What’s Going on In Real Estate this Memorial Day Weekend?

By Lauren Tracy, Realtor-Associate at Mammoth Realty Team
WWW.MAMMOTHLAKES-REAL-ESTATE.COM; LTRACYREALTOR@GMAIL.COM
This month there is some great information coming from the California Association of Realtors which I would like to share:
“The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during March 2014 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $942.5 billion, 0.2 percent (±1.3%)* above the revised February estimate of $940.8 billion. The March figure is 8.4 percent (±1.8%) above the March 2013 estimate of $869.2 billion. During the first 3 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $196.6 billion, 8.3 percent (±1.5%) above the $181.6 billion for the same period in 2013.

Home Prices Rise Year Over Year in March
Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 11.1 percent in March 2014 compared to March 2013, according to the March issue of the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) report. This change represents 25 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices nationally. On a month-over-month basis, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 1.4 percent in March 2014 compared to February 2014.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationally increased 9.5 percent in March 2014 compared to March 2013 and 0.9 percent month over month compared to February 2014. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices, including distressed sales, are projected to increase 0.8 percent month over month from March 2014 to April 2014 and 6.7 percent from March 2014 to March 2015. Excluding distressed sales, home prices are expected to rise 0.6 percent month over month from March 2014 to April 2014 and 5.7 percent year over year from March 2014 to March 2015. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a monthly forecast built on the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices by the number of owner-occupied households for each state.

Highlights as of March 2014:
Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were California, 17.2 percent; Nevada, 15.5 percent; Georgia, 12.4 percent; Hawaii, 12.3 percent; and Oregon, 12.2 percent.
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were California, 13.2 percent; Nevada, 11.8 percent; Florida, 10.9 percent; Maine, 10.6 percent; and Hawaii, 10.6 percent.
Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: 
March 2014: Increased 17.8 percent from 97.1 in February to 114.4 in March.
  
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Fourth Quarter 2013: 32 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates: Week ending 5/1/2014 (Source: Freddie Mac)

30-yr. fixed: 4.29% fees/points: 0.7%
15-yr. fixed: 3.38% fees/points: 0.6%
1-yr. adjustable: 2.45% Fees/points: 0.5%”

In Mammoth Lakes, our sales trends are even stronger than the national averages seen here, but this is good news for sellers.
Mortgage rates have dropped ½ a point recently, good news for buyers and creating an even stronger real estate market in the Eastern Sierras.  Our resort real estate market is bound to show all the signs of strengthening around the country as people flock to the milder climate we have to offer this summer.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!