All the Real Estate News That’s Fit to RE-Print™
48% of real estate experts surveyed say another housing bubble is a
moderate to high risk.
Home prices increased 10.5 percent on a year-over-year basis in March — the biggest year-over-year increase since March 2006.
Foreclosure filings decreased 5 percent from the previous month and were down 23 percent from April 2012.
But a majority of real estate experts responding to a recent Zillow survey expressed some concern that the Federal Reserve’s current policies could lead to another housing bubble.
We hope these real estate news items help you stay up-to-date with your real estate investing strategies and inspire some profitable real estate deals for you.
CoreLogic Home Price Index Rises by 10.5
On Tuesday, CoreLogic® released its March CoreLogic HPI® report. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 10.5 percent on a year-over-year basis in March 2013. This is the biggest year-over-year increase since March 2006 and the 13th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally.
Highlights include:
- Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+22.2 percent), California (+17.2 percent), Arizona (+16.8 percent), Idaho (+14.5 percent) and Oregon (+14.3 percent).
- Including distressed sales, this month only four states posted home price depreciation: Delaware (-3.7 percent), Alabama (-3.1 percent), Illinois (-1.8 percent) and West Virginia (-0.3 percent).
- Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+20.8 percent), California (+16.8 percent), Idaho (+16.3), Arizona (+15.1 percent) and Hawaii (+14.3 percent).
- Excluding distressed sales, no states posted home price depreciation in March.
Full-month March 2013 national data can be found at http://www.corelogic.com/HPIMarch2013.
See also:
March Home Prices Accelerate, Post Biggest Annual Gain in 7 Years
Foreclosure Auctions Hit 30-Month High, Overall Foreclosure Activity Drops to 6-Year Low
On Tuesday, RealtyTrac® released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for April, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 144,790 U.S. properties in April, a decrease of 5 percent from the previous month and down 23 percent from April 2012.
Total foreclosure activity in April was at the lowest level since February 2007, a 74-month low.
High-level findings from the report:
- Scheduled judicial foreclosure auctions increased 22 percent from March to April and were up 31 percent from a year ago to the highest level since October 2010 — a 30-month high.
- Scheduled foreclosure auctions increased from a year ago in 15 of the 26 judicial or quasi-judicial foreclosure states, including Maryland (199 percent increase), New Jersey (91 percent increase), Ohio (73 percent increase), Oklahoma (57 percent increase), and Florida (55 percent). Scheduled foreclosure auctions reached a 68-month high in Ohio, a 31-month high in Maryland, a 27-month high in New Jersey, and an 18-month high in Oklahoma.
- Scheduled non-judicial foreclosure auctions (NTS) in April were down 7 percent from March and down 43 percent from April 2012 to the lowest level since December 2005 — an 88-month low.
- A total of 70,133 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in April, down 4 percent from the previous month and down 28 percent from a year ago.
Experts See Risk of a Housing Bubble Resulting from Fed Policies
From Krista Franks Brock:
“A majority of real estate experts responding to a recent Zillow survey expressed some concern that the Federal Reserve’s current policies could lead to another housing bubble.
Only 4 percent of respondents are not at all worried about a bubble resulting from the Fed’s monetary policy that is keeping mortgage rates down. However, 48 percent see the Fed’s policies as ‘a little risky,’ and the remaining 48 percent categorized the risk as ‘moderate to high risk.'”