The real estate question on everyone's lips seems to be 'how is the market doing?' The recovery has taken longer than most of us would like, but there are national signs it is recovering… and will likely continue to improve more quickly as we progress through 2012.
- Mortgage delinquencies continue to fall
- Delinquencies fell 7% last year and final numbers are expected to be the same this year
- Deliquencies of 60 days or more are expected to peak at 6% of all mortgages first quarter 2012, then fall to 5% by the end of the year, according to TransUnion
- Improving Housing Markets Index of the National Association of Home Builders/First American Financial Corporation expanded for the 4th month in a row
- Expansion in both number of markets and geographic diversity
- Index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown at least six months of improvement in employment and housing prices as well as an increase in housing permits
- Nationwide home prices have declined 3.9%, but only 0.5% for traditional sales not involved in short sales or foreclosures
- The Twin Cities market has not fared as well as the national average following the homebuyer tax credit boom when local prices went up
- Traditional prices have dropped 7.0% in the last 12 months
- Foreclosure prices have droped 11.6% and short sale prices 10.6%
- Improving job growth will buoy the housing market, according to Barclays Capital
- Mortgage rates have been holding steady at historic lows
- Some feel upward pressure is building, mostly due to improving economy and job growth
- Removal of the 125% loan-to-value cap for the HARP refinancing program may increase demand, which could raise costs
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – Minneapolis – St. Paul Realtor
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