Jupiter Florida Real Estate Broker

U.S. homebuilders broke the 1 million mark in March for the first time since June 2008. The gain signals continued strength for the housing recovery at the start of the spring buying season.The overall pace of homes started rose 7 percent from February to March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.04 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.Apartment construction, which tends to fluctuate sharply from month to month, led the surge: It jumped nearly 31 percent to an annual rate of 417,000, the fastest pace since January 2006.By contrast, single-family home building, which makes up nearly two-thirds of the market, fell 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 619,000. That was down from February’s pace of 650,000, the fastest since May 2008. The government said February’s pace was a sharp 5.2 percent higher than it had previously estimated.Applications for building permits, a gauge of future construction, declined 3.9 percent to an annual rate of 902,000. It was down from February’s rate of 939,000, which was also nearly a five-year high.Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, called the data “obviously good news.” But he noted that the surge was due to a jump in volatile apartment construction and said the pace of building could drop in April.Steady job growth, near record-low mortgage rates and rising home values have encouraged more people to buy. In response to higher demand and a low supply of available homes for sale, builders have stepped up construction.March’s pace of homes started was nearly 46 percent higher than in the same month in 2012.Housing construction fell 5.8 percent in the Northeast but gained in the rest of the country, led by a 10.9 percent rise in the South. It rose 9.6 percent in the Midwest and 2.7 percent in the West.The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo April survey released Monday showed that builders are concerned that limited land and rising costs for building materials and labor could slow sales in the short term. That led to a third straight monthly drop in confidence.Still, the builders’ outlook for sales over the next six months climbed to the highest level in more than six years, suggesting that the obstacles could be temporary.And construction firms have stepped up hiring in recent months. They added 18,000 jobs in March and 169,000 since September, according to the Labor Department.Though new homes represent only a fraction of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000

 

Obama budget proposal: What would impact housing?

President Barack Obama once again is calling for a cap on the value of itemized deductions, including the mortgage-interest and property tax deductions, in his 2014 federal budget request. The cap would limit the value of all tax deductions to 28 percent for households in the higher brackets. If enacted by Congress, that would cap deductions at 28 percent for taxpayers currently in the 33, 35 and 39.6 percent tax brackets.

The president has sought the deduction cap every year he’s been in office, however, and it has never moved beyond the proposal stage. Analysts say it’s unlikely to move beyond the proposal stage this year.

Under the federal budget process, the president’s budget request serves as the administration’s statement of priorities, which Congress can consider as it crafts an overall budget blueprint for the year. Even the budget itself, once one is passed by both Houses of Congress, serves only as a fiscal guidepost for lawmakers and does not have the force of law.

For real estate, the president’s latest budget proposal largely rehashes previous proposals.

The Obama administration announced the extension or debut of three programs aimed at helping distressed home owners avoid foreclosure. The three initiatives are:

Increasing outreach in the Making Home Affordable Program: The U.S. Department of Treasury is partnering with NeighborWorks America as well as the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program to increase support for struggling home owners who seek assistance through the Making Home Affordable Program, which includes the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). HAMP reduces monthly payments by more than $540 each month, on average. “Through the new initiative, housing counseling agencies will help struggling home owners successfully complete and submit application documents to their mortgage company free-of-charge,” according to the White House blog.

Informing the unemployed about programs: The Department of Labor will be encouraging American Job Centers to inform unemployed home owners about federal foreclosure prevention options that are available to them. For example, there is unemployment forbearance through HAMP that allows qualifying home owners who are unemployed to reduce or suspend their mortgage payments for up to 12 months.

HUD’s new Housing Counseling Office: The Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched a Housing Counseling Office, which offers at-risk home owners free or low cost information about foreclosure prevention and loan modification programs. It also offers general information on buying or renting a home, handling foreclosures, and how to avoid scams. The office is made up of a network of 2,500 HUD-approved housing counseling agencies.

“While we are encouraged that the housing market is on the path to recovery, our job is far from finished,” according to the White House blog. “There are still many struggling home owners who need assistance. By connecting eligible home owners with existing foreclosure prevention programs, our new counseling initiatives will enable more borrowers to remain in their homes and go a long way in ensuring a brighter economic future for these families.”

 

Wells Fargo dominates home loan business

Wells Fargo & Co. is the largest U.S. mortgage lender, taking an unprecedented 28.8 percent share of all home loans nationwide last year, up from 11.2 percent in 2007.

“They are dominating the retail space because they are huge, and because there is so little competition from other big banks that have pulled back,” says Alan Rosenbaum, chief executive of GuardHill Financial Corp., a New York-based mortgage bank, to The Wall Street Journal.

Wells Fargo’s home loan production topped $524 billion last year – a record for any one lender. What’s more, that number is more than all of the next five lenders home loan production combined, according to the publication Inside Mortgage Finance.

Wells Fargo has been aggressively approaching real estate brokers and developers to expand its home lending business, striking deals to become preferred lenders.

Wells Fargo preferred-lender arrangements give it “first crack at a lot more loans,” says Rosenbaum.

Source: “Real Estate News: Mortgage Gamble Pays Off for Wells,” The Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2013)

Chris Ryder

Home prices rose in Feb. by most in 7 years

U.S. home prices jumped in February by the largest amount in seven years, evidence that the housing recovery strengthened ahead of the all-important spring-buying season.

Home prices rose 10.2 percent in February compared with a year earlier, CoreLogic, a real estate data provider, said Wednesday. The annual gain was the biggest since March 2006. Prices have now increased on an annual basis for 12 straight months, underscoring the recovery’s steady momentum.

The gains were broad-based. Prices rose in 47 of 50 states and in all but four of the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. Delaware, Alabama and Illinois were the only states to report price declines.

CoreLogic’s measure of national prices also rose 0.5 percent in February from January. That’s a solid increase during the winter months, when sales typically slow.

An increase in home sales has helped lift prices. In February, sales of previously owned homes reached the highest level in more than three years. Still, much of the demand has come from investors. Sales to first-time buyers remain below healthy levels.

Another reason prices are rising is the supply of available homes for sale remains extremely low. In January, it reached a 13-year low.

The supply of homes for sale did rise in February for the first time in 10 months. That suggests more people are gaining confidence in the housing recovery, which could help ease supply concerns and drive sales higher in the coming months.

The price gains were concentrated in the West, according to CoreLogic. The states with the biggest price gains were Nevada, where prices rose 19.3 percent, followed by Arizona, with 18.6 percent, and California, with 15.3 percent.

Hawaii and Idaho rose 14.6 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively.

The cities with the biggest gains were Phoenix, Los Angeles, Riverside, Calif., Atlanta and New York.

Nationwide, home values were still down more than 26 percent from their peak in April 2006 through February, CoreLogic said.

Steady increases in prices help fuel the housing recovery. They encourage some homeowners to sell homes and entice some would-be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further.

Higher prices can also make homeowners feel wealthier. That can encourage more consumer spending, which drives 70 percent of economic activity.

Chris Ryder