Year to date closed residential sales increased 13%. Including condominiums closed sales were up nearly 17% year to date. Brokers applauded congressional approval of legislation to extend the tax credit deadline on contracts signed by the April 30 deadline. The deadline has been pushed out to September 30, 2010.

In general consumers seem to be stuck in uncertainty surrounding the world’s economic concerns, our lack of jobs and the rollercoaster of the stock market. They seem to be hunkering down despite the lowest interest rates in years.

Buyers were quite shy, as pending sales posted a 20.5% decrease to 205 from June of 2009. Many would-be June buyers already bought during the credit period. Sellers seemed to be more confident, so new listings increased 14.6% to 360 over last June.

In response, inventory levels increased 7% to 2,177 over last year, which predictably exerted downward pressure on prices. The June median sales price of $246,500 was a 7.9% decrease from last year.

Negotiations inched slightly back toward the seller by 0.5% to arrive at 92.9% of their original list price. Market time decreased 11.5% to 109 days; whilc months of supply decreased 9.0% to 12.4 months.

Click here to go to the article, or you can read it here:

For so long, everything in housing has been Baby Boom, Baby Boom, Baby Boom. There are so many of them — about 76 million, born between 1946-64 — and their spending habits so influential that for years they’ve driven the decision-making process at all levels of the housing world.

The successor demographic, dubbed Generation X, has started to be heard. But a California real estate consulting firm is looking further down the road, and charting the housing preferences of Generation Y, sometimes called the Echo Boomers or Millennials.

They’re going to be influential — though maybe for what they’re not going to do rather than what they will do, according to Tim Cornwell, a researcher for the Concord Group, a housing consultancy in San Francisco that in the past year has been studying their housing attitudes.

“Our generation has been raised in a world where they’re told every single day they can have everything they want,” he said of Generation Y, of which he is a member, having been born in 1980. The reality of today’s economy may make that mindset a little tricky for them, he said.

Five things to know about Gen Y and housing:

1. Demographers differ on when members of Generation Y started to be born, though one often-cited bracket for the age group is 1977 through 1989, years that slightly overlap with Generation X, which analysts generally say were born 1965 through 1980. Generally speaking, the 60 million or so Americans in the Y group are now in their 20s, and Cornwell said they haven’t been studied much yet.

2. Where baby boomers and Gen X started to make themselves known in the real estate market in their 20s, Generation Y will be taking its time, for a couple of reasons, Cornwell said.

For one thing, they’re postponers. “They graduate from college and use graduate school to postpone adulthood or they travel” for an extended period after school, he said. These decisions limit their earnings and any savings that might otherwise go into homebuying, he said.

And then there’s the economy.

“The economic picture for Generation Y is depressingly ugly,” he said. In his company’s research, 40 percent said they’re still getting significant financial help from their families.

Thus, they’re not likely to begin buying real estate in significant numbers until they hit the age of 35, he said.

“For most people in their mid-to-late 20s, (homebuying) isn’t even in the conversation,” Cornwell said. “Most of us can’t afford to buy our parents’ houses. Either our preferences have to change or density issues will come up.”

3. Cornwell said Gen Y has a “mobile mindset,” where lifestyle is everything.

“Used to be, you picked a job and you moved to the city where that job was,” Cornwell said. But this group values locale and amenities first, and may be inclined to move to try out different places and will look to wedge in their jobs and careers accordingly.

That transience could affect neighborhood turnover rates and possibly mortgage terms, he said.

4. Their affinity for neighborhood amenities means that their real estate purchases, when they happen, probably will be in so-called “inner ring” suburbs, near-in to larger cities, Cornwell said, though there’s a difference of opinion within the research that’s been done so far.

“Everybody in the industry likes to say that Gen Y will look to homes that are more urban and attached,” such as townhouses and condominiums, he said. “That they’ll look for (places that offer some benefits of urban living, proximity to transit and culture).

“But I think we’re more traditional than people give us credit for, that we will look to single-family homes in the first-ring suburbs,” he said. Those Gen Yers, once they hit 35 or thereabouts, will be having babies and will want to reconcile “urban amenities” with schools and safety, and the first-ring towns often offer enough of the urban lifestyle to satisfy the need, he said.

This desire doesn’t bode particularly well for the distant suburbs that sprang up during the housing boom, he said. Gen Y doesn’t want to spend that much time commuting, he said.

5. What do they want in a house? There’s a stated preference for open floor plans, Cornwell said.

In Concord Group research, the younger Gen Y respondents (20-24) were less interested in a larger home size the next time they moved. They want a big kitchen (though they’re inclined to eat out), and a garage and some yard space.

They have little interest in a formal dining room or a media or game room.

About one-fourth of all the Gen Y people surveyed said they’d pay 5 percent to 10 percent extra to live a 10-minute walk or bike ride (or short car trip) to get to work or retail services.

# # #

Mary Umberger is a freelance writer in Chicago.

In her presentation, Julia identified the following current/near-term risks for Bellingham and Whatcom County:

• Expiration of homebuyer tax credits
• Mortgage rates rising by year-end
• Increasing delinquencies and foreclosures in Whatcom County
• Price pressure from “shadow inventory”
• Continued slowdown of internal migration in the U.S. (due in part to “underwater” homeowners
• Potential for weak macroeconomic recovery

But, not to leave things on a sour note, Julia wrapped up her talk with a look at some of the local positive factors for the short term:

• Local employment growth is coming — the state gained jobs in Jan and March
• WA State recovery is expected to outpace the national recovery
• Canadian dollar is strong
• Our border is with Canada, not Greece!

Julia’s presentation includes loads more useful data and information on the local housing market. Click here to download the PowerPoint version in its entirety.

Top 10 highest foreclosure rates: Las Vegas leads

By Inman News

Created 2010-05-13 01:00

Fewer people received motgage default notices in April, according to a report by foreclosure data company RealtyTrac. At the same time, bank repossessions shot up to a new monthly high.

“(Those) were two important milestones…that show foreclosure activity has begun to plateau — but at a very high level that will not drop off in the near future,” said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s CEO, in a statement.

“We expect a similar pattern to continue for most of this year, with the overall numbers staying at a high level and ripples of activity hitting the various stages of the foreclosure process as lenders systematically work through the backlog of distressed properties,” Saccacio added.

Total foreclosure activity — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions combined — fell two percent year-over-year, and nine percent month-to-month, to 333, 837 properties. That decrease comes after foreclosure activity ramped up in the first quarter, mostly in the place of properties repossessed by the lender.

Default notice filings fell 27 percent year-over-year and 12 percent from the previous month, to a total of 103,762 properties. Foreclosure auction filings rose one percent year-over-year, but fell 13 percent from March, to 137,643 properties.

Bank repossessions (REOs) were up one percent from the previous month, but rose a dramatic 45 percent from April 29 to a new monthly high: 92,432 properties. The previous peak was in December when REOs hit 92,182, the report said. Bank repossessions rose 35 percent year-over-year in the first quarter.

California, Florida, Michigan, Illinois and Nevada made up 52 percent of the total foreclosure filings in the U.S., the report said. California and Nevada also dominated the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates. Only Reno-Sparks, Nev. recorded an increase in year-over-year foreclosure activity in April — the rest saw a decrease in activity, the report said.

The U.S. foreclosure filings rate: 1 in 387 housing units received a foreclosure filing in April.

Top 10 state with the highest foreclosure rates:

1. Nevada: 1 in 69 units
2. Arizona: 1 in 169 units
3. Florida: 1 in 182 units
4. California: 1 in 192 units
5. Utah: 1 in 221 units
6. Idaho: 1 in 226 units
7. Michigan: 1 in 237 units
8. Illinois: 1 in 280 units
9. Georgia: 1 in 288 units
10. Colorado: 1 in 337 units

Top 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates:

1. Las Vegas: 1 in 60 units
2. Modesto, Calif.: 1 in 101 units
3. Merced, Calif.: 1 in 104 units
4. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.: 1 in 105 units
5. Stockton, Calif.: 1 in 108 units
6. Riverside-San Bernadino-Ontario, Calif.: 1 in 110 units
7. Reno-Spark, Nev.: 1 in 112 units
8. Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif.: 1 in 117 units
9. Bakersfield, Calif.: 1 in 120 units
10. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.: 1 in 136 units

Source: RealtyTrac.

RealtyTrac bases its foreclosure reports on foreclosure filing data from 2,200 counties across the country, accounting for more than 90 percent of the American population.

Whatcom County brokers reported 283 pending sales during the month of April, representing an increase of more than 70% from the same month a year ago. MLS figures show local home inventory has increased 14.3% during this same period, closed sales jumped by almost 15%, and median sales prices dropped nearly 4%.

Homes For Sale Vs. Sold Vs. Pending Vs. New Listing

The following graph compares the number of homes for sale vs. the number of homes sold vs. the number of pending sales vs. the number of new listings, between Feb of 2009 and April of 2010 (click to enlarge).

The Homebuyer Tax Credit Impact

The homebuyer tax credit did what it was designed to do: it helped with stabilizing the housing market, which in turn helped stimulate the economy. You can see how the number of pending home sales rose consistently leading up to the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, in the graph above.

However, the market remains bifurcated, with the lower end (under $300,000) selling and the high end (over $500,000) struggling. Price is incredibly important, especially when it comes to high-end homes.

There are two types of homes on today’s market: 1) Well-priced homes in good condition that are selling within 60 days, and 2) Over-priced homes that will be sitting on the market a long time.

Moving Forward

Moving forward, local home buyers will continue to experience a purchase power advantage thanks to historically low interest rates and lower adjusted home prices.

2010 So Far

Lastly, here’s a table that summarizes a plethora of local housing statistics for the first four months of this year:

*All reports are published May 2010, based on data available at the end of April 2010. This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the NWMLS. Neither the Board or its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Board or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. Report reflects activity by all brokers participated in the MLS.

While Bellingham has been moving toward a neutral market, Gragg Miller points out in this article that some Whatcom County communities are doing the opposite. Some areas, including Lynden, the Mount Baker area, Ferndale and others are moving more toward a buyer’s market, thanks to a surge in housing inventory.

From this April 19 article:

“Some of these areas are having more difficulty absorbing this new inventory,” Miller said. “Places like Ferndale and Blaine are seeing greater increases in housing units sold, but it’s not enough to keep up with the number of homes coming on the market.”

Overall the demand ratio in Whatcom County was 6.9 to 1 for March. A ratio of 7 to 1 is considered a buyer’s market, while a ratio of 5 to 1 is considered a neutral market. Lynden and the Mount Baker areas had a demand ratio of 10 to 1 or higher, followed by Ferndale (9.1 to 1), Blaine/Birch Bay (8.1 to 1), Nooksack (7.5 to 1), Sudden Valley (6.2 to 1) and Bellingham (5.3 to 1).

Read more here.

For the first quarter of 2010 Whatcom County also experienced a rise in inventory levels as well as a positive increase in pending and closed sales. However, the median price continued to drop due to the shift of buyers to the more affordable priced homes.  For the quarter prices were down about 8% throughout Whatcom County.

Pending sales of used residential homes were the strongest in Lynden (up 50%) and Blaine/Birch Bay (up 39%). Overall the county was up 13% from the first quarter of 2009. Closed used single family sales were up 27% in the first quarter of 2010 over the the same period in 2009. Ferndale, Blaine/Birch Bay and Lynden respectively increased the most. 68%, 32% and 25% respectively.

Median prices were down 13% in Bellingham, down 3.5% in Ferndale, up 6.5% in Blaine/Birch Bay, down 4.5% in Lynden and down 10% in Sudden Valley.

The surge, in sales, in Whatcom County is thanks to the opportunities that have been afforded to homeowners through the federal tax credit, low interest rates and increased affordability. We have seen a dramatic shift of median prices since 2007. In the first quarter of 2007 58% of the sales were under $300,000 in Whatcom County. In the first quarter of 2010 the percentage was 75. Ferndale had the largest increase from 48% in 2007 to 78% in 2010.

Interestingly, Washington State had three cities in the list of top 10 largest price gains for 2010, with Bellingham coming in at number 13.

You can find more information on these predictions, here.

Important points about the tax credit extension (and expansion) from this clip include:

1) Income caps for first-time homebuyers increased to $125,000 (for individuals) and $225,000 (for families).

2) Tax Credit extended to April 30, 2010, and all properties must close by June 30.

3) Tax Credit expanded to Move Up Buyers. These buyers must have lived in their principal residence for at least five years, and the home they are purchasing must be less than $800,000.

You can find more information on this Tax Credit extension and expansion here.

Here are some interesting tips from this short clip:

1. Staging your home is like preparing for a blind date; you only have one chance to make a great first impressions on buyers.

2. Staging doesn’t have to be expensive (deep cleaning, exterior maintenance and de-cluttering do not take much $, but are very important).

3. Remove anything with eyes (photos, stuffed animals, etc.) to help de-clutter.

Click the video above to see more helpful tips.