Lots of News So Here is: Three Dot Round Up

I have been trying to get to this post but time has been just flying the last two days. There has been a lot of news in the last 24 hours regarding Real Estate both nationally and locally. So I thought a three dot round up would be appropriate.

First a review of the Alameda Real Estate Inventory data, the chart is below. After coming off a 15-week high inventory pulled back this week to 174 units for sale. This may be good news with 33 sales already recorded for the month of July and with a few days left in the month we may be able to surpass last month’s 41 units sold . . .

. 7/26/2009 . Total 174 . 94501 139 . 94502 35 . SFR 105 . Condo 39 . Multi-Family 28 . Short Sale 12 . Foreclosure 13 . Price Reductions 62 . High List $1,899,000 . Low List $232,900 .

The Bay Area is "Hot" in distressed neighborhoods. Oakland 94606 has been named one of the top 10 "hottest" real-estate markets in the country by Online real-estate company Zip Realty. A glut of foreclosures is leading some areas to see bidding wars -- just like the old days. Eight of Zip Realty's ten hottest markets are in California. While the cold markets, where offers are coming in at less than list price, are concentrated in the southeast, principally in Georgia and Florida. Of the 182 Bay Area zip codes the company included Alameda’s 94501 was 99th with homes selling for 97.51 percent of the list price. The 94502 was 137th on the list at 96.24 percent. I guess the Island is lukewarm. The details of the company's second-quarter Home Hunter Report. . .

Prices nationally continue to decline but just not as much as the past months. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index for May showed a narrower decline in prices for a fourth straight month, but in its 20-city gauge was still down 17.1% from a year ago. While the reading was an improvement from the 18.1% decline in April, it was also the latest reminder that the struggling housing market still has a long road to recovery. . .

New home sales rose by the largest amount in more than eight years last month, in another sign the housing market might be bouncing back from the worst downturn in decades. The Commerce Department said Monday that sales rose 11 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, from an upwardly revised May rate of 346,000. . .

California Weak and High

Two new reports on the California Real Estate market came out today that details that the market as still very tenuous. New home sales suffered a sharp decline from the prior year and foreclosure filings hit new highs

According to the California Building Industry Association, February sales of new homes in California were down 54 percent from a year ago. This is a modest improvement from the prior month but still a very weak. Sales of single-family homes and townhomes were both down 55 percent from a year ago, while sales of condominiums were off 51 percent.

Not only are sales down but the median base price was also down 15 percent from a year ago and 6 percent from January.

News regarding distressed properties was no better. According to RealtyTrac foreclosure-related filings on U.S. homes during the first three months of the year were up 9 percent from the previous quarter and 24 percent from a year ago, surpassing previous highs for the current downturn.

The 803,489 properties subject to some kind of foreclosure filing during the first quarter -- including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- marked a record high since RealtyTrac began reporting in January 2005.

The increase in filings can be attributed to legislative action. Many Banks/Lenders have been holding off on foreclosures because of moratoria and legislative delays. With these programs coming to an end these initiate new foreclosure proceedings.

In Alameda, foreclosures that have reach the MLS have been relatively very few. In fact we peaked in November of last year and have reached a 21 week low for foreclosed homes for sale. That number appears to be understated, according to RealtyTrac Alameda has 92 properties in Pre-Foreclosure, 37 Trustee Sales and 73 Bank Owned.

The 73 Banked owned is troublesome, it means that they, the Banks, are sitting on inventory and the 92 properties that have now entered some face of the foreclosure process means that the Island could see it own wave of distressed properties hit the market in the near future.

Demand for distressed properties by first-time homebuyers and investors has picked up in some hard-hit markets, locally in East Contra Costa County, but given the new news there is a new swell of properties entering the pipeline.

California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Illinois accounted for nearly 60 percent of properties subject to foreclosure-related filings during the first quarter, RealtyTrac said. California alone accounted for 29 percent of the properties in some stage of foreclosure -- 230,915 -- a 35 percent increase from the previous quarter, and the highest total seen in the four years RealtyTrac has been issuing reports.

The California State tax credit for new homes purchases in demand with first time homebuyers flocking to the program. The California Franchise Tax Board said it had received more than 3,100 applications for the tax credit, which is available to qualified buyers making purchases during the year beginning March 1, 2009, or until the $100 million allocated for the program runs out. Applications for $30.6 million in tax credits, or nearly one-third of the program's capacity, have been received so far.