Reply With QuotePrices still rising in Ventura County and holding in Havasu, enough of this Doom & Gloom crap !!
unless you are part of the 150% increase of foreclosures....
The press reacts to the Dataquick numbers. “Home prices in Southern California edged up to a new record in February, although they edged up to that record at the slowest pace in almost four years. The number of homes sold was the lowest in five years.”
“‘It’s numbers like these that both bubble-theorists and market cheerleaders can pounce on to make their points. Reality is more mundane. The frenzy is behind us, we’re in a new phase of the real estate cycle and what remains to be seen is how this cycle’s end game will play out. We’ll know much more when next month’s figures are in,’ said Marshall Prentice.”
“A total of 19,905 new and resale Southland homes were sold last month. That was down 7 percent from 21,394 for February last year. Last month’s sales count was the lowest for any February since 2001 when 18,040 homes were sold. The strongest February in DataQuick’s statistics was in 2004 when 23,004 homes were sold; the weakest was in 1991 when 10,025 homes were sold.”
“The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $2,251 last month, up from $2,162 for the previous month, and up from $1,905 for February a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are about 2.7 percent above typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle.”
“The annual rate of price increase was the lowest since March 2002, when prices rose 12.7 percent to $257,000. Annual price increases have held in the mid-teens since April. ‘The prices hit a new record, but the rate of increase at which those prices hit that new record was the lowest in four years,’ said John Karevoll.”
“As the buying frenzy that drove the housing boom the last five years subsides, many home sellers are having to settle for less than their asking price. Many would-be buyers, meanwhile, remain reluctant to enter the market, looking for signs prices might come down significantly.”
“But while prices aren’t going up as quickly, real estate agents say they haven’t seen evidence of a widespread drop in prices. ‘We’re seeing prices perhaps level off a bit, but we’re not seeing a decrease in prices,’ said Kathy White, a realtor in Westlake Village, a suburb of Los Angeles. ‘We are seeing more properties on the market (and) they’re staying longer on the market.’”
“San Diego County saw the slowest rise in home appreciation, with median prices increasing 6.4 percent to $502,000.”
“Indicators of market distress are still largely absent, DataQuick reported, and foreclosure activity is edging up from its bottom, but is still low. Financing with adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped significantly during the last three months. Down payment sizes are stable, as are flipping rates and non-owner-occupied buying activity, DataQuick reported.”
Also from Inman News. “In California, which has historically had few foreclosures, there was a 150 percent increase in the number of new foreclosure listings in February compared to January. ‘Foreclosure rates in the western half of the nation are shifting. States such as California and Nevada have experienced a rapid increase in foreclosure inventory over the past six months,’ said Brad Geisen. ‘This is primarily because of a decrease in investment and speculative real estate activity in those markets. That investment activity has been moving away from California and into Texas.’”
Prices still rising in Ventura County and holding in Havasu, enough of this Doom & Gloom crap !!
I heard from a lender (countrywide) yesterday that 80% of loans they did in Chula Vista over the last year were for for 100% financing.....
holding in Havasu, enough of this Doom & Gloom crap !!
Not to sure about that!!!!!!!!
I heard from a lender (countrywide) yesterday that 80% of loans they did in Chula Vista over the last year were for for 100% financing.....
How the hell can you make a payment on 100% loan when the average house is 400k? Is their that many people making over 150k a year?
Interest only, maybe neg am......Its like $600 a month per hundred thousand
I heard from a lender (countrywide) yesterday that 80% of loans they did in Chula Vista over the last year were for for 100% financing.....
Thats not the scary part. Most of their 100% program is semi stable as far as payments are concerned. The bigger portion of the mortgage market to watch will be the folks who bought with some down but utilized a Neg Am in the first position. They have been beaten with rate/payment increases over the past few years and now that the appreciation is slowing, they aren't going to be able to refi using a new appraisal to better their equity position and buy some breathing room. People who have been surviving using their "minimum payment" or deffered interest option are running out to 110% in less than 3 years. For a lot of folks that means there will be some tough choices comming up.
Cheap and easy money fueled the fire of the boom and now that rates are on the rise and some lenders are looking to mitigate the risk in their portfolio with more fully am'd and traditional I/O products, people wont be as quick to bid stuff up because the monthly payment consequences will force them to think it through.
The sky isn't falling, but the market isn't correcting. Worst case scenario for a lot of folks is that they can't tap their equity for frivalous expenditures like they have been for the past few years. Unless we see another industry collapse like the aerospace industry collapse in So Cal in the mid/late 80s there won't be the catalyst to force people to flood the market with inventory like back then. We will see forclosure rates rise in the near term, but not to some catasrophic point where you'll be buying houses for their listing price of 6 years ago.
just my .02
Chris
Not to sure about that!!!!!!!!
I am sure about what my Washita house is currently in escrow for !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
I guess I'd better raise my asking price. :messedup:
I am sure about what my Washita house is currently in escrow for !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
That would be???????????
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