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U.S. Home Values Rise 6% in 2012

“Homes values gained an estimated 6 percent in the U.S. this year, the first increase since 2006, as the housing market began to recover from its worst slump since the 1930s, Zillow Inc. (Z)said today.

Values have climbed more than $1.3 trillion to $23.7 trillion since the end of last year and probably will continue to rise in 2013, the Seattle-based home-listing service said in a statement. Residential values had declined each year since 2007, with the biggest drop in 2008, when homes lost more than $3.2 trillion in value, Zillow said…”

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Banks to Be Shielded from Home Owner Lawsuits

 

“As regulators complete new mortgage rules, banks are about to get a significant advantage: protection against homeowner lawsuits.

The rules are meant to help bolster the housing market. By shielding banks from potential litigation, policy makers contend that the industry will have a powerful incentive to make higher quality home loans.

But some banking and housing specialists worry that borrowers are losing a critical safeguard. Industries rarely get broad protection from consumer lawsuits, and banks would seem unlikely candidates given the range of abuses revealed during the housing bust….”

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$JPM: Home Prices Could Jump 9.7% Next Year

“Home prices could climb as little as 3.4 percent and as much as 9.7 percent next year, according to JPMorgan Chase estimates.

The bank boosted its base-case growth estimate to 3.4 percent from 1.5 percent after concluding that net demand for housing in 2012 has surpassed 2 million homes, the first time since 2006, according to The Wall Street Journal. Net demand is defined as a measure of the pace of existing home sales minus the inventory of homes available for sale.

“Net demand has picked up a lot in 2012,” said JPMorgan Chase strategist John Sim, The Journal added…. ”

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Home Seizures Rise as Banks Adjust to Foreclosure Flow

“Home seizures in the U.S. rose 5.4 percent last month, the first annual gain in two years, as lenders seek to manage the flow of distressed properties without disrupting the housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac.

Banks repossessed 59,134 homes, up from 56,124 from November 2011, the Irvine, California-based data firm said today in a report. The increase was the first since October 2010, when foreclosures slowed after allegations that lenders were using faulty practices to take property from delinquent homeowners. Seizures climbed 11 percent from the previous month.”

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Is Housing in a Real Recovery or Temporarily Driven Higher by Investors ?

“(Moneywatch) Even as U.S. economic growth stutters, the housing market is showing real signs of a rebound: home prices are up, pending sales and constructing activity is rising, and the number of existing homes for sale continues to drop. The big question, amid slow job growth and stagnant personal income: Will it last?

If the housing upswing does continue, it will likely because of the trend’s unique characteristics, with investors, more than consumers, sustaining momentum.

The indicators of a housing recovery are both plentiful and nationwide. According to the most recent Fiserv Case-Shiller data, the real estate market during the spring and summer this year was the strongest since the peak of the housing bubble in 2006. Other green shoots for housing:

 

 

 

  • Fiserv reports that average U.S. home prices have increased 1.2 percent since summer 2011 
  • Home prices were up in more than one-half of the 384 metro area markets in the second quarter of 2012 
  • Many of the biggest price increases have been in markets hardest hit by the housing crash, including Phoenix (14.5 percent), Detroit (11.6 percent) and Miami (6.9 percent) 
  • Home prices in October rose 6.3 percent over a year ago, according to research fire CoreLogic

 

  • Pending sales of existing homes were up 5.2 percent in October, according to the National Association of Realtors

 

  • Overall housing inventory is down 22 percent year-over-year and probably at the lowest level since the early 2000s, according to DeptofNumbers.com

Despite the positive signals, analysts are tempering their enthusiasm, nothing that the recovery in housing is only relative to the calamity that befell the real estate sector during the financial crisis…”

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Realtytrac Reports a Nose Dive in Foreclosures

“Foreclosures have nose dived. However, the states hardest hit by the real estate disaster remain in deep trouble — another reminder that all housing problems are local and need to be solved at the local level.

Realtytrac reports that foreclosure starts declined 28% year-over-year to a 71-month low. In detail, it released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2012: ”

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Mortgage Applications Rise 6.2%

“Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week as loan requests for new purchases hit its third straight high point on the year and fixed 30-year mortgage rates hit a historical low, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, rose 6.2 percent in the week ended Dec. 7.”

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Housing to Boost U.S. Economy Next Year

“We are still waiting for a strong increase in construction employment, but we know it is coming (I expect construction employment will be revised up in the annual revision).

Michelle Meyer at Merrill Lynch wrote about this today (and more on housing): The housing market in 2013

We believe 2012 will go down in history as a year of transition for the housing market. Housing starts are on track to be up 25% and home prices are set to rise 5% over 2012. We believe the recovery will continue into 2013 for several reasons. Most importantly, household formation has started to turn higher, reflecting the shortfall of household creation over the prior five years. In addition, listed inventory is low, owing to extraordinarily slow construction and only a gradual reduction of the distressed pipeline. And specifically for prices, there has been a shift toward short sales as a means of disposing distressed properties. Moreover, investor demand is strong, particularly for distressed inventory.

We forecast housing starts to increase another 25% to an average of 975,000 and home prices to increase 3% in 2013.”

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IMF: Hong Kong Faces Severe Property Price Correction

“Hong Kong is at risk of an abrupt decline in house prices after they doubled to a record in the past four years, climbing 20 percent in 2012 even as the economy cooled, the International Monetary Fund said.

“The property sector is the main source of domestic economic risk,” the IMF said in a report on the city released today. At the same time, the odds of a slump that has major economic and financial consequences is “fairly low in the near term,” the fund said.

Hong Kong’s apartment prices have surged to become the world’s most expensive after low interest rates and limited supply fueled demand, prompting the government to tighten mortgage lending and add taxes. Since taking office in July, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying imposed three rounds of curbs, including an extra 15 percent tax on buyers from overseas, and officials have signaled more measures are possible.”

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Should You Take Your Money Off the Table in the Home Building Sector?

Home building stocks have had a good run lately. While sales are down profits are up in part to wide spreads in lending. Uncertainty looms with upcoming Dodd Frank regulations and home building  companies say risk on profits are present based on many factors beyond the sectors control.

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Big Investors Plowing Money into Single-Family Homes

“Seeking to take advantage of the rebound in the housing market, some big-time investment firms are snapping up single-family homes.

The private equity titan Blackstone Group, for example, has shelled out more than $1 billion to buy 6,500 single-family homes so far this year, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Another private equity firm, the Colony Capital Group, led by Los Angeles billionaire Thomas Barrack, has acquired 4,000 homes….”

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Home Prices Rise 6.3% for the Month of October

 

“Home prices rose 6.3% in October from a year earlier, marking the biggest increase since June 2006, CoreLogic reports.

The gain is the eighth consecutive year-over-year jump in home prices nationally, the company says.

Prices dipped 0.2% from September. But such decreases are expected as the home buying market enters the off-season, CoreLogic says.

The housing recovery “continues to gain momentum,” says Mark Fleming, CoreLogic chief economist. The recovery is “broad-based” with almost all markets experiencing some appreciation, he says…”

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Fannie, Freddie Halt Foreclosures for the Holidays

“(MoneyWatch) Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC), along with some of the nation’s biggest lenders, said Monday that they will suspend some foreclosures during the holidays.

From December 19 through Jan. 2, 2013, Fannie will halt evictions of homeowners in a single-family property and in apartments with up to four units that are financed by a mortgage from the government-sponsored enterprise. Freddie, the nation’s other main provider of government-backed housing loans, will stop foreclosures for the same the type of homes from December 17 through Jan. 2, 2013.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) said in statements that they also are temporarily ceasing foreclosures. JPMorgan said it would suspend all evictions beginning December 19 through Jan. 1; Citi did not specify dates for its suspension….”

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Where to Invest, Where Not to Invest in the Housing Market Over the Next Few Years

“Housing has turned the corner and is said to be a bright spot in the U.S. economy.

But national home prices are expected to climb just 3.3 percent in the next five years, according to the latest data from Fiserv Case-Shiller.

Earlier this week we put together a list of the 15 best housing markets for the next five years that will see home prices rise at a much faster pace.

Today, we’re following it up with a feature on the 15 housing markets that are projected to see the most declines or the slowest growth in home prices.

Note: The median family income and home price data is for Q1 2012. Unemployment data is for May 2012, and population data is for 2011.

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15 Best Housing markets to consider

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Looking to Profit From Foreclosures? Here are the 10 Best States to Find Deals

“One in every 706 homes received a foreclosure filing in October, according to RealtyTrac’s latest foreclosure report.

These foreclosed homes often sell at significant discounts to similar non-distressed homes.

We drew on RealtyTrac’s report to highlight the 10 states that with the highest discounts on foreclosed homes.”

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Housing Starts Help Futures to Go Green

 Source 

“WOW:

Nice number!

Housing starts for the month surged to 894K, well above the 840K that was expected, and nicely above last month’s 872K annualized rate.

This is consistent with the surge in homebuilder sentiment that we got yesterday.

Earlier:

Big datapoint of the day: Housing starts.

Analysts are expecting 840K (annualized) down from 872K last month.

Hurricane Sandy may be a factor.

As we’ve been writing lately, the creation of new houses and households is becoming a major positive tailwind for the economy.”

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Bernanke: Housing Market Is ‘Far From Being out of the Woods’

“The improving housing market is “far from being out of the woods,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said, arguing that overly tight lending standards are part of the problem.

The Fed, which has focused on mortgage bonds in its latest round of asset purchases, will continue to do what it can to support the housing market, Bernanke said in a speech that avoided policy specifics.

A bubble in the U.S. housing market was at the core of the 2007-2009 financial crisis and brutal recession that continues to hamper the world economy. Data in recent months, however, have shown the sector is on the mend.”

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