Pending home sales up 5th straight month

Denver Post – August 8, 2009

WASHINGTON — Boosted by low interest rates and bargain home prices, pending sales of existing homes rose in June for the fifth straight month, the longest streak of gains since 2003, a real estate trade group reported Tuesday.

The pending home sales index rose 3.6 percent in June after an upwardly revised gain of 0.8 percent in May, the National Association of Realtors said. The overall index is 6.7 percent above June 2008′s level.

“Historically low mortgage interest rates, affordable home prices and large selection are encouraging buyers who’ve been on the sidelines,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a statement. “Activity has been consistently much stronger for lower-priced homes.”

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Another sign of a housing thaw

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer – August 4, 2009

June pending homes sales increased for the fifth straight month, adding to the list of positive reports recently released.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — More Americans signed sales contracts to buy homes in June than in May, the fifth consecutive month of increases, according to a report released Tuesday.

The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index rose 3.6% during the month. That was 6.7% higher than June 2008. It was the fifth straight month of increases, the first time that has happened since July 2003..

The report followed several other recent pieces of good news for the housing industry, including a substantial rise in new home sales, a jump in existing home sales and the first home price increase in nearly three years.

The jump was also much higher than expected. A consensus of industry experts put together by Briefing.com had forecast an increase of just 0.7%

“Historically low mortgage interest rates, affordable home prices and large selection are encouraging buyers who’ve been on the sidelines,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

“It’s not unlike the Cash for Clunkers program,” added David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders. “It’s pushing people off the fence.”

Low-end sales have been the strongest segment of the market, an indication that the first-time homebuyers tax credit, worth up to $8,000, is contributing to the rise. The clock, however, is quickly running out on this offer and may have buyers stepping up their shopping to get their purchases in under the wire.

“Because it may take as long as two months to close on a home after signing a contract,” Yun said, “first-time buyers must act fairly soon to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit because they must close on the sale by Nov. 30.”

Crowe also acknowledged that the tax credit could be pushing home sales forward, leading to a later downturn. But he does not forecast a significant drop in housing activity, just a “stickiness” in buyers who won’t feel as much urgency to “get off the fence” as they do with the credit in effect.

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Colorado cities rank as best places for young professionals

Colorado cities rank high in “Next Cities” rankings – the best places to live and work for young professionals – in three population categories. The study, conducted by Next Generation Consulting (NGC), tabulated the rankings after collecting and analyzing 45 measures for all U.S. cities with over 100,000 people.

NGC has studied the residential and relocation patterns of 20-40 years olds since 1998, and has developed a one-of-a-kind indexing system that evaluates a city based on the assets that are important to next gen workers. According to NGC, the seven indexes of a “Next City” are:  Earning, Learning, Vitality, Around Town, After Hours, Cost of Lifestyle, and Social Capital. The rankings announced today are based on a city’s total score in all seven indexes.

“Simply being the cheapest place to live, or the city with the most jobs is not a long-term workforce strategy,” says NGCs founder, Rebecca Ryan. Although jobs are important, Ryan says, “The next generation is very savvy about choosing where they’ll live. They look carefully at quality of life factors like how much time they’re going to spend in traffic commuting, if they can live near a park or hike-and-bike trail, and whether a city’s downtown stays awake after five.” The Next Cities list ranks cities that are – or have the capacity to be – great places to live and work for the next generation, because they have the best overall score in the seven indexes the next gen values.

Noted economist Richard Florida underscores the large economic dividend paid to cities and regions that are talent magnets, noting in the April 2009 issue of The Atlantic that “The world’s 40 largest mega-regions, which are home to some 18% of the world’s population, produce two-thirds of global economic output and nearly nine in ten new patented innovations.”

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Metrolist: Denver’s resale housing market showing hopeful signs

Denver Business Journal – July 7, 2009

Metro Denver’s resale housing market appeared to start returning to normalcy in June, according to sales data Tuesday from Metrolist Inc.

Single-family home sales in June, for example, were equally split between the lower price ranges that appeal to first-time homebuyers and pricier houses that attract homebuyers moving up to larger and/or more expensive homes.

“Earlier this year, the majority of resale home activity was first-time homebuyers, distressed properties and investor activity,” independent Littleton broker Gary Bauer said in a statement. “June appears to be the transition to a normal Denver market — a market with both first-time homebuyer activity as well as ‘move-up’ activity.”

Resale homes are those that have sold at least once before.

Combined sales of single-family houses and condominiums increased 15.4 percent to 4,186 in June from 3,628 in May. Late spring and summer traditionally are this country’s prime home-selling season, because families buying and selling homes try to complete deals and move when children are out of school.

But June home sales this year were down 13.6 percent from 4,845 for the same month of 2008.

In June, 3,328 single-family homes were sold, up from 2,857 sales in May, but down from 3,847 for the year-prior June.

Last month, condo sales rose to 858 from 771 in April, but were down from 998 year over year.

Average sold price for both types of home rose 6.34 percent to $258,434 in June from $243,022 in May. That price was down 3.21 percent from June 2008′s average selling price of $267,005.

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Forbes: Denver is America’s best city to buy a home

Denver Business Journal – June 24, 2009

Denver is America’s best city to buy a home, Forbes magazine says in a new ranking of U.S. metro areas.

“While the majority of the nation’s housing markets are still working toward a bottom, some cities are boasting fundamentals that make them good places to buy a home now,” Forbes reported this week.

Phoenix was ranked No. 2 on the Forbes list, followed by Boston, San Diego and Los Angeles.

The Forbes rankings seem geared more toward each market’s current and future potential as a place to buy a home, since some of the cities at or near the top of the list are among those hardest hit by the recession.

The report ranked the 25 largest U.S. metro areas on the basis of change in price per square foot, frequency of real-estate transactions, and how evenly distributed home-sales activity is in a metro area.

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Click here for the full Forbes report.