While northern Nevada (areas like Reno-Sparks) might be seeing a slight resurgence in home sales, the same cannot be said of the south. Las Vegas and the surrounding areas have actually seen an increase in empty homes. Currently, there are almost 170,000 vacant homes in southern Nevada, almost twice the number of empty homes in 2000 (during the last census).
According to the US real estate industry, the commercial real estate market is on the path to recovery. A modest rise in rent has been forecast for the national market in 2011. In 2012, the job market is expected to improve and the real estate market will pick up pace.
Even as the housing bubble was beginning to inflate, real estate prices in the US showed a downward trend last week. Prices in at least 14 major US metros have fallen sharply to the 2003 levels. According to industry experts, this discouraging trend has the tendency to slow down the US economy while it has shown strength in other sectors. The worst affected regions include Las Vegas, Cleveland and Detroit. Analysts say prices are at or near 10-year lows in Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis.
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides rental assistance. It is provided mostly through its different rental programs. Through the public housing program, HUD offers rental assistance to the disabled, elderly and low income families. HUD grants are given to local housing agencies for the public housing program. The US has around 3,300 housing agencies that provide cover to about 1.2 million households.
Last week saw a drop in the average interest rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage loan in the US due to lower yields on Treasury bonds. According to Freddie Mac, the interest rate on the loan dipped to 4.87 per cent from 4.95 per cent. Earlier in November 2010, it had hit a 40-year low of 4.17 per cent.
Last week, home prices were close to their post-bust lows, with the government confirming that January saw the number of new homes dip to double digits. Yale economist Robert Shiller made a sobering remark when he spoke about the substantial risk of home prices dropping by 15-25 per cent.
While much has been made of the effect the recession had on the residential housing market, it also had an enormous effect on commercial real estate around the nation. This was marked by the incredible number of defaults on commercial mortgages across all sectors. However, things might be improving. Signs of recovery come from the reduced rate of mortgage defaults in the US.
The depression of 2007-08 had a severe adverse impact upon the US real estate market. However, in 2010, the market witnessed slow but steady signs of revival. Some of the key factors on which the US real estate market is dependent are as follows:
Last month, RealtyTrac reported that it expected the number of foreclosures to increase by 20 per cent during 2011. At the close of 2010, a large number of mortgages were in different stages of foreclosure. According to market experts, 4.63 per cent of home loans were in foreclosure in the fourth quarter of 2010, up by 4.39 per cent, compared with the previous quarter.
“Today’s report shows that housing affordability at the end of 2010 was at its highest level since we started computing the HOI,” said Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) as well as a home contractor from Reno, Nev. “Nevertheless, even though this is good news for consumers, both property purchasers and builders continue to deal with incredibly tight credit conditions, and this continues to be a major hurdle to numerous potential property sales.”
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