Archive for June, 2010
Housing Still Lacks Stable Funding
There still isn’t enough private capital in the home loan market – a sign of a “very sick system,” said Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David Stevens, who spoke to the Mortgage Bankers Association at their convention on Monday.
Without a 20 percent down payment, “it’s very difficult to find a solution with private capital,” Stevens said. “We need to find a way to bring private capital back to the market.”
Stevens called on banks to provide more remedies for responsible borrowers who are underwater, which he said would go a long way toward stabilizing the market.
Source: Reuters News (05/24/2010)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
More People Are Choosing to Rent
More than 76 percent of people say they would prefer to rent a home than buy one, up 5 percent from 2009, according to this year’s survey from the National Apartment Association.
The survey also calculated that 60 percent of renters plan to continue renting in 2011, with only 12 percent planning to buy a home in the next year.
Some 64 percent of renters cited having no responsibility for major repairs or maintenance as the primary reason they prefer to rent, followed by 33 percent who cited not being impacted by an unpredictable real estate market or susceptible to foreclosure.
Source: National Apartment Association (05/24/2010)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
Retail Occupancy Recovery Expected in 2011
Retail vacancy rates hit 11 percent in the first quarter of 2010, but real estate services firm Colliers International says the worst appears to be over.
Colliers expects vacancy rates to go still higher this year, but level off and begin to recover in 2011.
“It appears that contraction in the U.S. retail real estate market is finally winding down, but not completely over,” says Garrick Brown, Colliers International’s U.S. retail research director.
“We expect store closures to continue through year-end; but the return of credit and capital, coupled with an uptick in M&A activity, could be a much-welcomed shot in the arm for U.S. retail real estate,” he says.
Source: Colliers International (05/26/2010)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
April New-Home Sales Spike 14.8%
Sales of new homes jumped in April, climbing 14.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 504,000 last month, up from 439,000 in March, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Sales were up 47.8 percent over the same period a year ago.
The surge was driven by the home buyer tax credit, which expired April 30. “We got two solid increases in March and April,” says Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “We may see sales fall to a record low in the aftermath of the tax credit program, but any fallback should be short-lived.”
The government estimates that there were 211,000 new homes on the market at the end of April, a five-month inventory.
Source: CNNMoney.com, Hibah Yousuf (05/26/2010)
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.