Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of April 29, 2013 – Even though the housing recovery is well underway, there still is evidence that more hard work needs to be done. Last week began with March Existing Home Sales off 0.6%, dropping to an annual rate of 4.92 million units. In addition, the months’ supply of existing homes edged up to 4.7 from 4.6 in February. But even though existing home sales seem to have leveled off in the last few months, they’re actually UP 10.3% versus a year ago. It’s also encouraging to note that the median existing home price, at $184,300, is up 11.8% over last year. Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of April 22, 2013 – Last week Housing Starts were reported UP 7.0% for March to a 1.036 million unit annual rate, 46.7% higher than a year ago and the highest they’ve been since 2008. But wait. The boost was all due to multi-family units, up 31.1% for the month. Single-family starts were down 4.8%, although they actually are UP a very healthy 28.7% from a year ago. Analysts tell us the multi-family sector is super volatile from month to month, but they expect large gains for home building overall for at least two years. Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of April 15, 2013 – Last week gave us more evidence that this housing recovery, though growing slowly, will in fact endure. According to a major online real estate portal, listing inventory rose 3.5% from January to March. This beat the gains going into the 2012 Spring selling season, although inventories are still 15% off last year’s levels, with only nine of 146 metros showing annual increases. Not surprisingly, the median age of inventory in March dipped to 78 days, down 12.3% from last year, and median asking prices were up 0.5% from February, gaining in 29 of the top 30 metro areas. Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of April 8, 2013 – Patience may not quite be genius in the housing market, but it certainly is paying off. A report by a major real estate search and marketing site said home asking prices in March rose 7.2% annually, while rents on single-family homes were up just 0.1% for the year. Their chief economist explained: “Rising prices and flattening rents change the math. Investors will decide to sell units they’ve been renting, which would create new, desperately needed for-sale inventory. On the other hand, some renters watching prices rise will rush to buy before they rise further.” Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of April 1, 2013 – Today being April 1, it’s timely to note that fewer and fewer people are being fooled into thinking housing remains in the doldrums. Yes, the housing recovery has a distance to go, but there’s mounting evidence it’s well on its way. New Home Sales were up 12.3% in February compared to a year ago. After a super big hike in January, new home sales fell slightly in February, but they’re still at a 411,000 annual rate. Plus, the median price of new homes sold was up 2.9% versus a year ago, with the average price up an impressive 14.5%! Continue reading →