From the Wall Street Journal:
In the first quarter, the Case-Shiller indexes showed home prices across the country fell 14% from a year earlier, representing the largest drop in the 20-year history of the indexes. From the fourth quarter, prices fell 6.7%.
"The steep downturn in residential real estate continues," David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee, said. He added, "There are very few silver linings that one can see in the data. Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path."
According to the indexes, released by ratings firm Standard & Poor's, home prices in 10 major metropolitan areas fell 15% in March from a year earlier and 2.4% from February.
In 20 major metropolitan areas, home prices dropped 14% from a year earlier and 2.2% from February.
In Atlanta, the decline in prices continues to accelerate, with homes shedding 1% in value from last month, and 6.5% from last year. Still, it could be much worse: Las Vegas has lost almost 26% over the past year, with Miami and Phoenix dropping 24.6% and 23.0%, respectively.
While there is no question that house prices in Atlanta are falling, Atlanta's continued desirability as a place to live has acted as a buffer to the effects of the housing market as seen in the rest of the county. Prices here have not fallen as much as they have elsewhere and will most likely rebound earlier than in other areas.
Still: as the availability of mortgage loans remains limited, it continues to be a challenging time to sell a home. With that being said, it remains an ideal time for buyers, with many, many homes available, and at prices more affordable than they have been in years.
We'd love to be your Atlanta Closing Attorneys. Want to know more? Contact us and we'll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!
Condo developer roundup from this weekend's AJC Homefinder:
With recent mortgage insurance program changes making it more difficult to obtain financing, and an increasing inventory of homes as more condo projects are finished, condo developers are fighting hard to lure potential purchasers in the door. In one word, they're desperate.
It's a tough time for developers, who are competing against individual sellers and investors, along with a surging number of foreclosures, for those few buyers who can qualify for a mortgage.
Still, it's a fight that most developers are in a position to win: most individual sellers or real estate investors can't absorb the deep discounts that the developers can offer. Nor can they offer perks such as a free car or no mortgage payments for a year.
On the other hand, intown condos offer a lifestyle that cannot be found elsewhere; and for buyers attracted to the convenience of intown living, that lifestyle comes cheaper than ever.
We'd love to be your metro-Atlanta closing attorneys. Want to know more? Contact us and we'll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:
Atlanta's biggest condo projects aren't immune to the rash of foreclosures that has swept through the city's residential real estate market.
Several prominent condo towers from downtown to Buckhead have been affected, including Novare Group Inc.'s TWELVE Atlantic Station, Julian LeCraw and Co. Inc.'s The Paramount at Buckhead and Condominium Ventures of America Inc.'s 1280 West.
and:
At Atlanta's 15 largest condo projects, the rate of foreclosure ranges from 1 percent to 5 percent.
"I don't want to be an alarmist, but the numbers we're seeing right now are serious, especially given that oversupply on the market has been a huge issue and will continue to be," said Jude Rasmus, president of Rasmus Real Estate, which works on behalf of banks to sell foreclosed homes and condos.
The foreclosure data is combined from Equity Depot LLC, an Atlanta-based real estate research firm, and Haddow & Co., one of the few real estate services that tracks the health of the city's condominium market.
When compared with Georgia's broader residential real estate market, the percentage of foreclosures among large intown condo developments is higher. About one of every 351 homes, or less than 1 percent, has been foreclosed, according to national foreclosure research firm RealtyTrac LLC.
and:
Developers are adding big incentives to sell a unit - up to $4,000 to brokers who complete a sale in some cases. That makes it hard for some sellers to compete.
Central City Condominiums, an 88-unit development downtown, has slashed prices on its one- and two-bedroom condos by 27 percent and 28 percent, respectively. One bedroom homes that once sold for $180,000 now sell for $129,900. Two bedrooms go for $204,900, down from $287,000.
It certainly has become a tough time to sell a condominium in Atlanta. With the recent program changes by the private mortgage insurance companies and new declining market guidelines by the mortgage lenders, is it becoming increasingly harder to find qualified buyers for metro-Atlanta condos.
With the number of condos coming onto the market, and the continuing difficulty that buyers are having in obtaining financing, that condominium projects are showing a higher-rate of foreclosure when compared to the rest of the market will only serve to depress prices further.
Intown condominiums have long offered ease-of-lifestyle as a strong selling point. Less traffic, easy access to restaurants, museums, and other attractions have long made living in the city attractive. These days, that ease-of-lifestyle is not enough, and prices are taking the big hits as developers, individuals, and the lenders all try and sell.
We'd love to be your metro-Atlanta closing attorneys. Want to know more? Contact us and we'll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!
From CNN:
Home prices have posted another record decline, as most of the nation's largest markets suffered double-digit drops over last year, a survey released Tuesday shows.
The S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks 20 of the largest housing markets, showed prices plummeting by 12.7% in the 12 months ending February. That's the biggest fall since the index began tracking prices in 2000.
Of those 20 metro areas, 17 posted their largest year-over-year declines ever. Ten of the 20 cities posted double-digit dips.
The 10-city Case/Shiller index is down 13.6% year-over-year, the biggest drop since its launch in 1987.
The latest Case/Shiller price index numbers are not very encouraging and show that, unfortunately, there is no sign of a bottom in the housing market in the immediate future; in fact, the latest numbers seem to indicate that the drop in home prices is accelerating on a nationwide basis.
Moderated by an increase in the city's population, however, home prices in Atlanta are still faring better than most - only shedding 5.6 percent of value from last year. Compared to the almost 23 percent drop in value in Las Vegas, that 5.6 percent decline doesn't seem too bad.
However, there remains the danger of a vicious circle leading to further, and steeper, price depreciation, even with Atlanta's relatively-moderate 5.6 percent drop in value. As price losses continue, houses become less desirable and lenders less willing to extend mortgages. Fewer potential purchasers result in additional downward pressure on prices - and with the numbers of foreclosures and vacant properties already at record highs and expected to increase, the momentum on house prices to continue to move lower could end up accelerating very quickly.
We'd love to be your closing attorneys in Atlanta . Want to know more? Contact us and we'll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!
Georgia has sixth-highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter of 2008, and Atlanta ranks 16th amonst cities with the most number of foreclsures.
From Forbes:
The number of foreclosures filed by US homeowners increased sharply for the seventh consecutive quarter, according to a private sector report released today.
In the three months ending in March, the number of foreclosures totaled 649,917, up 23 pct from the previous quarter and 112 pct from the first quarter of 2007, California-based RealtyTrac said.
The report, from RealtyTrac, shows that foreclosures, which were already at record highs, have more than doubled from this time last year. The statistics count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported during the quarter and show that there is no immediate end in sight to the rising numbers of foreclosing properties.
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:
Georgia's first-quarter foreclosures skyrocketed 80 percent, while metro Atlanta's jumped 69 percent, according to RealtyTrac's Q1 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released April 29.
Georgia ranked sixth in first-quarter foreclosure filings - default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - with 28,503. This is a 79.9 percent increase over the first quarter of 2007 and a 22.5 percent rise over the fourth quarter of 2007. One out of every 136 Georgia households got a foreclosure notice in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta/Sandy Springs/Marietta metro area had 22,554 foreclosures in the first quarter, putting it at 16th among major metros. The area's foreclosures were up 68.7 percent over the first quarter of 2007 and 13.7 percent over the fourth quarter of 2007. One out of every 91 metro households got a foreclosure filing in the first quarter.
Atlanta's numbers do show a lesser increase in year-over-year foreclosures than the national rates - but the immediate future still remains bleak. Foreclosure rates are indicative of past problems, and each foreclosure filing today represents a borrower who fell behind in mortgage payments months ago.
Foreclosure rates also are forward-looking: while a number of the properties with loans in default will be cured before the actual foreclosure sale, it's a good bet that the majority will not. More than likely these properties will end up back with the lender, only to be listed and resold as REOs several months in the future.
If we take it that the great bulk of mortgage foreclosures can be attributed to adjustable-rate mortgages, then as more and more of those loans adjust, we can expect foreclosure rates to continue increasing. With the peak of these loans not resetting until later this year, it is more likely than not that the record rates of foreclosures will continue.
We'd love to be your closing attorneys in Atlanta . Want to know more? Contact us and we'll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!
Stephen Harlan is the principal attorney of the firm. Admitted to the bar, 1995, Georgia. Education: Emory University (B.A., Philosophy/Psychology, 1992); Emory University School of Law (J.D., 1995)
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