Commercial Property
Real Estate Outlook: Positives Taking Shape
If you"re looking at housing statistics over the past quarter or year, there"s no question you"re going to come up with a lot of negatives. But if you look ahead -- there definitely are some positives taking shape. On the negative side, we"ve got a bumper crop: The National Association of Realtors reported last week that median home prices in the fourth quarter of 2007 fell in 77 of 150 major markets compared with year-earlier numbers. And the median price of an existing home nationwide dropped by 5.8 percent. On top of that, total sales were down in the fourth quarter by 8 and a half percent from the previous quarter and were 21 percent below where they were in the fourth quarter of 2006. I"ve got one word for those numbers: Ouch! They"re pretty sobering. But let me ask this: Is anyone really surprised that after the biggest run-up of prices in American history and six years of record-breaking sales that the correction phase following the boom cycle has been tough? Even in the face of all this, roughly half of the 150 major markets -- 73 of them, spread from Yakima, Washington to Binghamton, New York -- saw median price GAINS last year during one of the worst real estate environments in a century. Now let"s turn to market developments still ahead: No one is predicting any quick turnarounds or sudden bursts in sales, but think about these facts: Thirty-year mortgage rates continue to be in the mid to upper 5 percent range -- among the lowest in half a century. If they stay low, most economists agree they will stimulate home sales. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that he is committed to lowering short-term rates even further to help stimulate the economy -- and hinted that the Fed could cut rates another half point in mid March. The new, higher mortgage maximums for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA will kick in by mid-March and should help thousands of first-time buyers in high-cost markets like California and the Northeast and ultimately help clear out some of the unsold inventory clogging those areas. Combine low-cost money with sharply lower prices and at some point, you hit bottom -- flatten out -- and sales begin to pick up. Downcycles aren"t forever, nor are upcycles. Here at Realty Times we think in a slowly expanding number of areas as the year proceeds, you"ll see the arrows start pointing up again.RES Course Provider commented:
It is nice to find that Real Estate is getting good expansion day by day. I appreciate your well written post for sharing such a valuable information with us.
04.04.2012