Housing on Mend, but Full Recovery Is Far Off

Home prices during the first half of 2012 posted their strongest gains in six years, the clearest sign that more U.S. housing markets have hit bottom.

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But the housing market remains far from normal. Hitting a bottom shouldn't be confused with a full-on recovery, which looks a ways off.  Read More...

Finally a little Rain!

I woke up this morning to gray, cloudy skies with a touch of drizzle.  It's not much, but we'll take what we can get. The smell of the pinon when it rains is intoxicating. Love that rain!

Housing Is Rebounding -- Just Not the Way You Think

Make no mistake: Housing is recovering. It's on an upswing. It's likely sustainable, and I think it has a long way to run. But if you're a homeowner, don't get your hopes up. The recovery probably won't affect you like you think.

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Housing construction is rebounding, and there's a decent chance it will double in the coming years (more on that in a second). But housing prices are another story altogether.  Read More...

The 10 States with the Strongest Housing Markets

The housing market is showing signs of a recovery, albeit a halting one. In 10 states, median home prices increased by more than 5.5% from July 2011 to July of this year. While there is no single reason why housing markets in these states have done so well, most have several things in common.

Many of them, like North and South Dakota, have maintained jobless rates at nationwide lows. In these states, home prices barely dropped when the national housing bubble burst. Since then, home prices in some of have even risen, while the national market plummeted. In these economically stable areas, home prices expected to continue to move higher, although recoveries are expected to be modest. Read More...

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10 Tax Tips for Home Sellers

The IRS has recently issued a helpful list of 10 tax tips all homeowners should keep in mind when selling a home:

1. You are usually eligible to exclude the gain from income if you have owned and used your home as your main home for two years out of the five years prior to the date of its sale.

Are you interested in selling your Santa Fe, NM home? 

2. If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from your income ($500,000 on a joint return in most cases). Read More...

Home prices post strongest growth in 6 years

A home price index based on multiple listing service data showed national home prices were up 3.8 percent from a year ago in July, the biggest annual increase since August 2006.

Home prices were down from a year ago in 23 of the 100 largest markets tracked by data aggregator CoreLogic's home price index, but that's four fewer than in June. Read More...

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CoreLogic: July Home Prices See Biggest Monthly Jump Since 2006

Home prices in the U.S. enjoyed the largest annual increase in July that they had in six years, increasing 3.8 percent from prices in July 2011.  CoreLogic, in releasing its July Home Price Index (HPI) which also includes sales of distressed properties, noted that July's prices were also up from the previous month, increasing 1.3 percent.  This was the fifth consecutive month that the Index had increased on both an annual and month-over-month basis.

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When distressed sales, transactions involving homes that have been foreclosed into bank ownership (REO) or are in some stage of foreclosure, are excluded from the figures CoreLogic's HPI rose 4.3 percent from July 2011 and was up 1.7 percent month-over-month.  This was also the fifth consecutive month-over-month increase. Read More...

Here's More Evidence that Home Prices Have Hit Bottom

In each of the last three years, home prices have increased in the spring and summer, when more people are buying homes, before giving back all of those gains and then some in the fall and winter, when activity cools.

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But it is beginning to look like that might not happen this year, absent a major stumble for the economy.
Read More...

Santa Fe: Home sales finally may be on rebound

The long and dark protracted downturn may soon be over for homeowners. Given the relative calm in the stock and bond markets these past few months, the real estate world looks better and better all the time to investors. Prices have turned a corner in some of the hardest hit cities such as Las Vegas, Nev., and Phoenix. The Land of Enchantment’s statistics, while not as dramatic as our neighbors, are similar.

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We may have seen a bottom in valuations and investors are entering the market for both new and existing homes regardless of whether or not banks are extending financing.  Read More...

Getting Better!

Santa Fe Ranked as Top 10 City in Hotwire List

Santa Fe was ranked as a Top 10 international destination for art and architecture in a list compiled by Hotwire.com.

Santa Fe was included with such cities as Paris, Florence, Vatican City, St. Petersburg and other major travel destinations as being one of the best cities in the world in which to admire famous art. Read More...

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Mortgage Rates Reverse Course

Mortgage rates eased this week, reversing three consecutive weeks of increases, as Federal Reserve policymakers weighed further stimulus measures that could include additional purchases of mortgage-backed securities that fund most U.S. mortgage loans. 

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Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.59 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending Aug. 30, down from 3.66 percent last week and 4.22 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit an all-time low in Freddie Mac records dating to 1971 of 3.49 percent during the week ending July 26. Read More...

8 Things to Reconsider Before Relocating

Moving to a new area can be daunting. You can ease the anxiety if you do your home work and take a few precautions that might not be necessary if you were selling one house and buying another one in the same area.  Read More...

Request an online Santa Fe, NM Relocation Package Here!

July Pending Home Sales Rebound

Pending home sales rose in July to the highest level in over two years and remain well above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).

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The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 2.4 percent to 101.7 in July from 99.3 in June and is 12.4 percent above July 2011 when it was 90.5. The data reflect contracts but not closings.  Read More...

Home Prices up Across the Board

Home prices in the second quarter gained across all headline composite indices measured in the latest Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller report.

This is the first time all three headline composites studied by S&P have reported positive annual growth simultaneously since the summer of 2010.

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"This is a clear sign we've turned around," said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of Standard & Poor's Index Committee in an interview on CNBC.  Read More...

Sales of Existing Homes Improve as Prices Rise

According to the National Association of REALTORS®, resales of single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops grew 2.3 percent in July from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.47 million. The measure took an unexpected fall in June.  Read More...

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Time to Buy Now? Mortgage Rates are Rising.

Fixed mortgage rates rose for the third straight week after setting all-time lows, with the typical 30-year rate increasing from 3.59% to 3.62%, home finance giant Freddie Mac reported.

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Freddie Mac's weekly survey, released Thursday morning, pegged this week's average for the 15-year fixed loan at 2.88%, up from 2.84% a week earlier. The start rates on variable-interest loans were mixed.  Read More...

Price Your House to Sell Quickly

A first-quarter survey of homebuyers and sellers done by HomeGain.com, a real estate services website, revealed that 76 percent of homeowners believe their home is worth more than the list price recommended by their real estate agent.  Read More...

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5 Mistakes Sellers Make in a Hot Market

Sometimes, the real estate market can play games with our minds. At the top of the market, home buyers imagine that sellers frolic through fields of cash, rubbing their hands together megalomaniacally as they flip through hundreds of offers, concocting arcane "no brown M&M"-type contract clauses to put the screws to buyers-in-waiting.  

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At the bottom of the market, the tables turned, and sellers might have visualized buyers sitting on top of truckloads of cash, while deigning to offer them only a paltry few pennies for their Most Precious Asset. Read More...

The National Housing Market - Compared to One Year Ago

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Positive Housing Report Lifts Shares

Encouraging earnings from Cisco and positive signs in a housing report lifted the stock market Thursday and nudged the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index near a four-year high it reached in April. 

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Cisco Systems, the maker of computer networking equipment, led the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, surging 10 percent. Read More...

Home Prices on the Rise while Mortgage Rates Remain Low

This past week, Freddie Mac released their U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for the month of August, 2012 which revealed a much needed home price increase. The Freddie Mac House Price Index increased 4.8% from March to June, 2012 which was the largest quarterly increase in eight years. Read More...

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Home Price Picture Across the US is Uneven

The median national home price rose 7.3% in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the same period a year ago. But that statistic hides the real variation in local home prices. Read More....

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No Rush to Lock in Low Rates

9: Number of months in the last 12 when mortgage rates hit new record lows.

“Lock in your low rates” is a common refrain among realtors. So common, in fact, that we’ve been hearing it for years now, and likely for years to come.  Read More...

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America's Favorite Cities - How does Santa Fe Rank?

Check out how Travel & Leisure rates Santa Fe, NM

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Finally, it is Time to Buy a House!

Warren Buffett famously once said: "Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful."

And if you're not instinctively scared of the housing market, then global warming, saturated fat, running with scissors and the bogeyman probably aren't keeping you awake at night, either.

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The fact that everyone is scared to dabble in—much less commit to—housing makes it a close-to-perfect investment based on Mr. Buffett's principle. But buying real estate is a good long-term investment for many more reasons, some of which have only become apparent in recent weeks. Read More...

Mortgage closing costs fell 7% for homebuyers

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Federal regulations are helping to significantly reduce the amount new homebuyers are paying come closing time.

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The average cost of closing on a mortgage has fallen by 7.4% over the past year, according to a recent survey by Bankrate.com. At the end of June, a homebuyer looking to close on a $200,000 mortgage with 20% down paid an average of $3,754, $300 less than 12 months earlier. Read More

If you can pull it off, a house is a smart investment

Investment opinions are like, um, noses: Everyone has one. Buy stocks, sell bonds? Go long steel and short copper? Buy sheep, sell deer? 

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It's pretty easy to see both sides of an investment argument. But it's hard to argue against buying a house now, assuming you can get a loan.  Read More

Do you like gadgets?

If you like gadgets, this one is for you.

25 Awesome Gadgets for $50 or Less

Gorgeous Gated Condo in the Railyard - Santa Fe, NM

Stand alone casita, a short walk to town or the railyard. Rastra construction in the Assisi Compound, a walled and gated garden setting with 9 distinctive casitas in the vibrant Railyard -Guadalupe area. Very private with lots of east light and custom lighting. Travertine floors throughout. The open living area is augmented by a central flagstone patio. Well separated bedroom suites plus study with private entrance.

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In Santa Fe - 2012 homes sales on pace to be best in five years

2012 homes sales on pace to be best in five years In Santa Fe, NM

Those who sell homes in Santa Fe have had little reason to smile the past few summers. There was the financial meltdown and recession in 2008-09, and last summer’s wildfires kept tourists away and dented sales.

But like a rubber band, the summer of 2012 so far represents a rebound for residential sales in Santa Fe County.  Read More....

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Asking Prices Bode Well for Spring Sales
A report out Thursday says that strengthening asking prices for homes point to higher sales prices as early as June, which would be a welcome turn for the beleaguered sector.

Mortgage Rates fall to New Record Lows

Mortgage Rates fall to NEW Record Lows

Buying a Home Won't Get Much Cheaper...

Retire Here - Not there: New Mexico

Santa Fe on the Top 10 Cities with the Cleanest Air in the Nation!

New Listing:
Beautiful horse property in the heart of horse country just off of Rte 14 only 15 minutes to town. Over 14 acres with a sunny & bright one bedroom main house that includes a living room with fireplace, study, bedroom, country kitchen, full bath and laundry area. Large windows take in the spectacular views of the Ortiz Mountains. Home includes tall ceilings with vigas, and plaster walls. Beautiful wide plank floors, and spacious brick patios and portals on 3 sides. New 20x40 barn with huge NE portal, round pen, corral, storage closet, tack room and attached one bedroom guest house with bathroom. Property is completely fenced with separate 3 acres fenced in a rolling meadow. Great tree cover and views of the Sangres and Ortiz. Home is gated with a circular driveway.

HORSE PROPERTY ON 14 ACRES WITH VIEWS IN SANTA FE, NM

De-Clutter That House and Sell it Faster

Home Prices in 2012 Expected to Reach 5 Year High

Home Prices Going up?

Demand for Homes continues to show recovery - Wall St. Journal

Buying is cheaper than renting in over 100 housing markets.

Santa Fe Makes the Top 10 List of Places to Retire...again!

Home Prices Start to Rise

Mortgage Fees are Creeping Up

Housing is Healing - Asking Prices to Show Gain in 2012

Using Mobile tools for Real Estate

Fourth Quarter Indices show Optimistic Outlook for Apartment and Condo Market

5 Things Homebuyers and Sellers Should know about Credits

Interesting article about the climate in and around Santa Fe...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/03/new-usda-plant-hardiness-map-shows-warmer-winters.html

Housing Crisis to End in 2012 as Banks Loosen Credit Standards

Types of Mortgages

How to Sell Your House in a Down Market

January Pending Home Sales Rise, Market on Uptrend

Sales of existing homes up 4.3% in January

6 Tips for Selling in Today's Market

Homes.org Provides Professional Analysis of the Santa Fe Real Estate Market

Housing Crisis to End in 2012 as Banks Loosen Credit Standards

Housing Crisis to End?

Housing crisis to end in 2012:

http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=5567733516482908167&ids=dzkMejgSdjcMdjoQe3AMd3sRdiMUe3sOejoSdjoNdzcPejoPdPkRb34Tc3wMd3kOe3AVcjwMdP8TdjkIdP8RczkRejcOc3wPcPATejoRdiMTdz4Uc3AOe3gScjkPcPsTdzkR&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-ttl-0&ut=35CacCskaS1581

Winter Wonderland in Santa Fe, NM

Well, another day, another snowstorm! This has been one of the snowiest winters Santa Fe has seen in years. We got about 8 inches in the foothills (but only expected 2 inches). For the first time in my memory, Hyde Park Rd which leads to the Santa Fe ski basin was closed yesterday. I have friends who tried to go skiing today, and the road was backed up for miles, so probably not a good day to try and drive the 15 miles up. Although it is such a beautiful day, and the ski basin just got another 10" for a total of over 130" base.

We'll be back in the 50's and 60's this week. The gardens are starting to show signs of life. This could be our last snow of the season. But never say never :-)

2006 Q4 Housing Appeciation Rates - New Mexico: +11.2%

The map below may be somewhat difficult to see, but all the states in RED appreciated 10% or more in the 4th quarter of 2006. Good news for New Mexico!

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Santa Fe Market Watch: Home Prices to Increase in Santa Fe

Click Here for the full article.


RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

"New Mexico may have the longest lasting booming real estate market in the nation,"

Yet another great reason to move to New Mexico.

From the New Mexico Business Weekly:

No. 1 nationally: ABQ homes keep appreciating

Good news for New Mexico Homeowners! "New Mexico may have the longest lasting booming real estate market in the nation," and "New Mexico is one of the Sunbelt states that is still seeing unprecedented growth. People want to move to warmer climates and they doing it in droves."

Read the full article here.

RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

Real Estate in Santa Fe, NM

Springtime in Santa Fe and Prices Remain Strong!

Spring was here...and now it's gone! We had a few weeks of beautiful sunny weather in the 70's. There is no sight more beautiful than seeing the trees and flowers slowly bloom in the high desert. Bushes that look like dead sticks suddenly have green leaves popping out. That was then. This is now. Winter has returned to the land of enchantment! It was much appreciated last weekend, since Sunday was the last day of ski season. The weather cooperated by dropping another 4 inches of powder on top of a substantial base. Spring came back on Tuesday and Wednesday, and today it's cold, cloudy and wintery with more snow on the way! Such is life in the mountains - the weather can be very unpredictable.

The real estate market here continues to be very strong. Santa Fe did not suffer the huge downturn that other areas experienced over the last year. We did have some corrections to bring things back to a normal state of growth instead of the hypergrowth we were experiencing - which was not sustainable. I deal mostly with buyers from around the US and there is clearly a strong, consistent interest in Santa Fe Real Estate - especially with retiring baby boomers. For those that are tired of the big cities, traffic and air pollution, this place seems like a slice of heaven.

If we look at all sales since November, 2006 until now, on average, homes are selling at very close to list price. Good to know if you are planning on buying a property in Santa Fe. Many people come here and make lowball offers because they assume the Santa Fe market is the same as their home market. As with any large purchase, it's always best to do some homework first!

Read about our first quarter results here: http://sfar.com/documents/HouseStatsNewRelApr07.pdf

Search Santa Fe MLS Listings here:

www.RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

U.S. HOUSE PRICE APPRECIATION RATE STEADIES

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 1, 2007

Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) NEWS RELEASE CONTACT: Corinne Russell (202) 414-6921 Stefanie Mullin (202) 414-6376

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U.S. HOUSE PRICE APPRECIATION RATE STEADIES

WASHINGTON, DC – The rate of home price appreciation in the U.S. remained steady in the fourth quarter of 2006, extending a general trend of deceleration begun earlier in the year. Home prices, based on repeat sales and refinancings, were 1.1 percent higher in the fourth quarter than they were in the third quarter of 2006. This is slightly above the revised growth estimate of 1.0 percent from the second to the third quarter. Prices in the fourth quarter of 2006 were 5.9 percent higher than they were in the same quarter in 2005.

Price appreciation in 2006 was substantially smaller than the tremendous price gains of recent years, which ranged from 7.4 percent in 2002 to 13.2 percent in 2005. The figures were released today by OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart, as part of the House Price Index (HPI), a quarterly report analyzing housing price appreciation trends.

“These data show that, on the whole, prices are still rising, albeit at a much slower pace,” said Lockhart. “This suggests that house price appreciation is, for now, more in line with historical norms.”

House prices grew faster over the past year than did prices of non-housing goods and services reflected in the Consumer Price Index. House prices rose 5.9 percent, while prices of other goods and services, excluding shelter, rose 0.9 percent.

“The continuing strength in the economy and decreasing interest rates for borrowers prevented a harder landing in housing markets during the second half of last year,” said OFHEO Chief Economist Patrick Lawler. “Last quarter, though sharper drops occurred locally, no state had average price declines of as much as one percent,” Lawler said.

Significant HPI Findings:

Highest and Lowest Appreciation:

1. The states with the greatest rates of appreciation between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2006 were: Utah (17.6%), Wyoming (14.3%), Idaho (14.0%), Washington (13.7%), and Oregon (13.5%). The states with the lowest rates of appreciation for the same period were: Michigan (-0.4%), Massachusetts (0.5%), Ohio (1.0%), Indiana (2.3%), and Minnesota (2.5%).

2. The Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the greatest rates of appreciation between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2006 were: Bend, Oregon (21.4 %), Wenatchee, Washington (20.9%), and Provo-Orem, Utah (19.9%). The MSAs with the lowest rates of appreciation for the same period were: Kokomo, Indiana (-5.3%), Santa Barbara-Santa Maria- Goleta, California (-4.2%), and Jackson, Michigan (-3.9%).

3. Of the 282 cities on OFHEO’s list of “ranked” MSAs, 256 had positive four-quarter appreciation, 25 had price declines, and prices were unchanged in one city.

The complete list of state appreciation rates can be found on pages 13 and 14.

The complete list of city (MSA) appreciation rates is available on pages 26 - 45.

Other Notable Results:

1. Annual (four-quarter) rates of appreciation slowed in all nine census divisions relative to the third quarter.

2. In the Pacific Census Division, quarterly appreciation is decelerating rather dramatically. Prices grew 0.4 percent between the third and fourth quarter, nearly one full percentage point below the growth rate in the prior period.

3. California saw quarterly appreciation rates that were negative in 21 of the 26 cities on OFHEO’s list of “ranked” metropolitan areas.

4. Nevada, which had the highest statewide appreciation in the nation two years ago, is now ranked 40^th among the states with four-quarter appreciation of 3.9 percent.

5. Prices in and near areas affected by Hurricane Katrina such as: New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA; Baton Rouge, LA; Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA; Gulfport-Biloxi, MS; Hattiesburg, MS; Pascagoula, MS; and Mobile AL; all showed double-digit increases in 2006, indicating continuing supply shortages.

6. The Mountain Division continues to show relatively robust price growth with higher quarterly and annual appreciation rates than in any other census division. However, the price trends vary widely within the division with quarterly appreciation exceeding 2 percent in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and New Mexico. Arizona, meanwhile, experienced much lower quarterly appreciation of 1.0 percent, and Nevada prices declined 0.2 percent.

Purchase-Only Index

An index using only purchase price data indicates less price appreciation for U.S. houses than the HPI. A purchase-only index increased 4.1 percent between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2006, compared with 5.9 percent for the HPI. The purchase-only index increased 0.5 percent (seasonally-adjusted) between the third and fourth quarters of 2006, compared with 1.1 percent for the HPI. The difference between the two appreciation measures may reflect differences in the types of homes refinanced versus those purchased or changing biases in the appraisal valuations and different proportions of appraisal and sales price data. (For more information see page 7).

Highlights

This quarter’s Highlights compares recent price trends in close-in city suburbs to those in more distant communities. The analysis suggests that in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, appreciation rates in distant suburbs and the “exurbs” have decelerated much more rapidly than in the city center. In other large cities, the housing market slowdown has affected close-in and distant suburbs more uniformly. A brief analysis of the three cities with contrasting urban and suburban price trends suggests that those cities: (a) have high home prices relative to incomes and (b) do not offer affordability relief for individuals willing to make long commutes.

Background

OFHEO’s House Price Index is published on a quarterly basis and tracks average house price changes in repeat sales or refinancings of the same single-family properties. OFHEO’s index is based on analysis of data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from more than 32 million repeat transactions over the past 32 years. The more limited “purchase-only” index is based on 4.7 million transactions.

OFHEO analyzes the combined mortgage records of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which form the nation’s largest database of conventional, conforming mortgage transactions. The conforming loan limit for mortgages purchased in 2006 and 2007 is $417,000.

This HPI report contains four tables: 1) A ranking of the 50 States and Washington, D.C. by House Price Appreciation; 2) Percentage Changes in House Price Appreciation by Census Division; 3) A ranking of 282 MSAs and Metropolitan Divisions by House Price Appreciation; and 4) A list of one-year and five-year House Price Appreciation rates for MSAs not ranked.

Also, beginning with this release, index values are included for two new metropolitan areas: Lake Havasu-Kingman, Arizona and Palm Coast, Florida. These cities were recently given status as Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) by the Office of Management and Budget.

OFHEO’s full PDF of report is at: www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/4q06hpi.pdf. Also, be sure to visit www.ofheo.gov to use the OFHEO House Price calculator. Please e-mail ofheoinquiries@ofheo.gov for a printed copy of the report. The next HPI report will be posted May 31, 2007.

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OFHEO's mission is to promote housing and a strong national housing finance system by ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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