More than half of all homes sold last year and in 2013, so far, have been purchased without financing, according to economists at Goldman Sachs Group. Prior to the housing crash, about 20 percent of all homes sold were purchased without financing. All-cash sales have more than doubled over the last seven years. “The surprisingly large cash-share of purchases helps to explain why home sales have jumped over the past two years despite more muted increases in broad measures of new residential loan activity, such as the MBA’s application index,” The Wall Street Journal reports. The large share of cash buys are most likely from investors, foreign buyers, and wealthy home owners, the report notes. The Goldman report estimated that around 44 cents of every one dollar of homes sold presently are being financed. Prior to the housing crisis, that stood at 67 cents of every dollar. The Goldman Sachs analysts used data from the National Association of Realtors®, Census Bureau, Mortgage Bankers Association, and Lender Processing Services to arrive at their calculations. Source: Wall Street Journal

The National Association of Home Builders is convincing buyers that they can afford a higher-priced new home by utilizing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. NAHB discovered that those looking to buy can actually purchase a more expensive newer home while achieving the same annual operating costs as an older, existing home. "Homebuyers need to look beyond the initial sales price when considering whether to buy new construction or an existing home," said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson. A study by NAHB first researched how utility, maintenance, property tax and insurance costs vary depending on how old the home is. The study found that a home built before 1960 would average $564 a year in maintenance costs, while homes built post-2008 average $241. Additionally, operating costs average nearly 5% of the home’s value for older homes made before 1960, while the costs average less than 3% when the home was built after 2008. "They will find that with the higher costs of operating an older home, they can often afford to spend more to buy a new home and still have annual operating costs that fit their budget," noted Judson. Also studied by NAHB were the first year after tax costs of owning a home — purchase price, housing payments, annual operating costs and income tax savings — which revealed that a buyer can afford to pay 23% more for a new home than a property build before 1960 and still maintain the same amount of first-year annual costs. Source: NAHB

Clear Capital has released its Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report with data through August 2013 finding that national annual home price growth picked up to 10.2 percent in August. In mid-2006, the height of the bubble was the last time double digit yearly price growth was reported. However, current yearly gains are different in many ways from the peak. Additionally, the low tier price segment of the housing market saw quarterly gains of two percent, the lowest since April 2012, indicating the sector that kick started the recovery is already on a path of moderation. From its peak rate of growth in April 2013, rates of growth for the low tier segment, or home sale values in the bottom 25th percentile, have fallen from 4.1 percent to two percent. Regional and metro trends echoed those at the national level, where quarterly and yearly rates of home price growth mostly expanded. Top performing major metro markets saw average quarterly growth of 3.4 percent. Annualized, the 14.3 percent represents a 7.7 percentage point drop over the current average yearly gains of 22 percent. This current rate of growth marks yet another sign moderation will likely unfold in the near future as the strongest markets position for a cooling. “With the continued strengthening of home price trends in August, the need for perspective on market activity is even more important," said Dr. Alex Villacorta, vice president of research and analytics at Clear Capital. “National yearly gains surpassed 10 percent for the first reported time since the peak of the market in mid-2006. Certainly these trends are exciting, particularly against the backdrop of the seemingly endless housing market woes following 2006. It’s been a long, hard road and it’s difficult not to celebrate double-digit price growth." Source: NMP Daily

If you have been looking at home prices, and want to compare them to new home prices, click on the link below and sign up for the alerts. I can help you adjust your search too.
www.jaredfordrealestate.com

Enjoy your day!!