Marion Skubi & Johnnie Gillespie Sotheby's | Las Campanas, Tesuque, Historic Eastside http://marionskubi.com Marion Skubi Santa Fe Real Estate Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:03:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Fed to Keep Rates Low for Next Three Years http://marionskubi.com/2012/02/fed-to-keep-rates-low-for-next-three-years/ http://marionskubi.com/2012/02/fed-to-keep-rates-low-for-next-three-years/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:02:40 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1405 From RealTrends.com: The Federal Reserve announced that it intends to keep rates at their record lows at least through the end of 2014 and that their targeted inflation rate is to be 2%.  The Fed announced its intention to be more transparent in communicating the direction of its rate guidance and the factors that it uses to measure the economy’s performance.

The news that rates will stay low will help most every facet of the economy including housing.  News out yesterday that first time claims for unemployment rose unexpectedly in the past week adds fuel to those who believe that the economy is a long way from being cured.

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2012/02/fed-to-keep-rates-low-for-next-three-years/feed/ 0 Reports Say That Housing Will “Turn Corner” in 2012 http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/reports-say-that-housing-will-turn-corner-in-2012/ http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/reports-say-that-housing-will-turn-corner-in-2012/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:05:34 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1400 RealTrends.com: Many housing market forecasters have said that 2012 will be the year that housing turns the corner.  For those who closely follow housing there is abundant evidence that housing has already turned the corner.  Unit sales were up in December for the sixth consecutive month, without any new Federal government assistance (other than record low rates) and according to NAR pending home sales were up 11 months in a row, even though December’s numbers appear to have drifted down somewhat.Prices are still soft in the great majority of markets.  However, when one looks at the data more closely there are several regions of the country where segments of the market are seeing price increases.  There are segments of markets where inventory is at record lows and where historical precedent indicates prices will begin to rise shortly due to the shortage of inventory.  

Each of these factors should bolster housing in 2012.   One other factor not accounted for will be the interest of institutional funds in single family “buy-rent-hold” investment pools.  Further positive news could come from the GSE attempts to structure bulk sales to investors of their foreclosed inventories.

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/reports-say-that-housing-will-turn-corner-in-2012/feed/ 0 Refinance Applications Surge 26.4% as Rates Set New Lows http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/refinance-applications-surge-26-4-as-rates-set-new-lows/ http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/refinance-applications-surge-26-4-as-rates-set-new-lows/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:23:31 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1397 From RealTrends.com:  Mortgage applications jumped 23.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended January 13, 2012.  The increase in the Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume maintained by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reflected improvements in both the purchase and refinance business following the traditionally slow Christmas and New Year holiday period.  On an unadjusted basis the index increased 38.1 percent.The Refinance Index increased 26.4 percent from the week ended January 6 to its highest point since August 8, 2011.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index rose 10.3 percent, returning to pre-holiday levels.  The unadjusted Purchase Index was up 28.4 percent from the previous week and was 2.2 percent higher than during the same week in 2011.

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/refinance-applications-surge-26-4-as-rates-set-new-lows/feed/ 0 Congress Seeks to Loosen Standards on Mortgage Lending http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/congress-seeks-to-loosen-standards-on-mortgage-lending/ http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/congress-seeks-to-loosen-standards-on-mortgage-lending/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:25:01 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1387 By Steve Murray, REAL Trends.com: Last week several dozen Democratic members of the House of Representatives signed and sent a letter to Messrs. Geithner and Bernanke asking them to appoint someone new to run FHFA, the Federal entity that oversees Fannie and Freddie.  They did so because Edward DeMarco, who now runs it, is focusing on his mandate which is to protect the American taxpayer from further losses at the GSE’s.  He sees his mandate as doing just that and not on loosening standards to stimulate the housing market.Now Congress has the right to change the mandate should they desire to do so.  But that would take discussion and a vote of some kind.  Or perhaps the President could just change the regulations.  But as we commented last week there is a movement afoot to force FHFA along with the GSE’s to loosen standards to stimulate housing sales.  You know, the kind of lending that got us here in the first place.

Should we want to use the GSE’s to stimulate housing sales (and therefore it is thought the economy) then let’s have Congress and the President work together and announce that this is what they want – and stop this behind the scenes politicking (back stabbing) that is going on now.  Remember that it was several member of Congress that protected the GSE’s from 1995-2007 that drove us to where we are today.  And the main participants in those past efforts are nowhere to be found today.

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/congress-seeks-to-loosen-standards-on-mortgage-lending/feed/ 0 Housing Report http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/housing-report/ http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/housing-report/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:49:43 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1384 From RealTrends.com: The December 2011 report shows that rate of housing sales increased substantially on an annualized basis from November 2011 and above a year ago.  Overall, December 2011 unit sales were up 3.7% from a year ago.The average price of homes sold declined 7.9% from December 2010 to December 2011.

The annualized rate of the combination of new and existing home sales increased to 5.483 million in December 2011 from 5.285 million in December 2010 and was up from the November 2011 rate of 4.999 million. (The new NAR Existing Home Sales data has been incorporated into the calculations for December and may account for the large jump over November 2011). Average prices of homes sold in December 2011 decreased 7.9 percent from December 2010.

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/housing-report/feed/ 0 December 2011 http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/december-2011/ http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/december-2011/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:26:06 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1371
December 2011
 Sales YTD Avg List Price Avg Sale Price 2010 Sales Value of the Month
Las Campanas 50 1,043,737 926,081 27
Northwest County 101 699,851 663,779 103
Northeast City 150 779,247 713,809 149
Tesuque 26 1,196,531 1,023,328 16
Santa Fe City 811 450,430 421,283 803
Santa Fe County (includes city) 1366 479,128 445,588 1336

Go In-Depth Market Report for Las Campanas

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2012/01/december-2011/feed/ 0 Holiday Season Marked by Record Low Interest Rates http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/holiday-season-marked-by-record-low-interest-rates/ http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/holiday-season-marked-by-record-low-interest-rates/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:54:33 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1368 From RealTrends.com: Mortgage rates remain near all-time lows with the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage setting a new record with an interest rate of 3.91%, Freddie Mac said recently. That’s down from 3.94% a week ago.

Meanwhile, the 15-year, FRM remained at 3.21%, and the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.85% this week, down from 2.86% last week.

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/holiday-season-marked-by-record-low-interest-rates/feed/ 0 Trends Headed in Right Direction http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/trends-headed-in-right-direction/ http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/trends-headed-in-right-direction/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:16:08 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1363 From RealTrends.com: Last week the U.S. reported that unemployment dropped to 8.6% a point not seen for the last two years and a rate not expected until later in 2012.  That is good news.  The not so good news is that only 120,000 net overall jobs were created far lower than the +200,000 needed monthly to offset gains in population.  Further it was reported that most of the decline was people dropping out of the search for a job.But this is the way they have chosen to measure unemployment for some time now so any decline is important, not the number itself but the fact that it dropped.  While the losses of jobs and income are real factors in when housing recovers, just as important is consumer confidence. And it is starting to head in the right direction as well, not only in the Consumer Confidence surveys but in the fact of a strong start to the Christmas shopping season and the strong rebound in auto sales, particularly SUV sales.

As we have pointed out, unit sales of the combination of new and existing housing have increased in high single to low double digit rates for the last four months (REAL Trends Housing Market Report, 2011).  Yes prices continue to decline.  Yes interest rates remain at record lows.  But an increase in jobs of any kind and an increase in consumer confidence will do more for housing than any other factor.

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/trends-headed-in-right-direction/feed/ 0 November 2011 http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/november-2011/ http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/november-2011/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:43:52 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1359
November 2011
 Sales YTD Avg List Price Avg Sale Price 2010 Sales Value of the Month
Las Campanas 47 1,045,845 928,131 25
Northwest County 92 711,196 673,699 87
Northeast City 138 780,276 712,333 138
Tesuque 24 1,248,513 1,053,588 14
Santa Fe City 743 450,301 420,799 737
Santa Fe County (includes city) 1253 482,202 447,861 1217

Go In-Depth Market Report for Las Campanas

]]> http://marionskubi.com/2011/12/november-2011/feed/ 0 Existing Home Sales Rise, Contracting Issues Prevent Full Rebound http://marionskubi.com/2011/11/existing-home-sales-rise-contracting-issues-prevent-full-rebound/ http://marionskubi.com/2011/11/existing-home-sales-rise-contracting-issues-prevent-full-rebound/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:36:28 +0000 Marion Skubi http://marionskubi.com/?p=1356  

From RealTrends.com: Existing home sales increased 13.5% in October when compared to a year earlier and would be even higher if contract failures and cancellations plaguing the loan application process could subside, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

Total existing home sales — including single-family townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million units in October, compared to 4.9 million in September and 4.38 million a year earlier.“Home sales have been stuck in a narrow range despite several improving factors that generally lead to higher home sales such as job creation, rising rents and high affordability conditions,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Many people who are attempting to buy homes are thwarted in the process.”

Yun said the rebound in home sales would be more pronounced if it were not for the number of contract failures reported in October. Overall, mortgage application failures driven by appraisal value issues, home inspection problems and employment losses pushed the contract failure rate to 33%, compared to 18% in September and 8% a year earlier.

“Other recent factors include disruption in the National Flood Insurance Program, and lower loan limits for conventional mortgages, which paradoxically force some of the most creditworthy consumers to pay unnecessarily higher interest rates,” Yun said.

The good news, according to NAR, is the fact that the supply of homes is gradually subsiding. In October, the total existing inventory fell 2.2% to 3.33 million housing units, or an eight-month supply.  That is down slightly from an 8.3-month supply in September.

The national median existing home sales price hit $162,500 in October, down 4.7% from a year earlier.

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