Elena Zimina's Real Estate

In May, more people than ever say it is a good time to sell your home, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index, an index which polls 1,000 Americans to assess their attitudes towards various aspects about owning and renting a home. The index increased to an all-time high. The new share of consumers who expect home prices to go up over the next 12 months increased 5 percent to 42 percent. This was followed by 3 percent increase in the net share of consumers who expect mortgage interest rates to go down over the next 12 months. Of the six HPSI components, six of them increased in May. The largest increase was 7 percent to 18 percent in the share of consumers reporting that their income was significantly higher than it was 12 months ago.

RENTERS VALUE HOMEOWNERSHIP BUT FACE AFFORDABILITY CHALLENGES WHEN IT COMES TO BUYING A HOME, C.A.R. SURVEY FINDS Source: C.A.R. Current renters value homeownership and want to buy a home but many are encountering affordability and financial obstacles that prevent them from buying, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ (C.A.R.) “2016 Renter Survey. Making sense of the story Nearly half of renters (48 percent) plan to buy a home in the future, with 10 percent saying that they plan to buy within a year. For those not planning to buy, an improvement in finances, lower housing prices, and saving enough for a down payment would motivate them to buy now. Of the 28 percent of renters who don’t plan to buy in the future, 50 percent said they can’t afford to buy, 20 percent will not buy because they prefer to rent, 19 percent said they can’t qualify for a mortgage, and 15 percent lack a down payment. Job uncertainty (9 percent), economic uncertainty (12 percent), ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The global luxury housing market lost some of its sheen last year as financial markets became unsettled and many wealthy buyers began to look for less expensive homes. "The return of realism," is how Dan Conn, chief executive of Christie's International Real Estate, described the high-end market that stretches from San Francisco to Singapore. Sales in a sector whose average home prices start at $2.2 million slowed in 2015, increasing by 8 percent, half its 2014 pace. The decline most likely reflects stability rather than weakness, according to a report released Thursday by Christie's. Properties in London and Hong Kong are sitting on the market longer. On average, homes sold for prices 19 percent below the original asking price, compared with 14 percent below the asking price in 2014. The number of luxury-home sales in the often sizzling Manhattan market dipped 5 percent last year. Falling oil prices led sales in Dubai to tumble 25 percent. ...

Calif. median home price: March 2015: California: $483,280 Calif. highest median home price by region/county: San Francisco, $1,360,580 Calif. lowest median home price by region/county: Merced, $189,500

STRONG WAGE GROWTH, LEVEL HOME PRICES BUOY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY Higher wages and lower seasonal home prices combined to push California housing affordability higher in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the previous quarter, according to a recent report by C.A.R. Affordability was flat when compared to the previous year as rising home price offset income gains. The percentage of home buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California in first-quarter 2016 rose to 34 percent from the 30 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015 and was unchanged from first-quarter 2015, according to C.A.R.’s Traditional Housing Affordability Index (HAI).  This is the 12th consecutive quarter that the index has been below 40 percent and is near the mid-2008 low level of 29 percent.  California’s housing affordability index hit a peak of 56 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Home buyers needed to earn a minimum annual income of $92,571 to ...

Which way are rates headed?  That’s the big question.  Understanding what is holding rates at these levels with little to no volatility is probably a smarter question.  Let’s start with the easier part of the question, the lack of volatility.  Lack of volatility means lack of changing opinions, lack of game changing or thought altering headlines, a lack of major position realignments and a lack of intuition.  Essentially it means no one knows and nothing has come to the forefront to change anyone’s opinion.  It’s the Great Not Knowing.   The 10yr is bouncing between 1.70 and 1.80 with the occasional lift above 1.90 before returning right back to the 1.70-1.80 range.     Today it trades at 1.76%.  It’s becoming Ground Hog Day again, over and over.  The Fed says they plan to raise rates soon, depends upon data, play it by ear, watch inflation, jobs, yada yada and the market doesn’t move.   Half the mark...

California suburbs growing fast as many are priced out of cities, data show Source:  LA Times According to state officials, suburban areas just outside of Los Angeles and San Francisco grew especially fast last year due to red-hot housing markets. As people attempt to remain within commuting distance while fleeing astronomical prices, many suburbs have increased in popularity.  For example, San Joaquin County, home to Stockton, grew faster than any other, up 1.3 percent to 733,000 people. San Joaquin was followed by Yolo, Riverside, and Santa Clara counties. Among cities with at least 30,000 people, the fastest-growing were concentrated primarily in the Inland Empire and Orange County: Porterville, Eastvale, Lake Forest, Beaumont, and Lake Elsinore. Supply needs have only grown for the state’s population, but the number of new housing units in California declined last year for the first time since the start of the economic recovery.