Posts Tagged ‘United States’

Aptos Real Estate – Santa Cruz, CA

Thursday, March 11th, 2010
A scene from Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (SCBB)...

An unincorporated community in Santa Cruz, the community of Aptos, California, has seen, like many cities across the nation, a dent put into its housing market over the past two years. With the onset of the recession across the U.S. home prices here, like elsewhere, fell, while foreclosures rose and inventory began stockpiling.

Because Aptos is a rather small community, it can be difficult to extrapolate reliable information from its housing statistics. For example, at the end of the year in December 2009, according to the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors information, the average and median price of home sold was $525,000. Upon further scrutiny, however, we can see that there was only one home sold in December – for a price of $525,000. Meanwhile, there were two new homes listed in December for a total of five homes on the market, with each home spending an average of 4.8 months listed before being sold.

Looking back to November, statistics show that there were two Aptos homes for sale closed upon, with an average and median price of $456,000. During that month, there were seven homes on the market, spending an average of just 2.6 months listed before selling.

Some earlier statistics from November of 2008 show that despite the minimal information, the Aptos real estate has improved since the worst days during the crisis. In November 2008, there was one closed home sale, which had a price of almost $238,000, much lower than the prices seen in the last few months of 2009. Based on this information, it would be logical to say the market has seen its bottom and is now on its way back up.

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Fort Wayne

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
City of Fort Wayne
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The second largest area in Indiana, Fort Wayne lies in the state’s northeastern corner. The state has been hard hit by the larger U.S. recession, shedding thousands of jobs and putting many homeowners at risk of foreclosure. Meanwhile, other homeowners have seen the values of their houses fall, leaving many upside-down on their mortgages. But recently things in the Fort Wayne real estate housing market, at least, have shown signs of improvement.

According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, assessed property values had fallen in nine of the county’s 20 districts this year. Nine more districts saw values rise less than 2%.  But sales have been up in the city. During November, the city saw a massive 54% increase in sales volume, from 397 to 612. Much of the increased volume can be attributed to buyers looking to take advantage of a recently extended government program that offers tax rebates up to $8,000 to qualified home buyers.

And unlike in many cities nationwide, real estate in Fort Wayne actually saw a bump up in its housing prices, a real reason for optimism that the market is improving. In November, the median price of a home sold was $92,700, up 9% from $84,900 last year. Additionally, the average price was up to $101,073 from $94,880, a 6.5% increase. Despite all the good news in November, however, the average days homes for sale in Fort Wayne spent on the market before closing was up in November – to 115 from just 104 last year, a 10% increase.

Though November showed significant signs of improvement, according to the Fort Wayne Area Association of Realtor’s data, the total for 2009 remains relatively steady compared with data from 2008, despite a few months of increased activity and sales prices. The total number of homes sold to date in 2009 is actually down 1.8% from 2008 at the same time. Prices are up, but just by 0.3% for average and 1.4% for median. It remains to be seen whether December’s figures can be positive enough to help 2009’s total outdo 2008.

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Palm Springs Real Estate

Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Palm Springs below. One minute exposure.
Image by bossco via Flickr

The Palm Springs real estate market continues to face mixed signals, although it seems that governmental intervention has nudged home sales in the right direction. According to a November 5, 2009 article in the Desert Sun, “The inventory of existing homes for sale in the Coachella Valley is the lowest since December 2005 as home sales rose 1.2 percent in September over September 2008, the California Desert Association of Realtors reported today. The median price was $159,810 in September, down from $199,810 in September 2008. Prices dropped 20 percent in September over the same period a year ago. ‘The desert median price for a single family home is now below the national median for the first time in several years when including sales in the high desert areas,’ said Greg Berkemer, executive director of the California Association of Realtors. ‘Median sale prices on the valley floor itself rank among California’s most affordable homes.’”

Palm Springs homes for sale have been faring better than the rest of the Coachella Valley, which has been declining recently. According to a more recent article in the Palm Springs Desert Sun, published on November 26, 2009, “Coachella Valley home sales fell 3 percent in September, a new report from San Diego-based MDA DataQuick shows. Sales had been rising steadily since June 2008 – after sales fell 12 percent and the median sales price stood at $300,000 – mostly because of dropping prices. September ended that sales streak. The median price rose 2 percent in October throughout the six-county Southern California region. October data are not yet available for the valley.”

Government action seems to have improved the lot for real estate in Palm Springs, according to a third article in the Desert Sun, this one by Debra Gruszecki. The piece, released on November 6, 2009, noted that “Congress sweetened the deal for house-hunters on Thursday, extending the deadline beyone Nov. 30 for first-time homebuyers to  collect up to $8,000 and beefing up the tax credit pool to include a $6,500 credit for owners of existing homes who are buying a new home. That incentive is kicking in at an opportune time in the Coachella Valley, real estate professionals said Thursday.”

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Zipping through the Green

Sunday, November 29th, 2009
Hanakapiai Beach, Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii
Image by Jeff Kubina via Flickr

Ecotourism has become one of the largest economic drivers in the state of Hawaii, let alone the island of Kauai.  A wonderful way to investigate some of the Kauai Hawaii real estate that has been untouched for years is by taking part in a zipline adventure that runs through the lush green forests of Kauai and takes participants on an exhilarating adventure through some of Kauai’s most pristine places.  Ziplining is quite simple due to the lack of physical involvement.  Although it takes some effort to climb the initial platform, the entire ride is downhill and zipliners can concentrate entirely on the beautiful terrain they pass over.

A number of reputable companies on Kauai offer the heart-pounding rush of ziplining. Princeville Ranch’s Zip n Dip features the island’s longest zipline and allows people to soar like birds over awe-inspiring valleys, streams, and canyons.  The treetop adventure consists of nine zipline crossings, a suspension bridge, and even a lunch break and swim at a picturesque waterfall.  Kauai Backcountry Zipline offers a similar experience over seven distinct ziplines.  Part of the excursion is the six-wheeled jungle vehicle that takes riders from the base camp to the top of the mountain where the zipline tour starts.

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Anchorage real estate

Friday, November 27th, 2009
Fairbanks, Alaska
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According to RealtyTrac in the Portland Business Journal’s October 28, 2009, report, Anchorage real estate is fairing quite well compared to many of its northwestern region counterparts.  Judging by the numbers, “Anchorage ranked 126th with one foreclosure for every 258 homes,” while the “Seattle metro ranked 95th with one foreclosure for every 217 homes” and “Boise, Idaho, ranked 19th with one foreclosure for every 57 homes.”  Alaska as a whole, however, did not do as well as its state capital in Anchorage.  The DailyFinance.com news source quoted writer Lita Epstein on November 12, 2009 as saying “Other states that posted a major monthly jump in filings included Alaska (up 35.11% on a monthly basis and 17.83% year-over-year).”

Anchorage homes for sale have been helped along by “President Barack Obama who signed off on a bill this week to extend the first-time home buyer tax credit,” reported Leyla Santiago of KTUU News Alaska.  Accordingly, “the tax credit is expected to affect two-thirds of buyers and sellers. For Anchorage builders, the decision buys more time to make deals.”  With construction at a stand-still and current homeowners watching their properties dwindle in value, it is quite easy to see why so many people are becoming so demoralized.  “Hold on,” claim experts who foresee the recession bottoming out next year.  Analysts believe that people who can survive through the bottom of the recession will only benefit in the long-run.

Over the last year, real estate in Anchorage on average has gained about $11,000 in market value between November 2008 and November 2009.  While the median home for sale price remained steady at $270,000 and 0 percent change from October, Yahoo! Real Estate reported that foreclosed homes actually dropped 1.1 percent to $211,285.  Interestingly, the difference in price between foreclosures and other homes for sale is relatively small.

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Tucson Real Estate update 2009

Friday, November 27th, 2009
City of Tucson
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Despite the expectation for Tucson to have one of the top 10 home appreciation rates in the nation, most real estate experts believe that still won’t be enough to prove a successful recovery of the Tucson real estate market, given the high foreclosure rates that continue to plague Tucson, Arizona.  Although the extension of the federal government’s home buyer’s tax credit helped to encourage some prospective home buyers to invest in real estate in Tucson, the number is still insignificant and won’t be enough to reduce the large and still increasing inventory of foreclosed homes.  Furthermore, experts say that despite consumer’s enthusiasm in the Tucson real estate, people still aren’t willing to pay big bucks for a new house, making it difficult for median home prices to increase to previous years’ levels.

According to AzBiz.com, real estate experts worry that the continuing increase in high foreclosure rates and recent declines in home permits suggests that the Tucson real estate market will not be showing any signs of consistent or significant recovery in the near future.  Some experts project that given the current struggles the market is experiencing, the real estate in Tucson could take about three more years to fully recover.  In October of 2009, Tucson posted that 30.6 of all house and condo sales as of the beginning of this year were sales made on previously foreclosed homes.  Tucson real estate sources also reported that about 40 percent of home buyer’s stated that the new home buyer’s federal tax credit enticed them to make a home purchase, but experts are quick to admit that those numbers still aren’t enough to help the real estate make a rebound.  The average sales price in Tucson is $188,670.

However, the Phoenix Business Journal reported a slightly more optimistic view of the real estate in Tucson, stating that real estate experts throughout the nation predict Tucson to have one of the top ten markets for home appreciation during the next 12 months.  Nevertheless, Tucson real estate experts still say that the Tucson real estate market will most likely not see any full recovery until 2011 or even 2012.

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