Listings and Building

Busy day yesterday for Alameda’s Realtors, this morning my City of Alameda listing alert had five homes in the email. The email actually had six, but it listed 1415 Willow twice, one as a Single Family Residence and another as a Multi Family. Since the Realtor described the property as a “Beautiful 1915 traditional craftsman duplex,” I will count it as a multi family for today.

You can see the listings below the map.

On the National front a report by The Commerce Department show a big up swing in Housing Starts for May. Housing starts are the units of new housing construction and with housing starts jumping 17.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000 units, up from April's revised 454,000 units.

The good news is home builders as beginning to build again, on the downside was much of the build is multi family. Construction of single-family homes rose 7.5 percent to a 401,000 rate. Work on multifamily homes, such as townhouses and apartment buildings, jumped 62 percent to an annual rate of 131,000.

Although new construction is relatively restricted in Alameda given the little land to build on and the Alameda point Project still years away, the construction news is good because it is a belief that people will again start buying.

New building permits, which give a sense of future home construction, rose 4.0 percent, the biggest advance since June last year, to 518,000 units in May. That compared to analysts' forecasts for 500,000 units. Compared to the same period a year-ago, building permits plummeted 47 percent.

(Just a quick note: The neighborhood map project is coming along and I have mad several changes from reader comments. Give a look to see if we are getting closer: Map Link)

View Alameda Neighborhoods in a larger map

Monday Listings

1415 WILLOW STREET, Alameda, CA 94501
Priced at $780,000
MLS# 40414844
Property Type: MFR
Lot Size: 4,600 Sq. Ft.
Year Built: 1916
Open House: June 16, 2009

1327 WEBSTER ST #B308, Alameda, CA 94501
Priced at $239,900
MLS# 40414933
Property Type: CONDO/TH
Bedrooms: 1Bathrooms: 1
Square Footage: 701
Lot Size: 36,939
Sq. Ft.Year
Built: 1970

1417 5TH ST, Alameda, CA 94501
Priced at $837,500
MLS# 40414891
Property Type: SFR
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 3
Square Footage: 2,778
Lot Size: 6,674 Sq. Ft.
Year Built: 1910
Open House: June 16, 2009

931 INDEPENDENCE DR # A7, Alameda, CA 94501
Priced at $450,000
MLS# 40414923
Property Type: CONDO/TH
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Square Footage: 1,204
Lot Size: 19,123
Built: 1986

1336 LINCOLN AVE, Alameda, CA 94501
Priced at $675,000
MLS# 40414892
Property Type: MFR
Lot Size: 5,400
Year Built: 1906

National Sales Numbers Show Promise

Here at 94501 Real Estate we reported Alameda February Sales numbers two weeks ago and it showed that the Island's sales had remained flat year-over-year, but yesterday some very encouraging National housing news was released. Sales in the United States of previously occupied homes unexpectedly  jumped up in February by the largest amount in nearly six years.

The National Association of Realtors released Monday that sales of existing homes grew 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.72 million last month, from 4.49 million units in January.

It was the largest monthly sales jump since July 2003, with first-time buyers accounting for about half of all transactions.

The inventory glut created big opportunities as first-time buyers took advantage of deep discounts on foreclosures and other distressed properties. According to a survey by Emeryville based ZipRealty first-time home-buyer tax credit may be motivated to take some action and buy a home this spring, the survey showed Sixty-two percent of first-time buyers said that the $8,000 tax credit is giving them an incentive to buy in 2009.

Economists said sales, while still at levels not seen since 1997, may finally be coming back to life after declining sharply after the stock market plunge in autumn. Prices, however, are expected to keep falling well into the year. The ZipRealty survey also showed that of those who weren't motivated by the credit, 29% think it's not enough money to make a difference, 28% didn't think they would qualify and 24% think home prices will continue to decline.

Nationally, tens of thousands of homes remain tied up in the foreclosure process and are not yet for sale and could glut the market come this summer. Add mounting job losses many buyers are likely to stay on the sidelines.

Here in Alameda the wait and see posture seems to be the case and buyers are waiting to seewhat the future brings.

UPDATE ON WEBSTER STREET LOT: Michele Ellson got the low-down on the Farmer’s Market and its status. You can read the details in today’s post.

 

Alameda Real Estate Sees Small Decline in 2008; Nation Sees Big Drop

Yesterday was a real bad for real estate reports. First the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released Pending Home sales and they announced a record low, then later in the day a survey from the Corcoran Group, a New York brokerage firm, reported their little island Manhattan saw real estate sales plunged more than 40% in the fourth quarter to 2,500 units. The Manhattanites are used to over 6,000 sales in the last three months of the year.

So we look 2,907 miles to the west to our little island and see our sales are roughly flat. In the fourth quarter of 2007 we had 118 sales compared to 2008 with 105 closed transactions. This is an 11% change, but in the scope of total sales it is a small change. I wish I had the 2006 and 2005 data, I am sure it would be way down, to compare the sales totals.

Back to the NAR report: According to the National Association of Realtors, the Pending Home Sales Index fell to 82.3 for the month of November, to its lowest level since the series began in 2001, That's a drop from a downwardly revised reading of 85.7 in the month of October. The November index is 5.3% below the same month a year ago, when the Index stood at 86.9.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said a weakening was inevitable. “Mounting job losses and very weak consumer confidence deterred home buyers from signing contracts in November,” he said. “December’s housing market activity could be comparably lower due to ongoing problems in the economy, so a real estate-focused stimulus plan is urgently needed.”

This is very bad news and it will only get worse in December. Here in Alameda you can see that Real Estate inventory continues to decline and sales have drop. The Island recorded 451 sales in 2007, down 103 units from the prior year. It is hard to believe that it will continue to fall much lower. This is the number that we real need to focus in on. Sales impact local jobs (realtors, mortagage brokers), transfer tax, property tax and several other areas that if we do see the resale market rebound it can be a very tough year for the community as a whole.

To try and get housing to rebound, NAR is continuing to push for a housing bailout.

“There can’t be an economic recovery without a focus on housing. “It’s crucial for Congress and the new administration to move quickly to remove impediments and offer home buyers the incentives they need to tap into today’s historic low mortgage interest rates,” said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker in Dallas-Fort Worth."

For the Island, our insulated world, we will continue to see pressure from the outside. As homes decline in other areas the become more affordable this creates pressure to push price down in Alameda. So many variables are connected to rebounding housing market (financial credit market, jobs, inventory, bank owned properties, ect.) that it is hard to see the light at the end of this train tunnel.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

U.S. home prices in free fall

The Chronicle is reporting new housing numbers for the Bay Area. The San Francisco region experienced the third largest annual plunge of 29.5 percent, and the largest monthly decline, 3.9 percent.

http://tinyurl.com/5mhj9j