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Top 10 List of the Best Places to Buy
The attitude is way-laid back in Portland, Ore., making it the perfect place for Gen Y. There are tons of venues for merry-making: music clubs, coffee shops and art galleries. When it's not raining, you can bike through the city.
By Diane Wedner, Walletpop
1/7/2011 7:33:33 AM ET
Last decade’s bipolar housing market is over. The ups, the downs, the thrills, the spills — largely behind us. Yes, prices and sales are stuck in neutral in large swaths of the country.
But let’s ring in the new decade optimistically, with Walletpop’s Top 10 List of the Best Places to Buy a Home in 2011. This mostly unscientific and partially biased list is based on a grab-bag of lifestyle priorities and, yes, thorough reporting.
Here we go, in no particular order…
Geeks Put Cities on the Map
From Silicon Valley to Alley and London’s East End
11 Nov 2010 14:48 | by Linda Harrison in Brighton | posted in Business
If you want to put your city on the map, get the geeks to move in. Better still, get the super-geeks to move in. Researchers at Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico have found that one of the most exceptional places to live in the US is not New York or San Francisco – but Corvallis, Oregon.
Read more: http://www.techeye.net/business/geeks-put-cities-on-the-map#ixzz1508ouE00
Home Prices on the Rise?
The New York Times posted the recent Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller study showing gains of home prices in multiple cities.
See the interactive chart here.
Foreclosure Figures Show Improvement
The feeling is that foreclosures are subsiding. The incredible increase in foreclosure activity that hit the United States hard over the past couple of years was a huge catalyst for falling home prices, as well as a staggering hit to the real estate market as a whole. The decrease in foreclosures for the end of 2009 that has been reported is good news for all. As foreclosures disappear real estate values will be less affected.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Friday that there was a decrease in foreclosure applications for the last quarter of 2009. This was particularly good news considering the fourth quarter typically sees a rise in foreclosures due to heating costs, according to the MBA.
While foreclosures will still be coming the decrease appears to make the problem improving or, at the very least, not getting worse. The nation’s employment numbers need to improve before we are out of the woods but slowly and steadily we are climbing out of the recession and real estate is taking baby steps toward a solid recovery.
Click here to read the full report from the MBA.
Two-Year House Price Depreciation Ends
U.S. house prices edged up 0.2 percent between the second and third quarter, ending a two-year skid, according to the latest quarterly housing valuation analysis by IHS Global Insight. California led the nation with a 2.1 percent home price increase during the quarter. Of the 330 metro areas analyzed in the House Prices in America study, 169 showed price increases during the quarter while 161 posted declines. By comparison, 317 metro areas had price declines in the fourth quarter of 2008.
In annual terms, house prices nationwide edged up slightly by 0.9 percent during the third quarter. This marks the first increase since the second quarter of 2007 when the housing market began to decline. From their peak in 2007, U.S. housing prices have fallen an average of 10.7 percent.
The study also finds that the nation as a whole is slightly undervalued. None of the markets included in the study were found to be extremely overvalued in the third quarter, compared to 2005 when 52 markets fit that description. However, most of the markets that are somewhat overvalued are located in the Pacific Northwest. MON, DEC 28, 2009
Impressive October Real Estate Sales Show Signs of Recovery
Real Estate data indicates that the overall housing market is slowly improving
Price declines are getting smaller, sales volume is getting larger and the overall real estate market appears to be mending. October sales were up for pre-existing home sales, 23.5% up compared with October of 2008. Homes sales for October were predicted to be 5.70 million, but the sales volume turned out to be 6.1 million.
Encouraging words are being spoken about real estate by NAR’s chief economist who stated that, “Existing home sales have already bottomed. Home prices are almost there. We are seeing less of a decline in house values.”
Approximately one third of home sales in October were made by first time home buyers taking advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit. The median home price fell 7.1%, still affected by distressed properties which accounted for 30% of October’s home sales .
In addition, inventory of homes for sale has dropped slightly, indicating that the housing market is indeed recovering slowly. Tax incentives, low mortgage rates and decreasing home values continue to make their mark, helping real estate sales to increase. The housing market’s recovery will hopefully seep into the minds of consumers, giving a bit of peace and spurring on recovery in other sectors.
Click here for a Yahoo Real Estate article about real estate sales.
Extending the Good News for Home Buyers
Extending the Good News for Home Buyers
By Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR Research
Let’s first turn to the terrific news regarding the housing stimulus. Earlier this month, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed and the President signed into law new measures to maintain the momentum for a housing market recovery. The home buyer tax credit, originally scheduled to expire at the end of November will now be available through the middle of next year and more potential buyers will be able to take advantage of it. The income limit was also increased and many move-up buyers – not just first-timer purchasers – also will qualify. Furthermore, loan limits will not shrink as was planned for next year; in high-cost areas, the loan limit will remain at near $730,000 in 2010, thereby permitting more consumers to tap into the historically low mortgage rates.
Real Estate Appears to be Leveling Out
Real estate appears to be stabilizing across the Country
A recent report shows improvement in real estate across the country. The well known S&P/Case-Schiller index shows that the 10 city index and the 20 city index a marked improvement in real estate in the majority of cities that it tracks. What the reports displays are small improvements or minimal devaluation in home values. Home values are up anywhere from .1% to 3.4% in ten cities. In other areas real estate values have remained flat and in harder hit areas home values are decreasing at significantly lower rates.
While the news is certainly not staggering it is encouraging because it indicates that real estate markets across the Country are leveling out. Home values are falling less sharply and people are being drawn back into the real estate market. It is no surprise what is stimulating the market. Low home values, low interest rates and the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit have combined to create an ideal buyer’s market.
For more information on the latest info click here for a report from Yahoo real estate.
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