USA Property Market --- Your Area ??

[pc100porsche]

I'm looking at getting back into the market for real estate.
Whats happening RE sales in your area ??

[Paul_Heery]

Very local market stats (single town) - year to year for the 4th quarter.

4th Quarter 2011
Single Family Homes Sold: 30
Days on the Market: 189
Avg. Sale Price: $673,192

4th Quarter 2012
Single Family Homes Sold: 57
Days on the Market: 176
Avg. Sale Price: $839,242

[Rick V]

Nothing in writing but homes in my area are sitting. There isn't much moving

[herr_oberst]

I've heard stories of bidding wars again in NE Portland.

GF sold her house in a less than a week, for MUCH more than I thought it would have.

[avi8torny]

Low inventories of single family homes in Saratoga County NY, speculation is driving developers to build many 400-600 unit retail/residential apartment complexes in areas surrounding the Global Foundries plant.

[silverc4s]

Very healthy market here. New housing starts are up, and existing home pricing is up 5 to 10 pct from 2011

[jyl]

Portland OR market is on fire in the middle range ($250-350K). Bidding wars. Inventory is very low (3-4 months). Not sure how the lower or higher ranges look, I imagine they are getting stronger too.

here's email I got from a friend who is looking for a house on the eastside

"The local real estate market in PDX has exploded in January; most strongly in $275-375k price points but broadly as well.
The inflection was sharp with several agents saying it came out of the blue in January after pretty dull Nov/Dec. Has been strong since.
Houses are getting multiple bids – several referenced with up to 14 offers – agent had to make a matrix to track the offers with 5 very strong, and 4 serious.
Some clients are starting to shift to automatic accelerator bids (offer x% over best offer).
There is a pearl penthouse in a mediocre building that has 6 cash offers.
There is a 1,265 sq ft house in excellent condition but tough neightborhood (6134 ne 25th ave asking $290k that has 8 offers – on the market a couple days)."

Zillow's estimated value shows my house bottomed in spring 2011 and has risen steadily but not rapidly since then. It is still below its 2006 value but not far from it.

[biosurfer1]

Sacramento area is on fire too...very low inventory. Multiple offers over listing price. My realtor listed a house last week and had it in escrow in 3 days at $13,000 over list and I thought list price was WAY high...guess I was wrong.

[HardDrive]

Bidding wars here too. Houses in need of renovation are sitting longer, but finished property is hot.

[mikeferg75]

Same here for under 500k, in the Boulder area. Our house is on the market, we've turned down two offers already, and bidding wars and less that 24hrs on the market for two of the homes we were interested in. Stressful.

[asphaltgambler]

That's a good question..........................I'm living in the Northern Va (considered outskirts DC metro) area and is usually hot even when other markets aren't doing well. Depends on who you talk to. Zillow, MO is a good starting point for research and based on what they are showing the market for the average SFH is either declining slightly, staying level, some increasing but only just barely.

I still see new foreclosures and short sales hitting the market at all price points / neighborhoods. Also, I know personally some landlords - commercial and res looking to get out and sell this spring.

For the bigger question that needs to be asked is where is the cost of borrowing going? For now the FEDS are keeping their finger on maintaining artificially low prime interest rates. They cannot keep doing this forever and that rate cannot go any lower. It's a 'bomb' waiting to go...........................up.

Guess what happens when the cost of borrowing money starts to increase?? i have money to buy now - but choose not to. We are renting a small place that for now suits us and if we owned it out monthly costs would significantly increase W/O the matching increase in value over the next 10 years.

I'll check back in by @2016...................................in the mean time we will save and build on our cash, with investments we control.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Inventory of available housing is down, especially in 10+ acre properties. We'll be selling +/- 57 acres and a house soon. Prices are rising slightly, moreso in the "large" city.

[red-beard]

Hard to judge as we live in a hot neighborhood. Single floor houses (2500-2700 sq ft) sell the day they go on the market. Most homes under $500K go in less than 2 weeks. The "estate" houses (6500+ sq ft) seem to linger for months.

My house is up 64% since 2004, or about 5.6% per year.

[look 171]

for the most part of socal except for palmdale or the inland empire and such, it is on fire. a property do not stick around long if its fixed up or remodeled. No inventory, biding war is very common and low interest is helping. People want to get in on the act before it all goes away.

[jyl]

The following is what I think, but haven't verified.

House for sale supply is tight, which is driving the market. There are still 10MM existing houses tied up in shadow inventory or with underwater mortgages or in rental fleets, these are not available to be sold. As for new houses, homebuilders stopped buying and developing raw land for 4 years, now they have to rebuild their land inventory before they can increase the supply of new houses very much.

Demand is pretty mixed, as many negative as positive factors, but with supply as tight as it is, the market is still being pressured higher. The speed of price increase is being restrained by underwriting and appraisal standards, but the direction is up.

Does that price increase continue, accelerate, slow or reverse? You'd have to look at the components of supply, and of demand, to forecast it. I think it continues rising but don't have a view on whether it accelerates or slows.

Of course, real estate is local and seasonal, the national trend might not reflect your particular market in a particular season.

[RWebb]

I live in a stable, and very popular neighborhood; prices are going up a bit.

One nice thing about the bust is that even here I was able to get the basis (Real Market Value) of my house reduced by 15% -- a big help on the high property taxes in Orygun.

[dan88911]

Housing is fairly up in my area.
Some counties and specific communities a bit more than others, SF bay area thanks to silly con valley.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I live in a stable,

What? I've seen pictures of your house... it's not that bad. Not a palace, but certainly not a stable...

[Noah930]

On paper my house has gone up in value by nearly 20% in the last year.

I didn't refinance a year ago because the LTV had dropped below that 80:20 ratio lenders like to see. This year I comfortably made it.

[daepp]

They're camping out again for new homes in OC.