Thursday, April 26, 2007

California Foreclosure Activity Jumps Again

April 16, 2007

The number of default notices sent to California homeowners last quarter increased to its highest level in almost ten years, the result of flat appreciation, slow sales, and post teaser-rate mortgage resets, a real estate information service reported.

Lending institutions filed 46,760 Notices of Default (NoDs) during the January-to-March period. That was up by 23.1 percent from a revised 37,994 for the previous quarter, and up 148.0 percent from 18,856 for first-quarter 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last quarter's default level was the highest since 47,912 NoDs were recorded statewide in second-quarter 1997. Defaults peaked in first quarter 1996 at 61,541. An average of 33,847 NoDs have been filed quarterly since 1992, when DataQuick's NOD statistics begin.

Most of the loans that went into default last quarter were originated between April 2005 and May 2006. The median age was 15 months. Loan originations peaked in August 2005. Adjustable-rate mortgage use for primary purchase home loans peaked at 77.8% in May 2005 and has come down since.
On primary mortgages, homeowners were a median five months behind on their payments when the lender started the default process. The borrowers owed a median $10,784 on a median $331,200 mortgage.


The default numbers reflect wide regional differences. The first-quarter numbers were a record in Riverside, Sacramento and Contra Costa counties. In Los Angeles County it was almost 60 percent below the first-quarter 1996 peak, reflecting the depth of the recession in the mid-1990s as well as relative strength in today's market.

On a loan-by-loan basis, mortgages were least likely to go into default in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The likelihood was highest in Sacramento, Riverside and San Joaquin counties.


For more information go to http://dqnews.com/RRMain.shtm

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Seismic Retrofit in Berkeley

This is to inform you of a change in the Real Property Transfer Tax for the City of Berkeley , effective tomorrow, April 12, 2007 .

On March 13, 2007, the Berkeley City Council passed Ordinance 6971-N.S. amending Berkeley Municipal Code, Section 7.52.060 K (4), eliminating the provision that up to one-third of the Real Property Transfer Tax be set aside in an escrow account pending completion of seismic retrofit work. This ordinance is now going into effect tomorrow.

Therefore, the City will no longer authorize the retention of one-third of the Transfer Tax for the Seismic Retrofit Rebate Program and 100% of the City of Berkeley Real Property Transfer Tax is due upon recordation.

This change does not in any way affect the ability of property owners to take advantage of the Rebate Program.

With that said, before you decide to do any retrofitting for your home, I STRONGLY suggest that you check out Bay Area Retrofit at http://bayarearetrofit.com/

This company is a reputable company and I suggest that you get an inspection from them before any other company!

Monday, April 09, 2007

Sold Market Analysis - Oakland

Below is a comparison for single family homes sold in 06' and 07' in Oakland:


Jan 06'
---------
# of Solds- 174
Avg Sales Price- $574,360
Days on Mkt- 32

Jan 07'
----------
# of Solds- 129
Avg Sales Price- $606,203
Days on Mkt- 46

Feb 06'
-----------
# of Solds- 149
Avg Sales Price- $568,055
Days on Mkt- 31

Feb 07'
-----------
# of Solds- 127
Avg Sales Price- $630,352
Days on Mkt- 43


Mar 06'
-----------
# of Solds- 258
Avg Sales Price- $630,733
Days on Mkt- 29

Mar 07'
-----------
# of Solds- 174
Avg Sales Price- $684,558
Days on Mkt- 31

*Please email me if you would like to know the statistics for a specific zip code*
-all information taken from the MLS-

Sold Market Analysis - Oakland

Below is a sold market comparason for each month in 06' and 07'for single family homes:

Jan 06 Jan 07
----------------------------------
# of Solds 174 129
Average Price $574,360 $606,203
Days on Mkt 32 46

Jan 07
------------------



Feb 06 ------ Feb 07
----------------------------------
# of Solds 149 ------ 127
Average Price $568,055 $630,352
Days on Mkt 31 43


Mar 06 ------ Mar 07
----------------------------------
# of Solds 258 ------ 174
Average Price $630,733 $684,588
Days on Mkt 29 31


-If you would like specific numbers from any zip code please email me-
*all numbers taken from MLS*

Monday, April 02, 2007

Cofindence levels down with new home Builders

Builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes receded in March, largely on concerns about deepening problems in the subprime mortgage arena, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. After rising fairly steadily since its recent low last September, the HMI declined three points from a downwardly revised 39 reading in February to 36 in March.

“Builders are uncertain about the consequences of tightening mortgage lending standards for their home sales down the line, and some are already seeing effects of the subprime shakeout on current sales activity,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. “The fundamentals of today’s housing market still are relatively strong, including a favorable interest-rate structure, solid growth in employment and household income, lower energy prices and improving affordability in much of the single-family market – due in part to price cuts and non-price sales incentives offered by builders. NAHB continues to forecast modest improvements in home sales during the balance of 2007, although the problems in the mortgage market increase the degree of uncertainty surrounding our baseline (i.e., most probable) forecast.”

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as either “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as either “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

All three component indexes registered declines in March after having risen in the previous month. The index gauging current single-family home sales and the index gauging sales expectations for the next six months each declined three points, to 37 and 50, respectively. Meanwhile, the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers declined a single point, to 28.

More information regarding housing statistics is also available at www.housingeconomics.com