February 9th, 2010, 6:00 pm by Jeff Collins
Real estate news and views from around the globe that make you go, “Really?”
- LOOKING UP: Aside from banks, no industry was humbled by the recession as much as homebuilders. Now, a number are reporting their first profits in years. (WSJ) MORE HERE!
- LOSSES DOWN: Without a generous federal tax credit, most builders would still have been producing a loss. But by and large, the amount of loss and the amount of asset write-downs appeared to have come to an end. (Seeking Alpha) MORE HERE!
- LESS RED INK: Pulte Homes Inc., the largest U.S. homebuilder, reported its 13th straight quarterly loss. But its net loss in the fourth quarter narrowed to $116.9 million, compared to $338.2 million a year earlier. (Bloomberg) MORE HERE!
- FIGHTING BACK: Competition from cheap foreclosures have cut homebuilders’ share of the U.S. housing market in half. But now they’re fighting back, cutting prices, promising to complete homes faster, and warning about the risks of buying foreclosed property. (WSJ) MORE HERE!
- LUMBER FUTURES: U.S. lumber production fell 23% last year, but lumber futures hit 29-month highs last week as buyers anticipate a strong spring building season. (Seeking Alpha) MORE HERE!
- GAME FACE: What better sign of prosperity than being able to afford a spot during the Super Bowl. Fulton Homes, Arizona’s largest privately owned homebuilder, aired one 30-second spot during the big game and has a second spot slated for broadcast during the 82nd Academy Awards on March 7. (East Valley Living) MORE HERE!
Posted in: Brokers, builders, etc. • Odds & ends • industry • Really | Post a Comment »
February 9th, 2010, 12:00 pm by Jeff Collins
DataQuick reported recently that 2,448 Orange County homes sold last year at prices of $1 million or more.
That’s down 14.5% from 2008, when 2,862 O.C. homes sold for at least seven figures.
Those figures compare to more than 5,200 million-plus home sales in O.C. in 2007, and more than 7,300 in 2005.
DataQuick attributed the decrease in million-plus sales to “buyer reticence, a difficult mortgage market and several years of price drops that tugged the value of many homes below the million-dollar threshold.”
| Area |
2008 |
2009 |
change |
| LOS ANGELES |
6,046 |
5,239 |
-13.3% |
| ORANGE |
2,862 |
2,448 |
-14.5% |
| SAN DIEGO |
2,216 |
1,578 |
-28.8% |
| RIVERSIDE |
665 |
342 |
-48.6% |
| SAN BERDOO |
188 |
123 |
-34.6% |
| VENTURA |
595 |
405 |
-31.9% |
| IMPERIAL |
1 |
1 |
0.0% |
| SOCAL |
12,573 |
10,136 |
-19.4% |
| CALIF. |
24,436 |
18,621 |
-23.8% |
Among the highlights from DataQuick’s report:
- DataQuick shows an even greater percentage decline than reflected in an earlier report based on figures from the Multiple Listing Service, which showed that million-plus sales had decreased 11%. Unlike the MLS, DataQuick figures reflect all home sales, including newly built homes and those sold outside the MLS.
- While 2009 million-plus home sales fell 14.5%, overall sales in the county jumped 17.1%.
- One out of every 13 homes sold last year went for $1 million or more, compared to one in nine in 2008, one in 5 in 2007 and one in 7 in 2005.
- Statewide, million-plus home sales fell 23.8% in 2009 to one out of 25 homes sold. In Southern California, million-plus sales fell 19.4%
- The biggest drop in the region was in Riverside County, where million-plus sales dropped 48.6%, followed by San Benardino County with a 34.6% drop.
- In Los Angeles County, homes priced at $1 million or more dropped 13.3%, the smallest decline in the region.
About 1,900 of the homes that sold statewide last year for less than $1 million had previously sold for $1 million or more, DataQuick said. The median price for those homes declined by about $420,000, or 35%.
More real estate trends …
Posted in: Selling patterns | 7 Comments »
February 9th, 2010, 9:27 am by KELLI HART, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The folks at Realtor.com compiled a list of the top 10 most popular homes for sale in Orange County from their Web site (reflecting last week).
| City |
Address |
Price |
| Yorba Linda |
19641 Ridgewood |
$587,000 |
| Huntington Beach |
19852 Estuary |
$549,000 |
| Irvine |
60 Cape Cod |
$700,000 |
| Irvine |
6 Indiana |
$655,000 |
| San Clemente |
10 Via Tesoro |
$699,900 |
| Irvine |
37 Boulder Creek Way |
$680,000 |
| Rancho Santa Margarita |
3 Via Silla |
$545,000 |
| Brea |
655 Candlewood Street |
$525,000 |
| Irvine |
28 Teak Bridge |
$719,000 |
| Newport Beach |
2319 Tustin Avenue |
$749,000 |
- These are the listings that online home shoppers check out the most in O.C.
- The homes are tracked within 20% of the median list price for the county, which is $649,999.
- This week, Yorba Linda takes the cake with the most popular home. See photos above. (Click for larger images.)
- Irvine digs frequent the top 10 the most.
- The last time we tracked the county’s hottest homes, an Irvine home graced the top of the list.
- CLICK on address links for photos and additional information.
Real estate outlooks:
Posted in: Selling patterns | 6 Comments »
February 9th, 2010, 12:01 am by Jon Lansner
The good people at United Van Lines were kind enough to run a count of their moves to and from Orange County in 2009 — and the results had a cowboy attitude and a BBQ taste!
| Town |
Price |
Index |
Income |
Rank |
| Sherman |
$90,000 |
93% |
$57,900 |
11 |
| San Angelo |
$114,000 |
86% |
$52,400 |
37 |
| Wichita Falls |
$105,000 |
83% |
$52,800 |
59 |
| Fort Worth |
$133,000 |
82% |
$65,900 |
65 |
| Amarillo |
$116,000 |
82% |
$55,300 |
66 |
| Victoria |
$126,000 |
81% |
$53,700 |
72 |
| Beaumont |
$115,000 |
79% |
$54,300 |
86 |
| Killeen |
$132,000 |
79% |
$54,000 |
92 |
| Tyler |
$139,000 |
77% |
$55,300 |
107 |
| Waco |
$119,000 |
76% |
$51,700 |
111 |
| Odessa |
$118,000 |
76% |
$49,000 |
115 |
| Abilene |
$115,000 |
75% |
$50,500 |
119 |
| Austin |
$183,000 |
74% |
$73,300 |
126 |
| College Station |
$152,000 |
73% |
$56,100 |
133 |
| Houston |
$152,000 |
70% |
$63,800 |
154 |
| Dallas |
$167,000 |
69% |
$68,700 |
156 |
| San Antonio |
$151,000 |
69% |
$57,200 |
160 |
| Midland |
$160,000 |
67% |
$60,200 |
170 |
| Corpus Christi |
$135,000 |
67% |
$50,200 |
172 |
| McAllen |
$101,000 |
52% |
$32,000 |
206 |
| Laredo |
$123,000 |
51% |
$37,300 |
208 |
| Brownsville |
$111,000 |
49% |
$32,900 |
214 |
| El Paso |
$132,000 |
47% |
$39,700 |
216 |
| OC |
$411,000 |
38% |
$86,100 |
222 |
Where did our Orange County neighbors and coworkers go?
- Texas, 131 United moves out of 1,153 in 2009.
- Washington, 81
- Florida, 77
- Elsewhere in California, 70
- Illinois, 50
- New York, 47
Where are our new neighbors from?
- Texas, 92 out of 1,102
- Florida, 77
- Illinois, 68
- Elsewhere in California, 67
- Washington, 64
- New Jersey, 64
Clearly, Texas is the moving van’s most popular stop when the business involves Orange County. And one thing we know Texas offers is housing affordability.
The chart at right shows the Texas results from the third-quarter study by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Bank of what they call “housing opportunity” — comparing median selling price; the “opportunity index” showing what share of homes bought in a quarter would be “affordable” to the typical local household; regional median household income; and national rank by “opportunity index” out of 232 towns followed. This chart is ranked by affordability index — and you can see where Orange County falls! (Psst! Scroll down!)
Now, Texas isn’t for everybody, but it certainly works for some ex-Orange Countians. Your thoughts?
Would you relocate to Texas?
Demographic trends:
Posted in: Demographics • Polls • United Van Lines | 99 Comments »
February 8th, 2010, 5:50 pm by Jon Lansner
Real estate news and views from around the globe that make you go, “Really?”
Posted in: Real estate taxes • Really | 3 Comments »
February 8th, 2010, 2:15 pm by Jon Lansner
Posted in: Polls • bottom | 48 Comments »
February 8th, 2010, 12:00 pm by Jon Lansner
The U.S. construction industry’s unemployment rate hit 24.7% in January as another 75,000 American construction workers lost their jobs.
The Associated General Contractors of America noted that excluding construction job losses, American employment rose in January for the second time in three months. Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist: “Unlike the rest of the economy, the construction industry continues to shed jobs at virtually the same rate in January as it has for the past twelve months. The stimulus appears to be the only bright spot for an industry suffering from depression-era unemployment levels.”
Also, Simonson adds:
- Heavy and civil engineering construction employment, which includes highway construction, was unchanged for the month of January. He suggested that stimulus-funded construction activity was helping keep employment stable in that one industry category.
- 926,000 construction workers their jobs since January 2009, a 14.1% drop.
- Construction accounted for 23% all job losses in the past 12 months even though the industry employs only 4.3% of all nonfarm payroll employees (5.6 million out of 129.5 million).
Orange County doesn’t get the exact same stats. But according to the state Employment Development Dept.’s latest math — December 2009’s report — there were 75,100 people employed in the local construction trades. That’s just 300 more than the end of the 1990s — and 35,300 Orange County construction-crew positions (32%) below the past boom’s construction crew peak workforce.
Real estate trends:
Posted in: Real estate jobs • American General Contractors • construction • industry | 11 Comments »
