All the Real Estate News That’s Fit to RE-Print™

Welcome to our weekly edition of Hot Real Estate Investment News.
New this week:

  • The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed positive annual growth
  • The number of completed foreclosures saw declines both monthly and yearly
  • Home prices in July saw the biggest nationwide year-over-year increase since August 2006
  • The “real” home ownership rate is the lowest in almost 50 years

Here are the details about real estate investing related news items that caught our attention this past week…

Fewer Foreclosures in July as Servicers Seek Alternatives: CoreLogic

DSnews.com’s Esther Cho reports:
“The number of completed foreclosures saw declines both monthly and yearly, according to the most recent foreclosure report from CoreLogic.
In July, 58,000 homes were lost to the foreclosure process compared to 69,000 in July 2011 and 62,000 the month before in June.
Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, explained servicers are seeking options outside of foreclosure….”

Low Foreclosure Supply Pushes Sales Lower, Prices Higher

RealtyTrac’s Q2 2012 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report™ shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned (REO) accounted for 23 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the second quarter — up from 22 percent of all sales in the first quarter and up from 19 percent of all sales in the second quarter of 2011.

 Key Findings from the report:

  • Although foreclosure-related sales as a percentage of total sales increased, the raw number of foreclosure-related sales in the second quarter (224,429) decreased 12 percent from the previous quarter and was down 22 percent from the second quarter of 2011.
  • The average foreclosure-related sales price in the second quarter ($170,040) increased 6 percent from the previous quarter and was up 7 percent from the second quarter of 2011.
  • Homes in foreclosure or bank-owned sold at an average price that was 32 percent lower than the average price of a non-foreclosure home, up from a 30 percent discount in the first quarter and also a 30 percent discount in the second quarter of 2011.

Also see:

Foreclosure-Related Sales Price Up as Inventory Shrinks: RealtyTrac

Home Prices Rose in 2nd Quarter 2012: S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

Data through June 2012, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that all three headline composites ended the second quarter of 2012 with positive annual growth rates for the first time since the summer of 2010.
Nationally, home prices are back to their early 2003 levels.
Click here to access the data and full report.
Also see:

City by City Results for S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
Condo prices increase across all five cities
Home prices are up versus a year ago in 13 major cities

July Home Prices See Biggest Yearly Increase Since 2006: CoreLogic

CoreLogic Price Chart

Home prices rise 3.8 percent year-over-year--biggest increase since 2006


DSnews.com’s Tory Barringer reports:
“Home prices in July saw the biggest nationwide year-over-year increase since August 2006, CoreLogic reported Tuesday.
According to the company’s July Home Price Index (HPI), home prices-including distressed sales-increased year-over-year by 3.8 percent in July. On a month-over-month basis, prices increased 1.3 percent from June.
July marked the fifth consecutive increase in home prices on both a monthly and yearly basis.”
See the entire report here: CoreLogic July Home Price Index Rises 3.8 Percent Year-Over-Year—Biggest Increase Since 2006

Sales volume still low

Maureen Maitland, Vice President S&P Dow Jones Indices states:
“Housing statistics for June and July 2012 were largely positive, but we still have not seen a real pickup in sales volume for more than five years. The S&P/Case-Shiller sales pair counts, NAR’s existing home sales and the US Census housing starts remain low compared to their pre-recession levels.”

Report: Homeownership at Lowest Rate in Nearly 50 Years

DSnews.com’s Tory Barringer reports:
“A report released Monday from John Burns Real Estate Consulting revealed that the “real” homeownership rate–measured as the percentage of households that own a home and are not seriously delinquent on their mortgage—has fallen to 62.1 percent, the lowest level in almost half a century.
The firm said that the Census Bureau’s 65.5 percent homeownership estimate was a vast overestimate, as it includes 3.8 million homeowners who are 90 or more days delinquent.”