San Francisco Home prices up / Condo prices slightly down

Single family home prices in San Francisco were slightly up in August as compared to July, up 2.8% COndo prices on the other hand dip slightly from July to August .5%. How it all shakes out as far as single family houses is as follows: Homes with prices under $299,828.00 were up 3%, homes between $299828. and $558,379. were up 1.8% and homes over $558,379. rose a very modest.2%. But any gain is a good sign. The last thing anyone wants to do is buy in a failing market. Why, you ask? Well, if you buy in a market that is falling and might fall more the possibility of your gaining equity anytime soon would be hard won. The trick is to find that “sweet spot” where the market has hit the bottom and now looks like it’s heading up again. It’s a very good time to jump into the market. We may not see “runaway” equity growth as we saw in previous years, but we probably don’t really want that. That got us into this mess. We want to see gradual and steady growth of our investments.

Some ZIPs drawing more bidding wars

Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Bay Area locales where homes sell the most above asking price tend to be relatively affordable, according to a report from ZipRealty released Friday.
That underscores the sway that investors and first-time home buyers hold in today's real estate market, where bargain homes bring out multiple bids that drive up the price.
The highest offers (measured by sales price-to-list price ratio) were clocked in the East Bay's 94608 ZIP code, which includes Emeryville and part of Oakland. Homes there on average sold for 105.65 percent of the asking price in the third quarter, said ZipRealty, a national real estate brokerage with headquarters in Emeryville.
That ZIP stood out as one of the top 10 "hottest" U.S. areas in terms of offers exceeding asking price, Zip said.
"The housing stock there is single-story Craftsmen style two-bedroom one-bathroom homes built in the 1920s through 1940s," said David Kerr, a Zip Realtor who specializes in the East Bay. "The homes are in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range. I've been writing offers there like nobody's business and getting beat out, often by cash offers."
All-cash offers are the telltale mark of investors. Kerr said a fair number of homes on the market in Oakland were foreclosures that investors bought, fixed up and flipped. "I've seen the same house picked up at a (foreclosure) auction go back on the market and sell higher than the highest comparable sale in that area because it's been rehabbed," he said.
The third "hottest" Bay Area ZIP code, 94606 in central Oakland, is similarly affordable with a median price of $279,000, he said.
Of both ZIP codes, Kerr said: "Homes here were selling in the $400,000s and $500,000s at the height of the market and now you're picking them up in the $200,000s and $300,000s."
The second hottest Bay Area ZIP, 95122 in South San Jose, is one of the region's foreclosure hot spots, where bargain-priced bank repossessed homes are readily available.
On the other side of the spectrum, the "coldest" ZIP code in the Bay Area, where homes sold for the most below asking price, was Los Gatos/Monte Sereno, where the average list price is currently $2.5 million, according to Movoto.com. Homes there on average sold for 92.26 percent of their asking price in the third quarter, Zip said.
The sales ratio was also low in the much more affordable Rio Vista, a troubled town in Solano County, where homes sold for 93.47 percent of their asking price, according to the report.
Nationwide, the hottest ZIP code was in the Rancho Bernardo community of San Diego, where homes sold for 125 percent of list price in the third quarter, Zip said. The coldest ZIP was Denton, Texas, where homes went for 30 percent of their asking price.
Hot ZIPs
These are the Bay Area ZIP codes where houses sold for the highest ratio to their asking price in the third quarter.
City ZIP Ratio
Emeryville 94608 105.65%
San Jose 95122 105.22
Oakland 94606 105.06
Berkeley 94703 104.78
San Lorenzo 94580 104.45
Cold ZIPs
These are the Bay Area ZIP codes where houses sold for the lowest ratio to their asking price in the third quarter.
City ZIP Ratio
Rio Vista 94571 93.47%
Napa 94558 93.45
Alamo 94507 93.07
Half Moon Bay 94019 92.94
Los Gatos/ Monte Sereno 95030 92.26
Source: ZipRealty
E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid@sfchronicle.com.

Tax credit fuels rise in home sales

"By CONOR DOUGHERTY and JOHN D. MCKINNON
Sales of existing homes surged 9.4% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units, as lower prices and the looming expiration of a federal tax credit lured more buyers into the market.

More
Economists React: 'Blockbuster' but What Now? Econ: Bankruptcies in 'Middle-Class Recession' Housing: Extend the Home Buyer Tax Credit? Not So Fast News Hub: Flaws in the Home Tax-Break Program
2:23
Amid alleged fraud and administrative problems in the first-time homebuyers tax-credit program, the News Hub panel discusses whether it should be extended.
The data, released Friday by the National Association of Realtors, portrayed a housing market that continues to stabilize across the country and gives ammunition to those trying to extend the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers.

Prospects for extending the credit remain mixed. On Capitol Hill, there are deep concerns about the program's cost. While many lawmakers support some form of extension, they want the credit's substantial cost to be offset by tax increases or spending cuts.

Extending the current credit would cost about $1 billion a month, according to congressional estimates. Some lawmakers are backing an expanded credit that would last through June and cost about $16.7 billion.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has been trying to reach an agreement for a 13-month extension that would provide up to the full $8,000 for four months, and gradually reduce the credit's value over the remainder of 2010.

Aides say Mr. Reid aims to have a vote on the measure as part of next week's debate over extending federal unemployment insurance benefits. The package also is likely to include bigger tax refunds for businesses that have suffered operating losses during the downturn.

The new sales data could help backers of the credit, scheduled to expire Nov. 30. But the improvement also could undercut a key argument of backers -- that the recovery remains fragile enough to require an extension. It also doesn't alleviate concerns the credit has been subject to widespread abuse, as the Internal Revenue Service pursues more than 100,000 suspected improper claims.

Existing homes sales were up across the country, the NAR reported. The median price of an existing home has fallen 8.5% year-over-year, but prices have stabilized from their free-fall during the worst months of the recession.

The spike in demand reduced housing inventories to a two-year low. Housing inventory was down 7.5% to 3.63 million homes in September, reducing the nation's housing supply to 7.8 months from 9.3 months in August, assuming the current sales pace.

The housing market is still in rough shape: The supply of homes is still about three months bigger than normal, and distressed sales, such as foreclosure auctions, continue to drag down prices. But many analysts say the broad rebound in sales shows the market is being driven by more than first-time buyers lured by the tax credit.

Sam Khater, senior economist for First American CoreLogic Inc., said sales would likely decline only marginally if the tax credit were allowed to expire. He argued that other programs of the Federal Reserve and Federal Housing Administration have played a larger role in luring buyers.

—Jessica Holzer contributed to this article.
Write to Conor Dougherty at conor.dougherty@wsj.com and John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A2 "

Mortgage Interest Rates Inching up

updated 8:31 a.m. PT, Thurs., Oct . 22, 2009
"Rates for 30-year home loans have inched up, hitting 5 percent for the first time in nearly a month after bond yields edged up.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5 percent this week, up from 4.92 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. It was the highest average since the week of September 24, when rates averaged 5.04 percent.
While above the record low of 4.78 percent hit in the spring, rates are still attractive for people looking to buy a home or refinance.
To prop up the housing market and help the economy recover from the worst recession since the 1930s, the Federal Reserve has been engaged in an extraordinary level of support, spending $1.25 trillion on mortgage-backed securities, which has driven down rates on home loans.
Last month, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues agreed to slow down the pace of the program to buy mortgage securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Instead of wrapping up the purchases by the end of this year, the Fed now plans to do so by the end of March.
Despite the government's effort to support the housing market, qualifying for a loan is still tough. Lenders have tightened their standards dramatically, so the best rates are available to those with solid credit and a 20 percent down payment.
Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, often in line with long-term Treasury bonds.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.43 percent, from 4.37 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac.
Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.4 percent, up from 4.38 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 4.54 percent from 4.6 percent.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 points for 30-year loans. The fee averaged 0.6 points for 15-year, five-year and one-year loans. "