KGUN 9 reporter Jessica Chapin recently took a trip to California to drop-in on Connie and Shaba’s soon-to-be new home at the Elephant Odyssey exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.
KGUN 9 reporter Jessica Chapin recently took a trip to California to drop-in on Connie and Shaba’s soon-to-be new home at the Elephant Odyssey exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.
The Phoenix Coyotes are back from Prague and are preparing for their home opener this Saturday night against the team that knocked them out of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, the Detroit Red Wings.
A big crowd is expected in Glendale, and a home opener is always an opportunity for pomp and circumstance. Many teams bring in celebrities to perform for the crowd, even if it’s just the National Anthem. The Coyotes are one of those teams.
You may not know the name Melora Hardin, but I bet you know the face and you’ve enjoyed a lot of her work. Hardin is probably best know as Jan Levinson, the unstable ex-girlfriend of Steve Carell’s character Michael Scott on The Office on NBC. Hardin will be singing the National Anthem before the game on Saturday at Jobing.com Arena.
Hardin is also a member of the cast of the new NBC drama Outlaw, which stars Jimmy Smits.
Face-off for the Coyotes’ Saturday’s home opener against the Red Wings is set for 6:00 p.m.
Fanster.com – All Sports. All Phoenix.
Sales of existing homes rose in April, buoyed by an expiring home buyer tax credit and exceptionally low mortgage rates.
As compared to March, April’s Existing Home Sales rose by 410,000 units nationwide — the second straight month of large gains. An “existing home” is a home resold by a prior owner (i.e. not new construction).
It’s a solid report for housing overall, with rising sales suggesting that the real estate market’s recovery is ongoing. However, the data presented a mixed message.
According to the National Association of Realtors®, although the number of homes sold ticked higher in April, so did the supply of existing homes for sale, too.
Sellers are now listing homes faster than buyers can buy them.
After adding another 0.3 months of supply in April, resale home supply is nearly two full months larger than at November 2009’s low-point. This put downward pressure on home prices.
Furthermore, because 49% of April’s buyers were first-time buyers and the tax credit has since ended, we can expect that sellers will continue to outweigh buyers in the months ahead.
It presents an interesting opportunity for June’s home buyers. Mortgage rates are still at their lowest levels of the year — despite expert predictions to the contrary — and homes remain affordable. Plus, in a lot of markets, home values have started to creep higher.
There’s good values and good rates but neither should last long. For the next few weeks, real estate may be in its 2010 sweet spot.
If you were thinking of moving in September of this year or later, consider moving up your timeframe.
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Home values rose in March, according to the Federal Home Finance Agency’s most recent Home Price Index. Values were reported higher by 0.3 percent, on average, from February.
We use the phrase “on average” because the Home Price Index is broad-reaching, national housing statistic. It ignores the dynamics of neighborhood real estate markets like Green Valley as well as citywide markets like Green Vally , too.
Instead, the Home Price Index focuses on state and regional statistics.
For example, in March 2010 as compared to February:
Of course, none of this data is especially helpful for today’s home buyers and sellers.
Real estate is a local phenomenon that can’t be summarized by state or region. What matters most to buyers and sellers is the economics of a neighborhood and that level of granularity can’t be served up by a national housing report like the Home Price Index.
The Home Price Index data is additionally unhelpful to buyers and sellers in that it reports on a 2-month delay.
In other words, Home Price Index is not even a fair reflection of today’s market — it highlights the real estate market as it existed 60 days ago.
So why is the Home Price Index even published? Because government, business and banks rely on the reports. As a national indicator, the Home Price Index helps governments make policy, businesses make decisions, and banks make guidelines. This, in turn, trickles down to Main Street where it impacts every one of us — and eventually influences real estate.
Since peaking in April 2007, the Home Price Index is off 13.44 percent.
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On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls data from the month prior.
The release is more commonly called “the jobs report” — a major factor in mortgage rates and monthly payments.
Especially now.
With the recession officially over and growth returning to the U.S. economy, the recovery’s next frontier is jobs. As job growth increases, home affordability should take a hit. Here’s why:
Mortgage rates, therefore, should rise.
Furthermore, as the jobs market stabilizes and recovers, renters should be more apt to buy their first home, and homeowners should be apt to up-size. More home buyers in Green Vally means more competition for homes and higher home prices typically follow.
Job growth can be trickle-up for housing.
Today, however, the jobs data was not so strong. According to the government, 431,000 jobs were created in May, but of those new jobs, 95.4% represented temporary staffing for the 2010 Census. The number of private-sector jobs created fell well short of expectations and Wall Street is voting with its dollars right now. Mortgage bonds are gaining so, therefore, rates are falling.
The May 2010 jobs report may not reflect well on the economy, but home affordability in Arizona and around the country is improving because of it.
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With home prices still relatively low and mortgage rates trolling near their all-time best levels, it’s no surprise that home affordability is extraordinarily high in Albuquerque and most U.S. markets.
According to the quarterly Home Opportunity Index as published by the National Association of Home Builders, more than 72 percent of all new and existing homes sold between January-March 2010 were affordable to families earning the national median income.
It’s the second highest reading in the survey’s history.
Of course, on a city-by-city basis, home affordability varies.
In the first quarter of 2010, for example, 98.7% of homes sold in Bay City, Michigan were affordable for families earning the area’s median income and in Indianapolis, the percentage was almost 95 percent.
Indianapolis has held the top quarterly ranking for close to 5 years now.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the New York-White Plains, NY-Wayne, NJ region earned the “least affordable” metropolitan area for the 8th consecutive quarter. Just 20.9% of homes are affordable to families earning the local median income.
The rankings for all 225 metro areas are available on the NAHB website but regardless of where your town ranks, home affordability remains high as compared to historical values but it likely won’t last long. Home values are recovering in many markets and mortgage rates won’t stay this low forever.
All things equal, buying a home may never come this cheap again. If you were planning to buy later this year, consider moving up your timeframe.
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The Consumer Confidence Index is rising, a potentially double-edged sword for residents of Green Valley and for Americans, in general.
According to The Conference Board, economic confidence is as high as it’s been since August 2007 — 4 months before the start of the recession. Americans are optimistic again.
Confidence matters to the economy because as confidence increases, in theory, consumer spending follows. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the U.S. economy.
It’s why Wall Street is responsive to confidence data.
When consumer confidence is rising, households start to make big-ticket purchases they may have otherwise put off indefinitely. Maybe it’s a replacing old appliances; or, trading in an old automobiles; or, splurging on a vacation.
Rising confidence can also spur real estate sales.
When confidence is rising, a growing family that chose to “make do” in their 3-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom starter home may opt to move-up to a 4-bedroom, 3-bath instead at a slightly higher monthly carrying cost. And there are families in every city in every state making those same decisions.
As a result, the housing market gets a boost — especially in the mid-to-upper price ranges. Values rise on higher demand for homes.
The downside is that growing confidence tends to push conforming and FHA mortgage rates up. This is because an expanding economy draws investment dollars away from bonds and into stocks — including mortgage bonds.
The reduced demand for mortgage-backed bonds leads bond prices to fall and mortgage rates to rise. Sometimes by a little, sometimes by lot.
So, if you’re buying a home or thinking of a refinance, rising confidence in the economy may be a signal to act sooner rather than later. Talk to your real estate agent and/or your loan officer about next steps and get your plan in place.
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The Pending Home Sales Index shot higher in April as low mortgage rates and a soon-to-expire federal tax credit spurred home buying in San Diego and across the county.
A “pending home sale” is a home that’s under contract to sell but not yet closed.
Region-by-region, April’s pending home sales varied versus March’s data:
On an annual basis, the Pending Home Sales Index is higher by 22 percent.
April marks the third straight month that pending home sales are up and today’s buyers should take note. This is because, according to the National Association of Realtors®, 80% of homes under contract close within 60 days.
In other words, May and June’s existing home sales data should be similarly strong, causing the Rio Rancho real estate market to gently shift in favor of sellers. In fact, already, we’re seeing home resales touch multi-year highs while new home supplies fall to multi-year lows.
All of it tends to push home prices higher while simultaneously reducing buyer negotiation leverage. That, coupled with the high probability of higher mortgage rates ahead, means that finding “deals” will get tougher for the average home buyer.
In looking at the housing market data, it appears that the best month in which to have bought a home this year was February. The next best time may be right now.
Talk to your real estate agent if you’re planning to buy a home this year. It may be sensible to move up your time frame a few months.
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By James Kelley
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