Monthly Archives: October 2012

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 29, 2012

October 29, 2012

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 29, 2012 – The rest of the economy may be barely moving forward, but there’s clearly some action in the housing market. New single-family home sales were up 5.7% for September and up 27.1% over a year ago. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 389,000 units is the strongest sales pace since April 2010. The median sales price was $242,400, up almost 12% versus a year ago. 145,000 new homes were on the market, a 4.5 months’ supply at the current sales rate, down from a record 12.1 months in January 2009. Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 22, 2012

October 26, 2012

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 22, 2012 – If Apollinaire were alive today (he died in 1918), he might suggest we pause now and be happy, given that September Housing Starts were up 15% (11% for single-family starts) to an 872,000 annual rate. From a year ago, starts are up 34.8%, as builders are starting homes at the fastest pace since July 2008. Building permits for future construction were up 11.6% in September to an 894,000 annual rate. The total number of homes under construction is up 21% over a year ago, gaining 13 months in a row, which hasn’t happened since the building boom of 2003–2004. Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 15, 2012

October 15, 2012

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 15, 2012 – Opportunity is finally popping up all over the U.S. housing market. Confirmation of that fact came last week in the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, which contains anecdotal findings on the state of the economy in the Fed’s 12 districts across the country. The Beige Book noted that even though economic activity has only modestly improved in recent months, the housing market has shown “widespread improvement.” Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 8, 2012

October 8, 2012

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 8, 2012 – Many observers feel we should be totally prepared for the housing recovery to continue. A major real estate portal reports list prices UP 2.5% in September versus a year ago, the biggest year-over-year boost since the housing recession started. Excluding foreclosures, list prices were UP 3.5% from a year ago. From July to August, those prices were UP 0.5%, their eighth straight month of gains. These numbers are causing experts to predict that 2012 will likely record the first calendar year list price increase since 2006, as gains were seen in 74 of the top 100 U.S. metros. Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 1, 2012

October 1, 2012

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of October 1, 2012 – You could say New Home Sales fell on its face in August, as it was down 0.3% to a 373,000 annual rate. But confirming the sentiment of the above quote, New Home Sales are in fact moving forward–UP a nice 27.7% from a year ago and remaining near a two-year high, with every region up in the last year. Even better, the months’ supply of new homes is at 4.5 and the median price of new homes sold hit $256,900, UP 11.2% for August, the largest monthly increase since 1963! Continue reading →