Average home price in my town was $174k at the beginning of the year. Today it's $234k. (last month it was $199k). Of course my City was ranked #3 in the nation for the highest YoY increase in median list prices (Just over 40% with the median list price being $279k) California holds 8 out of 10 of the top spots for increases in median list prices. Welcome to the housing boom part 2!
Sorry...here is a link. I know you guys hate it when I say shit without links. http://www.realtor.com/data-portal/Real-Estate-Statistics.aspx
Seems like its mostly California and Arizona and Vegas that are up alot. There is nothing going on at all in the 2 places i own homes. Tallahassee,fl and Asheville NC. Nothing. I think its where these hedge funds went in and bought ever home foresale in the bubble markets is where prices have really jumped up. Middle size town America its a normal market i think.
Foreclosures here in Florida that are priced right are selling within hours again. Hedge funds have teams of appraisers, Lawyers and researchers buying houses throughout the Country. It is a Dash for Mad CASH in the after Foreclosure Crash!
supply is being controlled. very few houses on the market. decent demand. lots of people paying cash, or 40% down. I know lots of agents..... California. the market is nicely controlled now.... banks holding on to tons of junk....
I know for a fact blackrock came into my town and was buying up everything under $300k as of January. My sources told me though they only had $40 million to spend, though.
Blackrock is reported to have bought something like 16,000 houses in the last year... supposedly to fix them up and use as rentals for now.
The return from rentals is attractive with the bargain prices they got. They have economy of scale to fix them up a lot more cheaply than an individual as well. Rental housing is somewhat management intensive, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. They are all planning on unloading at some point for big profits. That door could get kind of tight unless we have a real boom in housing. I agree with silk that middle America is not seeing this red hot market you keep reading about. Even here in the tonier areas of Washington, DC, I would say the market is steady. Downtown condos are selling pretty well, but upscale neighborhoods seem merely ok to me. Well-priced houses sell, but overpriced or houses with issues do not.
i live in ffld cty ct...ie: greenwich, darien , new canaan, all booming off low. the interest and people coming out is amazing. spec building has commenced out here also.