Real Estate Directory

Stripping Away Reasons Not To Buy In Todays Market

Swimmers will have the option of wearing nothing at all at the Arbors at Branch Creek, a complex of 390 homes that landed on the idea to help move units in a down market.

Growing Condo Popularity in Arizona

Many are choosing to give up large properties and surburban living and instead are opting for the less complicated lifestyle that towntown condo living provides. Residents in central and northwest Phoenix, Arizona for instance, are enjoying the amenities resulting from living in a multi-unit facility with it's multiple pools, spas, fitness centers and golf courses and the like. One important factor in these decisions are, of course, the rising cost of commuting which shows that residents in even sprawling places such as Phoenix are ready for a change

Existing Home Sales Are Up?

What happened to the Bubble?

The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums rose by 5.2 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.91 million units. This despite the predicte 5 % drop compared to last year.

The prices of homes sold in February rose to $209,000 for the nationwide median.That was 10.6 percent above the median price in February 2006.   

Economists believe that both new and existing home sales will dip by around 5 percent this year as rising mortgage rates cuts into demand.

But mortgage rates seem to have perhaps stagnated because of a drop in inflation. But Lereah said all indications so far were pointing to a gradual slowdown in sales to a more sustainable pace.

By region of the country, sales rose by 19.2 percent in the Northeast and were up 11.1 percent in the Midwest and 5.1 percent in the West in February. Only the South showed weakness last month with sales there dropping by 2.5 percent from the January pace.

Lereah said sales activity at present was really a "tale of two cities" with some of the hottest markets showing declines while some medium priced markets still posting strong sales gains.

He said that sales were down by double-digit levels in such hot sales markets as Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale and San Diego. He said, by contrast, sales were up by double-digit amounts in aeas such as Indianapolis, Albuquerque and Houston.

Palatine Realtor

Residential real estate in Algonquin including home and condo sales, income and commercial property sales and property management of commercial leases and rentals. They also can assist you with your land purchase or sale.

Vegas Tops the Apartment Market

Marcus & Millichap brokerage has recently reported on The Las Vegas apartment market, and says that Vegas Apartments continues to benefit from job growth that leads the nation, bringing more residents here who are looking to rent.

Las Vegas is ranked No. 4 in the firm's annual National Apartment Index, a snapshot analysis of 42 apartment markets based on a series of supply and demand indicators for the next 12 months. .

Condos Sales

Condominiums and cooperatives Sales hit their ninth consecutive annual record in 2004, while the pace of sales activity in the fourth quarter eased but remained the third highest quarter on record, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

There were a total of 970,000 existing condo and co-op sales last year, up 8.0 % from the previous record of 898,000 units in 2003.

David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said the condos sales performance underscores the significance of condo sales in the overall housing market. "The condo market has clearly matured over the last decade, accounting for a market share almost as big as the new home market, and has been appreciating faster than single-family homes," he said. In the fourth quarter, the median existing condo/co-op price was $203,200, which is 16.7 percent higher than a year ago. The median is a typical market price where half of the units sold for more and half sold for less. By comparison, the typical single-family home cost $187,500 in the fourth quarter, 8.8 percent higher than a year earlier.

NAR President Al Mansell, CEO of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Salt Lake City, said the reputation of condos as an investment has changed dramatically. "In much of the 1980s and early 90s, condos earned a reputation for slow price growth, in many cases because there was an oversupply on the market," he said. "With the maturation of this market segment, condos have been appreciating faster than single-family homes for the last four years. In the past, affordability was a bigger factor in condo sales – now, lifestyle choices have emerged as a driving force in their growing popularity."

For all of 2004, the median existing condo price was $193,600, up 17.0 percent from a median of $164,100 in 2003. At the same time, the typical single-family resale home price rose 8.3 percent to $184,100.

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate on a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage was 5.73 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 5.89 percent in the third quarter; it was 5.92 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003.

In the Northeast, condo/co-op resales rose 1.2 percent between the third and fourth quarters to a 168,000-unit pace, and were 9.1 percent above the fourth quarter of 2003. The median price in the Northeast was $234,800, up 23.0 percent from a year ago.

Existing condo and co-op sales in the Midwest held steady in the fourth quarter at a level of 121,000 units, unchanged from the third quarter, and were 8.0 percent higher than a year earlier. The median resale condo price in the Midwest was $185,700, up 7.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2003.

In the South, condo/co-op resale activity slipped 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter to a 442,000-unit pace; however, this was 2.8 percent higher than the same quarter in 2003. The median price in the South was $172,000, which was 23.0 percent higher than a year ago.

In the West, the sales pace of condos and co-ops fell 7.3 percent from the third quarter to an annual rate of 241,000 units in the fourth quarter, and was 1.2 percent below the sales rate during the same period in 2003. The median price in the West was $246,100, up 14.5 percent from a year earlier.

"Condo sales in the West suffered from an unusual shortage of units available for sale," Lereah noted. "Without this inventory problem, national sales may have held up in the fourth quarter."