties.”

The available inventory of homes on the market once again dropped to yet another decade low, about 1 percent below last month’s total of 3,504. Last year at this time, the inventory was at 4,430 properties for sale – more than 20 percent higher than the current total.

Pending sales (which represent properties that went under contract during the month) dropped somewhat in September 2012 to 844 from last month’s total of 953. But the figure was still higher than last September, when there were 723 pending sales reported. This year’s activity is 16 percent higher than last year at this time. Pending sales are a good indicator of future closings.

“There is a lot of good news out there in the Sarasota marketplace, and the real estate industry has returned to a much healthier place than we were four or five years ago,” said Benson. “For the agents who experienced the down times, this has become a great period of rebound for the market.”

The median sale price for single family homes in September 2012 was almost identical to August 2012 at $169,950, while condo prices surged to $175,400 from last month’s $149,000. Last year at this time, median prices were at $165,000 for single family homes and $140,000 for condos.

Examining the longer trend lines, the median price for single family homes for the past 12 months was at $170,000. For condos, the median for the past 12 months stood at $167,250. Last year at this time, the 12-month rolling median prices were at $157,500 for single family homes and $163,000 for condos. The numbers indicate a gradual upward price trend.

For the year-to-date median prices, encompassing the first nine months of 2012, the picture was even brighter – $174,000 for single family and $178,800 for condo. The figures were both higher than last year at this time, when they were at $156,100 for single family and $165,000 for condos (11 percent and 8 percent higher, respectively).

Across the nation, prices are continuing to strengthen, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI). The index showed that home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 4.6 percent last month. This change represents the biggest year-over-year increase since July 2006. The analysis showed that all but six states are experiencing price gains.

The months of inventory remained near 10-year lows. The September figures were 4.4 months of inventory for single family homes and 8.5 months for condos. Months of inventory represents the time it would take to deplete the current inventory at the current sales rate. Last September, there were 6.7 months of inventory for single family homes and 11.1 months of inventory for condos. At the worst point of our market in November 2008, there were 24 months of inventory for single family homes and 41.7 months for condos.

Currently, only 534 properties for sale in the MLS are listed as short sales or foreclosures, down about 6 percent from last month’s figure of 570 properties. This represents about 15.4 percent of available properties, down from last month’s figure of 16.3 percent and down from the start of the year when the figure represented 17 percent of the market.

Click HERE for the complete press release in PDF format, plus several pages of statistical charts.

Standard Pacific Homes today announced the Grand Opening of Bellafield, a high end collection of single-family homes in the master-planned community of Seven Oaks in Wesley Chapel.

Home shoppers will have the choice of seven home designs that showcase Standard Pacific Homes’ architectural concepts.

“We’ve had the privilege of building in the prestigious master-planned community of Seven Oaks since 2001 and it has been a delight to see the community flourish into one of the area’s most sought-after places to live,” said Frank Messina, Tampa President of Standard Pacific Homes. “The state-of-the-art architectural concepts within Bellafield will introduce a new level of luxury to this popular community.”

Homeowners will be able to choose between Mediterranean, French Country and Tuscan exterior styles. Homes feature spacious floor plans that take cues from hospitality, with oversized bedrooms adjoining spa-like master baths and walk-in closets.

Ranging in size from 1,945 to 3,866 square feet, the single and two-story home designs offer up to six bedrooms and five bathrooms. Prices start in the high $200,000s.

Seven Oaks is just a mile from The Shops at Wiregrass, one of the area’s finest shopping malls.

The Bellafield at Seven Oaks sales center is located at 4527 Scarlet Loop, Wesley Chapel, FL 33544. For additional details and directions to the community visit www.standardpacifichomes.com.

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About Standard Pacific Homes

Standard Pacific Homes has been building beautiful, high-quality homes and neighborhoods since its founding in Southern California in 1965. With a trusted reputation for quality craftsmanship, an outstanding customer experience and exceptional architectural design, the Company utilizes its decades of land acquisition, development and homebuilding expertise to successfully navigate today’s complex landscape to acquire and build desirable communities in locations that meet the high expectations of the Company’s targeted move-up homebuyers. Currently offering new homes in major metropolitan areas in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas, we invite you to learn more about us by visiting standardpacifichomes.com.

Contact: Danielle Tocco Director of Communications Standard Pacific Homes 949.789.1633 dtocco@stanpac.com

Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140325/LA90828

SOURCE Standard Pacific Homes

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