Home Prices in U.S. Drop Most on Record in First Quarter Amid Foreclosures

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Kathleen M. Howley

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in the U.S. dropped the most on record in the first quarter from a year earlier as banks sold seized homes and foreclosures in California and Florida dominated sales.

The median price fell 14 percent to $169,000, the National Association of Realtors said today. Prices dropped in 134 of 152 metropolitan areas, with the deepest declines in Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, Florida, and the San Francisco and San Jose areas.

Distressed sales increased transactions in 17 states from the fourth quarter as speculators and first-time buyers purchased bank-owned properties. Such homes typically sold for 20 percent less than others, the NAR said today. The inventory of previously owned homes on the market dropped to 3.7 million in March from 3.8 million a month earlier, according to NAR data. The number of new homes for sale fell to 311,000, the lowest since January 2002, according to the Commerce Department.

“We are very much in a bifurcated market with sharp differences between foreclosures and short sales on one hand, and traditional homes on the other,” Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.

Total existing home sales fell 6.8 percent from a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million units, the group said. Sales were down 3.2 percent from the fourth quarter. The figures include single family homes and condominiums and co-ops.

‘Split Market’

Some areas showed “dramatic” drops in home prices, Yun said.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKkPN8keugMw&refer=home

[Old Hob]

1. It's OK though because the recession is all over now, didn't you hear?

:crazy:

[Baby Snooks]

2. It is over...

The White House Financial Wizard of Oz announced it this morning. I think he announced it last week. And the week before...

[David__77]

3. Prices are still way over historical trends in some regions.

There's probably another 20% (in real terms) to go in Sacramento, where I live. Everyone thinks I'm wrong, but we have 11%+ unemployment here and people are leaving the region. There are many thousands of vacant single family homes and thousands of vacant apartments as well. Rents and home prices are both declining and will continue to do so. The homeowners I know say prices will go up, but that's wishful thinking.

[hugo_from_TN]

4. Just had my offer accepted for a foreclosed house in Portland

I got it for 30% less than new (3 years ago) and about 15% less than the current comparables are selling for that are not foreclosed. The original owner took all the appliances, but the bank replaced them with new ones before putting it on the market. I think I'm in good shape even if house prices drop another 10% or so in this market.

[Arctic Dave]

10. Were did you look for your house. My wife and I are looking for

a small winter home in the Portland area. I just started looking online for real estae in the area and was hopin g for a litttle insight. Thanks in advance.

[hugo_from_TN]

12. Where as in area or where online?

As for the area, we were looking in the west between downtown (where my wife works) and Beaverton/Hillsboro (where I work). I'd love to live in east Portland but the commute would be hell.

We used a realtor to find our house, but I also used zillow a lot. I like being able to set up all the different screens (sq-ft, price range, lot size, rooms, etc.) and then see the map of what matches in the different areas. They also have a function to show foreclosed houses.

Good luck! BTW - Portland is a strange place for a 'winter home'. Are you a duck?

[Arctic Dave]

13. We are looking at a few different places. Portland being one.

As the saying goes though, you don't have to shovel rain (after living two years in Juneau, there is now such thing as too rainy for us). I myself would rather go Arizona, we lived there for a year and a half, but my wife wants to live in a blue state for once. Thank you for the info.

[xchrom]

5. fuckin horrifying. nt

[BlueJessamine]

6. Median home prices fell nationwide in 1Q

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Home prices fell in nearly nine out of every 10 U.S. cities in the first quarter of this year as first-time buyers looking for bargains dominated the market.

The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that median sales prices of existing homes declined in 134 out of 152 metropolitan areas compared with the same period a year ago. Prices rose in the other 18 cities.

Nationwide, sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties made up about half of the market. Overall, sales dipped 3.2 percent from the year-ago period.

"I think we're near a bottom, but we're not there yet," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities. While prices could hit bottom as soon as this summer, he said, they are likely to remain stable and start edging higher slowly.

But the nascent signs of recovery in the housing market could be short-lived if employers continue to lay off workers in bulk.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hzwtLJiY_vy8TnMHD2WVKYsBykywD984RDVO1

---

Opportunity for first-time home buyers:

snip:

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said the Federal Housing Administration soon will allow its borrowers to get short-term loans and turn the $8,000 tax credit into a down payment.

[LisaM]

7. Houses were overpriced, they are still overpriced

I decided to create my own personal yardstick - when the people who work in a city can't afford to live there, the housing is overpriced. I live in Seattle. We are lucky to have a rental we can afford (though our place is tiny), but in the office where I work, most of the staff live outside of town - in some cases, a long way out. I don't think a teacher could afford to live here just on a teacher's salary. The median house price was up to something like 450K, and this is for a plain old house. The developers got away with murder, people were re-financing to do things like put in $40K kitches and more bathrooms in the house than there were people, and the houses got to where no one could afford them.

I feel some pity for people who were allowed to get in over their heads. But at some point we need to realize that housing prices were wildly inflated.

[Veruca Salt]

11. That's also the way I look at it

I'd like to either move into the edges of the city in Portland (ME) or just outside in one of the surrounding towns that's on the bus line (these can almost be considered in the city as they're less than a mile away from downtown). The prices in the area though are still astronomical and houses are sitting on the market and coming down in price all the time. I'd like to buy but I'm not settling for just anything.

[w4rma]

8. Good. Wall Street short term investors have been inflating housing prices. Now they're coming back

down to where they should be.

[bemildred]

9. Gosh, I hope this doesn't mean we're going to have to print more money for the banks.

:sarcasm: