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Existing home sales could hit 5-year low

Realtors forecast for year sees the outlook worsening in 2008

WASHINGTON – Sales of existing homes in the U.S. are forecast to decline to a five-year low in 2007, a trade group for real estate agents said Tuesday, and the outlook for 2008 is worsening.

The ninth-straight downwardly revised monthly forecast from the National Association of Realtors calls for U.S. existing home sales to fall 12.7 percent this year to 5.66 million, down from 6.48 million last year.

Last month, the association predicted a 10.8 percent drop from a year ago.

This year’s sales would be the lowest since 2002, when sales hit 5.63 million. The Realtors group forecasts sales will rise slightly next year to 5.69 million, but that is down from last month’s prediction of 6.12 million.

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Florida: Increased Market for Townhouses

The market for townhouses has increased throughout the state. This is because single family home prices have gone up.

Townhouse is a cross between a condo and a single-family home and offers the best criteria of both worlds. These units are detached with private entrance or gate and the owner need not worry taking care of a landscaping.

This type of units is not viewed same with the condo boom, but seen as a substitute to higher land and construction costs of a single houses.

Townhouses production has increasingly grown for the past five or six years in south Florida. Because of this boom and low prices, more family are buying or moving into townhouses.

(image source : brownstoner.com

Banks: Foreclosure Increases , Sales Decreases

Now days, foreclosure is alarmingly increasing in higher rate and because of this, lenders are acquiring homes faster than selling them off.

About 2% of home loans were foreclosed by the end of last year, and was noted as the highest foreclosure rate since the Mortgage Bankers Association started collecting data.

It was also mentioned that the heaviest concentrations of foreclosed loans are in Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan & Indiana. Rallying in the foreclosure are California, Arizona & Georgia. And because of this increase, it is expected that about two-thirds of homeowners will lose their homes.

And some of these houses in foreclosure state will not totally be owned by banks. Because borrower will go into deals with the lenders on easing the loan terms and allowing them to catch up on payments.

(image source : howstuffworks.com

Canada: Housing Market Drops

According to some evidence, Canada’s housing market is been dropping for four consecutive months, at least 15% below than last summer. In the first quarter of 2008, the average resale of home prices declined. And the demand for new residential building and single-family home permit has sharply dropped, and unsold new homes are trending higher. Another factor for the housing decrease, is the inhospitable weather and home renovation expenses are beginning to cost higher.

Canada is making a risk in doing an eventual price correction for its real estate market. While inventories of unsold houses are getting high, market for this is not overbuilt, wherein new houses built are regulated. Also, Canadian lenders have maintained a conservative loan qualifying criteria and sometimes an adjustable mortgage rate, to help lessen foreclosure.

(image source : nationalpost.com)

Home Prices Rise – A Bit

Home prices are on the rise but industry analysts still say they are at so low levels it’s still prime time to buy properties and other forms of real estates while they are still cheap. But with no end in sight to the economic crunch, there’s no telling when the market would ever recover. Some people in the industry forecasting the end to the current crisis to come by 2012, nobody knows how the industry would survive. But for the mean time, people who could afford to purchase property should take advantage of the low prices, just be sure to do ample homework on the property so you don’t put all your eggs in one empty box.

Mortgage Rates at their lowest – And People Know About It

The rise in mortgage loans are on the rise and people couldn’t be happier for they couldn’t afford these financial assistance packages if the market was still in its prime. Many real estate industry analysts are noticing the rise but they say it won’t last long for the market s still experiencing a default rate of over 50%. This translates to that much people who are defaulting or are so late in their monthly payments they are facing foreclosures. Jobs are still being shed by companies and with it comes the ability of these very people to pay up their mortgages. With no way to finance their homes, and their job assistance checks barely able to sustain their lives, it seems that only a miracle can take this recession away.

Real Estate – Is It Gonna Get Worse?

Well, as if it couldn’t get any worse, the real estate industry was hoping that the economic figures last year in their corner of the woods have been leveling out, it wasn’t. For the industry as a whole is till doing bad with prices continuing to slide ever lower and mortgages still defaulting. People who loved the new administration with their new view into the industry as a whole have been re-thinking their overall grading of the government which has done little to stem the worsening economic conditions. Hailed as the “trillion dollar economic blunder”, it seems that even the economists who promoted the President’s move to open the Federal Government’s coffers are having second thoughts, saying ti may have warranted more study before it should have been allowed to pass. Read the rest…

Optimism Soars As Home Prices Level-off

The February bump in sales has been all but a memory yet people are still quite optimistic at the leveling off of the reals estate market, namely home prices which seems to have gotten to the lowest levels that could since the crisis began last year. Some markets of the real estate industry have been suffering longer like the metro rental market where they have been loosing ground tot he worsening economy since a few years back.
Optimism in the market that has made the dreams of thousands of people come true is good sign that people are still willing to partake in the home industry, even with most growth indicators not showing good signs. The market in terms of non-home construction spending is also showing some good signs for it seems that developers have managed to plug up the wide gaping holes in their businesses and developments which is allowing them to continue on with their business.

February Figures Move Slightly

The figures for the housing market for the month of February are surprisingly showing a slight move on the positive note which is being accepted by the industry with skepticism. Why, well maybe the system and people have finally accepted the fact that the market is going to take a long long time to recover and with other economic conditions and indicators showing otherwise, the minor move is a mere bump in the overall economic condition of the US. Read the rest…

Being part of the community

When looking at real estate, one of the most important things to consider is the community it is located in. Is is a good neighborhood? What schools are nearest? Where can you find the freshest produce? Especially if you’ve just moved in, try to ask your neighbors for help where you should go to find meat, and the other daily essentials. People who’ve lived in the community for some time know the ins and out of the place, and can tell you when stores have weekly or monthly discount promos, where you can buy the freshest meat, and so on. You can also join the online representation of these communities, where you can even meet more people and gain information about the place you’re living in or plan to live in.