Commercial & Residential Property Blog

Rates for 30-year home loans climbed to 5.03 percent this week, the third consecutive weekly increase.

The average rate inched up from 5 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. The last time the average was higher was the week of September 24, when rates averaged 5.04 percent.

Housing vacancy rates climbed in the third quarter, with vacancy rate for rental units climbing to a record 11.1% from 10.6% in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The number of vacant units for rent rose to a record 4.59 million from 4.41 million the previous quarter. Vacancy rates for homes usually occupied by the owner rose to 2.6% from 2.5%. The number of vacant housing units for sale rose to 1.99 million from 1.92 million. The homeownership rate rose slightly to 67.6% from 67.4%.

After five consecutive months of increases, sales of newly built, single-family homes fell 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 units in September, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department today.

“This critical loss of momentum corresponds with the ending of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, since for the most part, September was too late to sign a deal that could be completed by the time the credit expires at the end of November,” said Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “The fact that sales are now heading downward just shows how important the tax credit has been for stimulating buyer demand up to this point, and how essential it is for Congress to move quickly on legislation that would extend the credit’s expiration date and expand its eligibility to more buyers. Doing so would keep the housing market on the road to recovery while stimulating much-needed job growth across the economy.”

The FHA-backed 203(k) rehab loan is an increasingly popular option in today’s market because so many available properties – especially foreclosures – are in need of repair.

A streamlined 203(k) provides money to pay for improvements such as a new roof, appliances, furnace, energy-efficient windows, and cosmetic improvements like carpet, paint, and remodeled kitchens and baths.

Have we seen the bottom? It depends on who you ask.

New York-based Reis says that apartment vacancies have hit record highs and will move higher. Conversely, RealFacts, a Novato, Calif.-based apartment data provider, saw occupancies rise in 29 of the 33 MSAs it covered in its third-quarter report. Neither of the conflicting reports, however, indicates when rents will stop their downward slide.

Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a temporary tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales fell 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from a downwardly revised 417,000 in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 440,000.

Henderson Global Investors, an independent investment manager with $87.3 billion under management, has acquired Harbor Town at Jacaranda, a 280-unit multifamily housing complex located in Plantation, Florida, a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. Henderson purchased the property on October 21, 2009 for $27 million on behalf of its value-add CASA Partners IV fund. The property is CASA IV’s first asset in the Southeastern region of the US, an area especially hard hit by the recession. The Plantation submarket was targeted by the Fund because Henderson manages two other assets there and believes the submarket is at or near the bottom in terms of declining operational performance. This acquisition also provides additional strategic geographic diversification for the CASA IV portfolio and its investors, and is an area of expertise and past success for Henderson.

Movoto.com is reporting that housing prices in Houston have risen significantly in 2009, despite the alarming nation-wide increase in the unemployment rate. The national rate of unemployment reached 9.8% in September 2009. Although the cities of both Houston and Dallas have a lower unemployment rate than the national average, each city has still seen a continuous increase throughout 2009 to approximately 8.1% by the end of September 2009. The unemployment surge has had little effect on the recovering real estate market in both US cities as homebuyers have continued to buy and the average price of a home for sale has increased during the same period.

The condo sales pace has picked up for at least one developer.

The 448-unit mixed-use Sky View Parc in Flushing, Queens, has registered an increase in the number of condominiums sold this fall, according to Jason Muss, principal at Muss Development LLC.

Senate negotiators reached a tentative deal to extend a tax credit for first-time home buyers, but its passage remains uncertain.

The agreement would extend the existing credit for first-time home buyers, worth up to $8,000, while offering a new credit of up to $6,500 for some existing homeowners, Senate aides said. The reduced credit would be available to all home buyers who have been in their current residence for a consecutive five-year period in the past eight years.