Pending Home Sales At A 3-Year High

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of signed contracts to buy homes rose in March to the highest level in three years.

The National Association of Realtors says its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales rose 1.5% to 105.7. That's the highest since April 2010, when a homebuyer's tax credit boosted sales. It's also above February's reading of 104.1.

Signed contracts are 7% higher than a year earlier. There is generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.

Still, sales are being held back by limited supply. Sales of previously occupied homes dipped in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million, from 4.95 million in February.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/04/29/pending-home-sales-march/2120635/

[Yo_Mama]

1. That's not a surprise because of the FHA premium increase

There was a big incentive to sign a contract and get your app in before April 1st:
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=13-04ml.pdf

But it's not just the increase of the various premiums which took effect.

As of June 3rd, FHA is increasing the minimum term of the annual mortgage premium to 11 years for LTVs less than 90%, and to the life of the loan or 30 years for LTVs greater than 90%.

You have to sign a contract to get your app in and get a case number assigned, and after this is fully in effect, first-time buyers are going to fall off this summer.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. I'd like to see them take "investment" off the list....

Make it so it's actual HOMES. Not some place some rich guy treats like an apartment. (New carpet and paint and roll it over for a 20% markup.)

[AndyA]

3. I agree!

The emphasis should be on home owners who plan on occupying the house, not those who want to flip it for profit.

The house flippers do improve most properties, but they still sit vacant until someone buys it that plans to live there, and we should find ways to help people buy a house to live in, especially first time home buyers.

I still think with as many homeless as there are, and as many vacant properties as there are, we're missing a huge opportunity to train people with a new skill in home repair and maintenance that they could use to support themselves and their families for many years to come.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

4. After the real estate bubble burst there were tons of construction workers available...

In a logical world, those people could have jumped right in to the upgrading of distressed property.

Many are willing to relocate to where the work is too so they could have gone to places like Detroit to restore some of those places.

We need another "New Deal".

FDR did this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=122184

[CalFresh]

5. The wife

and I looked at a small home over the weekend. 2 bedroom 1 bath. $1,089,000.00. If it's like most properties around here it will be sold in less that a month for cash and for more than the list price.

[Newest Reality]

6. One wonders just how much

of the increase in home sales is the vulture swoop for rental income, considering the overall flat wages and financial distress of more and more of the 99%.


http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2013/04/23/hedge-fund-investors-buying-up-distressed-area-single-family-homes/

The Washington Post reports on big buyers in the US residential real estate market, saying “hedge funds, Wall Street investors and other institutions are crowding out individual home buyers”.

Real estate executives say institutional investors … account for as much as 70 percent of sales in some Florida markets

For example, Title Capital Management has nearly 50 analysts and lawyers, and bids on about 200 houses a day

Blackstone has a portfolio of 20,000 rental homes

[mnhtnbb]

7. We saw a for sale sign go up on a completely remodeled Franklin Street older home

(the main street leading to downtown Chapel Hill and campus of UNC Chapel Hill) about a week ago.
I checked the listing on-line: $1.2 million for 3 BR 4.5 BA 4400 sq. ft with new detached 3 car garage and suite over it.
Drove by last night on our way in to town and there was a 'sale pending' sign up! Unbelievable--about a week on the market!

Check it out here: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/803-E-Franklin-St-Chapel-Hill-NC-27514/50038272_zpid/


There have been other completely remodeled Franklin Street houses on the market for well over a year in the past
few years.