Market Trends Category
Knoxville Sales Are Up…
April 30th, 2010 categories: Case-Shiller Index, Home Price Index, Home Values, Market Trends, Pending Home Sales, Sellers
PRICES ARE STILL FLAT…WHY??
The Sales in the Knoxville Real Estate market have been up over the last few months. Mostly because of low interest rates and the tax credits that end today. But the prices remain flat and it is really just excess inventory that is coming off the market.It is going to take a major drop in the Knoxville real estate inventory before we see and increase in prices. Earlier this week, Standard & Poors released its February Case-Shiller Index, a home price tracker for select metropolitan areas.
Overwhelmingly, home values fell in the 20 markets tracked by the Case-Shiller. Only San Diego showed a modest increase. The other 19 markets averaged a 1.23 percent decline between January and February.
However, that’s not the story you read in the most papers. Instead, headlines read that home values were up in the United States, citing annualized data.
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HAFA.. Will It Help Knoxville Home Owners Facing Foreclosure??
April 28th, 2010 categories: HARP, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Mortgage Guidelines, Sellers
If You Are A Knoxville Homeowner Facing Foreclosure…HAFA May Help You.
HAFA was introduced to simplify and streamline the short sale process. HAFA accomplishes this in the following ways:
- Compliments HAMP by providing viable alternatives for borrowers who are HAMP-eligible
- Uses standard processes, documents and timeframes
- Provides financial incentives to borrowers, servicers and investors
- Requires that borrowers be fully released from future liability for the debt
- Utilizes borrower financial and hardship information collected in conjunction with HAMP, eliminating the need for additional eligibility analysis
- Allows the borrower to receive pre-approved short sale terms prior to the property listing
- Prohibits the servicer from requiring, as a condition of approving the short sale, a reduction in the real estate commission agreed upon in the listing agreement1
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What in The Heck Is HAFA
April 28th, 2010 categories: Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Mortgage Guidelines, Sellers
What is HAFA?
The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives
(HAFA) Program is a government-sponsored initiative overseen by the US Treasury Department and administered by Fannie Mae assisting all Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)-eligible homeowners in avoiding foreclosure, specifically through Knoxville short sales or Knoxville deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.1 HAFA was announced on November 30, 2009 in a HAMP Update titled Introducing the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program
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New Homes Sales Were Strong in March, But Not As Strong As The News Would Have You Believe
April 28th, 2010 categories: New Home Sales
The sales of newly-built homes soared in March. Even more than what was expected. But the news may not be as glowing as what the media is telling us.
Take a look at the headlines from last Friday:
- Sales of new homes rocketed up 27 percent in March (WaPo)
- New-home sales rise fastest in 47 years (CNNMoney)
- Sales of New Homes Climb by Most Since 1963 (Business Week)
None of these statements is false, per se, but each is somewhat misleading. The biggest reason why March’s New Home Sales was even able to rise 27 percent is because data from the month before it — February — was the worst in New Home Sales history.
In February, new homes sold posted its lowest level in recorded history.
A better comparison would be against March a year earlier; or October 2009, the month before the home buyer tax credit’s initial expiration date.
Against both of those time periods, March 2010 fared well.
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The Fed Adjourns From A 2-Day Meeting Today And What It Means For Mortgage Rates
April 28th, 2010 categories: FOMC, Market Trends, Mortgage Rates
The Federal Reserve adjourns from a scheduled, 2-day meeting today. It’s one of 8 scheduled Fed meetings for 2010.
Upon adjournment, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke & Co. will release a formal statement to the market. In it, the Fed is expected to announce “no change” in the Fed Funds Rate.
The Fed Funds Rate is currently in a target range of 0.000-0.250 percent.
The Fed Funds Rate is an inter-bank lending rate. It’s also the basis for Prime Rate, a consumer interest rate on which credit card payments are based, among other consumer loans. Prime Rate is equal to the Fed Funds Rate + 3 percent. Credit card rates, therefore, will likely stay flat today, too.
Mortgage rates, however, should change. Possibly by a lot. The 30-year fixed mortgage does not correlate with the Fed Funds Rate (as shown in the chart at right).
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Knoxville Home Resales Boom Into The End Of The Tax Credit And Around The Country
April 28th, 2010 categories: Buyers, Existing Home Sales, Home Values, Homebuyer Tax Credit, Market Trends, Pending Home Sales, Statistics
Existing Home Sales rose in March, as expected. U.S. home buyers closed on 7 percent more homes as compared to February.
Furthermore, versus March 2009 — a month many people equate to the low point of the U.S. economy — sales volume was up 16 percent.
“Existing home sale” is the technical term for a home resale; a home previously inhabited by a person. It’s the opposite of a “new home sale” which is a sale of a newly-constructed home.
Existing Homes Data is tracked by the National Association of Realtors® and a closer look at the March data reveals some other interesting notes:
- Year-over-year sales are higher for the 9th straight month
- Real estate investors represented 19 percent of all homes purchased
- First-time home buyers account for 44 percent of all buyers
Also worth noting is that the supply of available homes is down on a broader basis. At the current rate of sales, the existing home inventory will be exhausted in 8 months.
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Just What Is The Federal Reserve Doing?? Here Is A Simple Explanation After Their Meeting (April 28,2010 Edition)
April 27th, 2010 categories: FOMC, FOMC Minutes, Housing Starts, Market Trends, Mortgage Guidelines
Today, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-to-1 to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within in its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent.
In its press release, the FOMC noted that, since March, the U.S. economy “has continued to strengthen” and that the jobs markets “is beginning to improve”. This is a step up from the last meeting after which the Fed said jobs were “stabilizing”.
It also reiterated that business spending “has risen significantly”.
Today’s statement marks the 7th straight press release in which the Fed shows optimism for the U.S. economy. Furthermore, the Fed has now closed all but one of the programs it created to support markets during last year’s financial crisis.
Threats remain to growth, however. The Fed fingered a few:
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Will The Knoxville Housing Market Slow Down After The Tax Credit Expires??
April 22nd, 2010 categories: General, Home Price Index, Home Values, Homebuyer Tax Credit, Housing Starts, Market Trends
After a strong March showing and a surprise upward-revision for February, Housing Starts are, once again, trending better.
It’s yet another signal that the housing market in Farragut and nationwide is stabilized.
A Housing Start is a new home on which construction has started and, over the last 6 months, home builders are averaging one half-million starts per month.
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Are The Taxes High On Your Knoxville Area Home??
April 22nd, 2010 categories: Existing Home Sales, General, Real Estate Taxes, Sellers
More than 60 percent of U.S. homes are “over-assessed”, says an industry trade group. Homeowners in Farragut pay more in property taxes than they otherwise should have to. You might be one of them.
Have you considered fighting your real estate tax bill?
In this 4-minute piece from The Today Show, you’ll learn:
- When to file your tax bill dispute for the best chances of winning
- How to pull your “property card” and check for tax bill-raising errors
- What to do if the taxing authority turns down your request
Most importantly, you’ll learn that don’t need to hire an attorney to fight your tax bill. You just need to be prepared. Do your research and make your case. It’s estimated that nearly half of all contesting homeowners are successful.
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Knoxville Homebuyers Should You Consider A 5 Year ARM??
April 22nd, 2010 categories: Adjustable Rate Mortgages, Buyers, Existing Home Sales, Mortgage Rates
Each week, government-led Freddie Mac publishes a weekly mortgage rate survey based on data from 125 banks across the country. According to this week’s results, the relative rate of a 5-year ARM in Tennessee is extremely low versus its 30-year fixed-rate cousin.
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