As discussed here and everywhere earlier, Miz O'Donnell heaved her 11 bedroom and 12.5 pooper compound on Miami's celeb-studded Star Island on the open market today with an asking price of $19,500,000.
listing photos: EWM International
After a brief run-up two weeks ago, mortgage rates are back below 4 percent. It's good news for home buyers and mortgage rate shoppers of Renton because with lower mortgage rates come lower mortgage payments.
According to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the national, average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 3.99 percent this week from last week's 4.08 percent.
Last week had marked the first time since December 2011 that the benchmark rate crossed north of 4 percent -- a span of 16 weeks.
And, it wasn't just rates that got cheaper this week -- closing costs dropped, too.
Freddie Mac's survey showed that the average number of discount points to accompany a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell one-tenth of a percent this week to 0.7, where one discount point is equal to one percent of your loan size.
As a real-life example, a $200,000 Newcastle mortgage with an accompanying 0.7 discount points would be subject to an additional $1,400 one-time closing cost. Last week, that cost was $1,600.
Note, though, that these are average mortgage rates for the nation. On a local level, rates may be higher or lower, and so may the accompanying number of discount points.
For example, in this week's Freddie Mac survey, each U.S. region boasts its own "average rate" :
These rates are each well below the average rates of a year ago when the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 4.86%.
Low mortgage rates can't last forever so if you've been wondering whether now is a good time to buy a home or refinance one; or whether rising rates will harm your monthly budget, the answer may be yes. A weak economy held mortgage rates low last year. An improving economy should push rates higher this year.
Talk to your loan officer and review your home loan options. Looking ahead to spring and summer, mortgage rates appear poised to rise.
Recent data suggests that the U.S. housing market is in recovery. However, the data also shows this to be an uneven recovery.
According to the monthly S&P/Case-Shiller Index, for example, home values rose in three of 20 tracked markets between December 2011 and January 2012. 17 tracked markets showed home prices still in decline.
It's easy to point to the Case-Shiller Index as evidence that the housing market in WA has yet to bottom, but we have to consider the Case-Shiller Index's shortcomings -- specifically in a recovering economy.
For example, the Case-Shiller Index is based on changes in home prices of a single home, through successive sales. This means that to calculate its home price index, the Case-Shiller searches for sales of the same home over a period of time and calculates the difference in contract price.
This methodology can distort the home price tracker downward during times of weak economy because there is no distinction made for homes sold in foreclosure or as a short sale.
35% of all homes sold in January were "distressed", says the National Association of REALTORS®.
Another distortion in the Case-Shiller Index is that the model neglects all home types that are not of type "single-family residence". This means that multi-unit homes and condominiums are excluded from the Case-Shiller Index model.
In some markets, such as Chicago and New York City, condominiums account for a large percentage of overall sales.
Lastly, the Case-Shiller Index is published with a "lag", which renders it useless to buyers and sellers of Seattle in search of real-time, relevant data. The most recent Case-Shiller Index is published with a 60-day delay, and accounts for home purchase contracts written between October and December 2011.
Since October, the U.S. economy has added more than 1 million jobs and the economy has moved into "moderate expansion", according to the Federal Reserve. Data that's two seasons old does little to help us today.
Making sound real estate decisions is about having timely, relevant data at-hand when it's needed. The Case-Shiller Index fails in that respect. It's good for highlighting the U.S. housing market on the whole, as it existed in the past. For real-time market data, though, you'll want to talk with an active real estate agent.
Preliminary concept rendering of the front of the building showing the three sections and proposed screen (Rendering provided by Suzane Reatig Architecture) |
Sales of "new homes" fell to the lowest levels in four months last month.
According to the Census Bureau's monthly New Home Sales report, 313,000 new homes were sold in February 2012 on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis, representing a 1.6% drop from the month prior.
A "new home" is a home for which there has been no prior owner nor tenant.
At first glance, the data looks negative for the housing market; a suggestion that the well-publicized housing market recovery may be slowed. However, within February's New Home Sales report are three important counter-statistics worth mentioning.
First, although annualized home sales volume slipped 5,000 units in February, this occurred as the number of homes for sale nationwide remained constant at 150,000. This is the fewest number of new homes for sale since at least 1993 -- the first year that the Census Bureau tracked such data.
A small home supply promotes rising home values when buyer demand is rising and, in February, buyer demand held firm.
A second reason to remain optimistic on housing is that New Home Supply was 5.8 months in February. This means that, at the current pace of sales, the entire new home inventory will be "sold out" in 5.8 months.
Housing experts say that when home supplies fall below 6.0 months, it's bullish for housing.
And, as a third reason to look past the New Home Sales headline figure, last month's reporting Margin of Error was huge.
According to the government, the February New Home Sales data was published with a ±23.9% margin of error. This means that the actual New Home Sales sales volume may have dropped as much as -25.5%, or may have climbed by as much as +22.3%.
Because the range of possible values includes both positive and negative numbers, the Census Bureau assigned its February data the "zero confidence" label.
It will be several months before February's New Home Sales data is revised. Until then, buyers in Kent would do well to take cues from the real estate market-at-large which shows steady, gradual improvement.
If your 2012 housing plans call for buying new construction, consider using February's results as a window to "make a deal". As the year progresses, great values in housing may be gone for good.