Lake Tahoe
Real Estate News - June 16, 2004 |
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| BUILDER CONFIDENCE REGISTERS TWO-POINT DECLINE Builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes in June declined two points to 67 compared to May but was up five points compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Housing Market Index (HMI) released this week by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Homebuilders are asked to rate current sales of single-family homes as "good," "fair," or "poor," where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. The HMI component index gauging current sales of new single-family homes declined one point in June to 73 compared to the previous month, the index gauging sales expectations in the next six months fell two points to 73, and the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers fell three points in June compared to May. MAY HOUSING STARTS POST SLIGHT DECLINE Housing starts hit a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.97 million units in May, down less than 1 percent from April's revised 1.98 million-unit pace, according to a U.S. Dept. of Commerce report released today. Single-family housing starts rose 1.4 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.64 million units, and multifamily starts fell nearly 10 percent to a 327,000-unit pace. Building permits, which can be an indicator of future starts activity, were up 3.5 percent to a 30-year high of 2.08 million units in May, with single-family permits rising 3 percent to their highest rate on record -- 1.59 million units. Permit issuance for multifamily units was up for the third consecutive month in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 487,000 units. "Given the solid fundamentals of this marketplace, including relatively thin inventories of unsold units, great house-price performance (for both single-family homes and condos) and excellent demographic projections, we are currently forecasting 1.9 million starts for all of 2004, up about 5 percent from last year," said David Seiders, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders. MORTGAGE LOAN APPS INCREASE 5.6 PERCENT The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications, a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings, increased by 5.6 percent to 600.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending June 11 from 568.8 one week earlier, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released today. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased by 16.3 percent for the week ending June 11 compared with the previous week and was down 63.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 33.8 percent of total applications for the week ending June 11 from 32.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 34.7 percent of total applications for the week ending June 11 compared to 34.6 percent the previous week, according to the report. Fast Facts Calif. median home price - April 04: $453,590 (Source: C.A.R.) Calif. affordability index - March 04: 21 percent (Source: C.A.R.) Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region - April 04: Santa Barbara South Coast $985,000 (Source: C.A.R.) Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region April 04: High Desert $197,720 (Source: C.A.R.) Mortgage rates - week ending 5/27: 30-yr. fixed: 6.32% Fees/points: 0.6% 1-yr. adjustable: 3.87% Fees/points: 0.6% 15-yr. fixed: 5.69% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)Information provided by - C.A.R. Newsline is published by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, a trade association representing more than 135,000 REALTORS® statewide. |
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