Crystal Coast Real Estate Market Report (Rex: days on market, sales, insurance)

[Bill Hitchcock]

(Derived & condensed from my companies weekly report)

HEADLINES

-Why Real Estate Markets Will Improve in 2007

-Home Loan Applications Increase 11.4%

-Rates rise for the first time since October

-New tax deduction created for mortgage insurance


% change Nov. 15 thru Dec. 15 2006 compared to 2005
Crystal Coast MLS System


# Sold
Residential: -40%
Land: 0%

Price
Residential: -9%
Land: +73%

# Active
Residential: +65%
Land: +88%

Days On Market
Residential: +29%
Land: +167

Why Real Estate Markets Will Improve in 2007-- BusinessWeek Online, Maya Roney (12/12/2006)

There are reasons to be optimistic about real estate next year, a BusinessWeek Online analyst says.
New and existing home sales might slide further in 2007, but there won’t be a sharp decline like there was in the early ‘80s and ‘90s. Why? Because the overall economy is in good shape.
Some markets will become much more affordable, making a home purchase possible for people who never could have afforded one previously.
Speculators who drove up housing prices will move on to speculate on something else.
Fewer new homes will be built, and surplus inventory will be absorbed, so prices will stabilize.
Mortgage rates will remain at relatively low prices and could go even lower if the Federal Funds Rate falls, which it might.



Rate Decline Fuels Surge in Mortgage Applications
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Rex Nutting (12/14/06)

The volume of applications for home loans rose 11.4 percent last week, the highest level since October 2005, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Lower mortgage rates are the main reason for the surge in financing demand, says Mike Fratantoni, MBA senior economist, who noted that average rates have dipped about 0.8 percentage points since the early summer.
Refinancing also continued to maintain its healthy pace, with requests for refinancings last week increasing 15.8 percent to the highest level since September 2005.
Refinancings represented 52.6 percent of total application activity, which was the largest share since April 2004.

[moderator cut]


Rates rise for the first time since October

By Holden Lewis • Bankrate.com

Even good things come to an end. Things like mortgage rates that fall week after week. Alas, it has come to pass that rates have risen for the first time since parents were writing "carve a jack-o'-lantern" on their to-do lists.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 5 basis points to 6.13 percent this week, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.24 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 6.34 percent; four weeks ago, it was 6.24 percent.

It was the first increase since Bankrate's Oct. 25 survey. In the meantime, rates fell six weeks in a row, from 6.46 percent in the Oct. 25 survey to 6.08 percent in Bankrate's Dec. 6 survey.


New tax deduction created for mortgage insurance

By Holden Lewis • Bankrate.com

Mortgage insurance will be tax-deductible in 2007. For some homeowners, the new law means it will cheaper to get mortgage insurance instead of getting piggyback loans.

The 109th Congress passed the tax law in its final hours. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners will save a total of $91 million when they file their tax returns in 2008, according to estimates prepared by the mortgage insurance industry.

"This is really going to help close to a million Americans who will buy a home next year using mortgage insurance," says Kevin Schneider, president of U.S. mortgage insurance business for Genworth Financial.