According to a recent Deutsche Bank report, the following cities, among a few others, offer affordable homes to potential buyers: Atlanta: With the monthly rent of around 50 per cent more than average after-tax mortgage, Atlanta tops the list of cities for the most affordable housing. Despite the fact that it is now the most [...]
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.
The real estate market has been struggling along for quite a few years now, with foreclosures and low home prices everywhere. However, the economy is beginning to recover, albeit slowly. A new study from PwC actually points to greater confidence in the real estate market during 2011. Will this be the year of the “big turnaround”? Experts say it’s possible, but don’t bank on it. Even if there is a turnaround, it will be a gradual process. The damage done in the past decade cannot be reversed in just a single year.
Given the influx of absentee property owners, it is essential now more than any other time for people looking for a rental home to use the services of a professional residential property management service. The 2008 real estate market crash left many property owners owing more than what the property is worth; it is now common to hear of investment property owners choosing to walk away from their investment and stop paying the mortgage.
Fears of analysts were confirmed when Case Shiller Index was released last week. As expected by them the decline in prices is weakening homebuyers. According to Bloomberg, residential real estate values dropped the most in January in more than a year, contributing to the risk that US home sales would keep slowing further. The Standard & Poor’s-Shiller Index of property values in 20 US cities fell 3.1 per cent since January 2010, which is by far the biggest year-over-year drop since December 2009.
Home prices are falling throughout the country, but the area around Reno, Nevada seems to have been particularly hard hit, according to sales and pricing information coming out for the final quarter of 2010. The impetus here seems to be directly from short-sale homes, as well as a significant influx of bank-owned homes on the market. The number of properties listed for incredibly low prices is forcing the average price down, as well, and having an effect across the entire real estate scene.
A recent survey of national realtors has found that a high percentage of them have had sales fall through because of home appraisals coming in too low. Often, the appraisal actually came in below the price that a buyer was willing to pay. Even if those low appraisals did not cancel the sale outright, many realtors have found that they have to renegotiate contracts because of it. Those low appraisal rates have also affected more than just realtors – builders have had sales lost because of the appraisals. Why are appraisals coming in so low, though?
A recent survey of national realtors has found that a high percentage of them have had sales fall through because of home appraisals coming in too low. Often, the appraisal actually came in below the price that a buyer was willing to pay. Even if those low appraisals did not cancel the sale outright, many realtors have found that they have to renegotiate contracts because of it. Those low appraisal rates have also affected more than just realtors – builders have had sales lost because of the appraisals. Why are appraisals coming in so low, though?
Although the US government has proposed to wind down operations of Fannie and Freddie Mac, the institutions that have been responsible so far for backing at least 90 per cent of the US mortgage market, some astute observers say that such intentions are nothing but mere rhetoric.
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.
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