April Cal-Culator Reveals Continued Spring Setback

April Cal-Culator Reveals Continued Spring Setback

 After a strong winter in the real estate industry, the spring season continues to disappoint with sluggish market performance. Though the industry hit a record-breaking 6.0 twice earlier this year, the April Cal-Culator
lingered at a 5.7. Positive gains in underwater mortgages (home loans with a higher balance than the market value of the home) and foreclosures were offset by slow growth in existing-home sales and home prices.

The April Cal-Culator

Foreclosures
One of the bright spots of the month is CoreLogic’s latest National Foreclosure Report.  The report found that foreclosure rates (the 12-month sum of completed foreclosures) are back to November 2008 levels and foreclosure inventory is down 5.1 percent year-over-year.
“The inventory of homes in foreclosure and serious delinquency status are back to 2008 levels, yet remain elevated from a historic perspective,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “While getting healthier, the housing market is still a long way from being fully recovered.”
Unfortunately, Georgia was leading the nation with the fifth-highest number of completed foreclosures during the past 12 months – 33,000.
Home Prices
The most recent S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed little growth in home price gains for the majority of the 10-City and 20-City Composite, where Atlanta is included. Atlanta posted a -0.6 percent change, seasonally adjusted, month-over-month and -0.1 percent change year-over-year. David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said these “annual rates cooled the most we’ve seen in some time” and that the recovery in housing starts is “faltering.”
Home Sales
A report from the National Association of Realtors found that existing-home sales remained stagnant in March. Declining sales in the West and South offset gains in the Northeast and Midwest. Overall total existing-home sales slipped 0.2 percent.
“There should really be stronger levels of home sales given our population growth,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “In contrast, price growth is rising faster than historical norms because of inventory shortages.”
However, pending home sales increased for the first time in nine months. The Pending Home Sales Index, a “forward-looking indicator,” rose 3.4 percent nationwide and 5.6 percent in the South in March.
“After a dismal winter, more buyers got an opportunity to look at homes last month and are beginning to make contract offers,” said Yun. “Sales activity is expected to steadily pick up as more inventory reaches the market, and from ongoing job creation in the economy.”
Underwater Properties
RealtyTrac’s U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report for the first quarter of 2014 showed that 17 percent of all properties with a mortgage were seriously underwater, where the combined loan amount of the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated value, the lowest level since RealtyTrac began tracking negative equity in 2012. Unfortunately, Georgia has the 10th-highest number of underwater mortgages in the nation.
“U.S. homeowners are continuing to recover equity lost during the Great Recession, but the pace of that recovering equity slowed in the first quarter, corresponding to slowing home price appreciation,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.
The May Cal-Culator will be released June 10 and will hopefully represent resurgence in the housing industry.

The September Cal-Culator Shows Continued Growth in the Atlanta Residential Real Estate Index

Posted on October 4, 2013 by admin  

September 2013 marks our second month of The Cal-Culator, Atlanta’s residential real estate index. Based on rising mortgage applications, declining foreclosure rates in Atlanta, the growth of the U.S. economy, amongst other factors, our Cal-Culator number this month is a 5.9. Comparatively, last month was a 5.1.

 

As stated in our inaugural column last month, The Cal-Culator number is based on housing trends, real estate-related indices and information from experts in the industry. We take into account such trends as mortgage rates, mortgage volume, inventory of available homes in Atlanta, the overall health of the Atlanta and U.S. economy, mortgage loan applications and more. We consult a number of professional publications and organizations such as Metrostudy, the Bankrate.com Rate Trend Index, S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index and the Mortgage Bankers Association commentary.

The latest Metro Atlanta Case-Shiller Index, published on September 24, continued to show signs of improvement for Atlanta. Average home prices increased by 1.8 percent from last month and 12.4 percent over the past year. The Index also found listing inventory is up 24.8 percent from its lowest level in February 2013.

More September reports from Realtytrac showed remarkable progress for the foreclosure rate in the Atlanta market. Atlanta saw the fewest U.S. homes sought for foreclosures by lenders in nearly eight years. It is the first month since November 2009 that Georgia did not land in the top 10 states with the highest number of foreclosures. In August, 55,775 homes entered the foreclosure process, an 8 percent drop from the previous month and a 44 percent drop from August 2012.

On September 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association released their commercial and multifamily quarterly data book. Their findings revealed that the U.S. economy grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of 2.5 percent in the second quarter, compared to 1.1 percent growth in the first quarter. They also found that commercial and multifamily mortgage originations grew while delinquency rates for commercial and multifamily mortgages loans declined. Mortgage applications increased within September by 5.5 percent, according to their reports.

The National Association of Home Builders reported sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 15.3 percent in the South in August and 7.9 percent nationwide. The gain helped offset a dip in July that was caused by higher interest rates. The resales marked a 6 1/2 year high as buyers flocked back to the market to take advantage of lower borrowing costs.

August also posted numbers that demonstrated ease on the housing crunch that has struck Atlanta especially hard. According to the National Association of Realtors, more buyers are beginning to put their home on the market thanks in part to rising home prices. Existing home sales increased 1.7 percent to a 5.48 million annual rate in August.

The next Cal-Culator will be released November 11. Here’s to hoping for a continual rise in the Atlanta residential real estate market.

Note from Cal Haupt, CEO, Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc. :
With the deadlock in Washington, the government created a significant issue out of a small lesser-known component of the mortgage process.  Due to the recent financial crisis, IRS 4506T transcript verifications are required on almost all files prior to closing a mortgage loan in the US.  As a result of the government shutdown, the IRS is not processing 4506T requests. The real estate lending industry contributed to the 2009 recession and if the government does not address this overlooked component of the shutdown, the constraint on lending will severely impact the recovery process of home builders, real estate professionals, and mortgage lenders.

www.southeastmortgage.com
770-279-0222