Archive for the 'Real Estate' Category

Government data are expected to show that new home sales inched up in April, rising for the second straight month as builders start to see long-awaited encouraging signs about the housing market.

New home sales likely rose last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 360,000 units, from 356,000 units in March, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

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In the first two months of its existence, more than 600,000 homebuilders across the U.S. have sold homes using the new $8,000 federal tax credit. President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law in February. As part of $787 billion in economic stimulus measures, the legislation created a homebuyer tax credit that is bigger and better than the previous credit that was implemented in July 2008.

The Web site www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com explains in detail the provisions of the new tax credit. In a nutshell, it:

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Despite huge cuts in the residential construction business, Dallas-Fort Worth still ranks second in the country in new-home sales and starts.

Only Houston had more new-house construction and sales during the 12-month period ending in March, housing analyst Metrostudy Inc. said Tuesday in a new report.

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WASHINGTON - A modest rebound in single-family home construction in April raised hopes Tuesday that the three-year slide in housing could be bottoming. But with the supply of unsold homes bulging, foreclosures rising and prices falling, no broad recovery is expected until next spring at the earliest.

The Commerce Department said construction of new homes and apartments fell 12.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units — the lowest pace on records going back a half-century. Applications for new building permits dropped 3.3 percent to an annual rate of 494,000, also the lowest on record.

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Two recent residential foreclosure reports show seemingly contradictory data – one reporting the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the highest level of foreclosure postings in the last two decades and the other showing the Metroplex with ever-increasing home values.

But local experts say the data isn’t contradictory at all.

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Reporting from Yuma, Ariz. — The Terraces subdivision here contains rows of 2,000-plus-square-foot homes appointed with sunken tubs, granite countertops and tile floors that stare off into open desert.

But as the economy has contracted, so have the homes.

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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Shares of home building companies climbed Tuesday as investors ignored weak housing prices and instead focused on a jump in consumer confidence ahead of two key housing reports this week.

The Conference Board said in a morning report its index of consumer confidence for May rose to 54.9 from 40.8 in April, now at its highest point since September 2008.

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Recent hints of optimism in the housing industry appear to have spread to the multifamily sector, according to the first quarter of 2009 results of the Multifamily Rental Market Index (MRMI) and the Multifamily Condo Market Index (MCMI), released today by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

“Multifamily builders are beginning to see slight improvement in the current market for new rental and for-sale units, and anticipate even better times in the next six months,” said David Crowe, NAHB’s chief economist. “The components of the index measuring customer interest rose significantly; the index level of calls from prospective renters rose 14 points, to 50.9, and the index reflecting traffic in prospective condo buyers jumped 25 points.”

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Highland Park Village is changing hands but not its character.

Like an expensive heirloom, Henry S. Miller Interests has sold the Mediterranean-style shopping center to another extended family that hails from the wealthy neighborhoods surrounding it.

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Local housing experts say 2009 may be sluggish, but with interest rates at historic lows and looming inflation in 2010 and 2011, it’s time to buy.

A panel of five residential industry leaders shared their analysis and forecasts of the Dallas-Fort Worth housing market at the Residential Real Estate Forum held at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Though many of the experts had different theories as to how government efforts to improve the nation’s declining housing market are faring, all said they had seen indicators of a strengthening economy.

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