Archive for October, 2010
Hawaii Real Estate
Oct 21st
- Image via Wikipedia
The Hawaii real estate market, which has always been associated with expensive houses and luxurious residences, has recently shown greater appeal to wealthy sellers, both domestically and among Asian buyers. According to an October 18, 2010 report from Pacific Business News, “The recent auction of several luxury properties on Kauai’s North Shore is part of a growing trend to market high-end Hawaii homes that fetch multimillion dollar prices. The most high-profile sale was the $8.72 million sale of a home owned by entertainer Cher at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort on the Big Island via Concierge Auctions. But at least five homes at Hualalai and at the neighboring private club Kukio have also sold at auction for prices ranging from $3.7 million to $5.1 million. The latest sale by Koa Properties and Concierge Auctions included a property known as the Villa at Secret Beach, a 3,104-square-foot home on four acres near the Kilauea Lighthouse on the North Shore of Kauai. The auctioneers didn’t disclose the price, but the property was previously on the market for $9.8 million. The seller, Michele Hughes of The Michele Hughes Co., says auctions are a preferred method these days for savvy sellers of high-end real estate.”
Despite a continued weakness among Hawaii homes for sale at large, Asian buyers of luxury real estate are beginning to show an encouraging interest in the luxury sector of the market. According to a September 23, 2010 report from the New York Times, “While sales of Hawaii’s luxury residential real estate are still down almost 60 percent from their peak in 2005, strong interest from Asian buyers eager to capitalize on value has begun to buoy the market. The recovering economy in Asia, favorable exchange rates and the realization that Hawaii’s luxury real estate prices are finally rising from last year’s low have renewed attention from potential buyers in Japan and South Korea and piqued interest in China , said Patricia Choi, president and broker in charge of Choi International, an agency in Honolulu… And, while home values still are about 8 percent less than their peak in 2005, they are slowly rising, she said. After Hawaii’s real estate bubble burst in the early 1990s, Asian buyers became less dominant, said Jeffrey Fox, another broker and owner at Kahala Associates. At that time, Asian buyers represented almost 90 percent of the state’s luxury market, but they dropped to about 11 percent last year, Mr. Fox said.”
Newport Beach Real Estate
Oct 21st
- Image via Wikipedia
The Newport Beach real estate market, a generally expensive portion of the larger Orange County housing market, saw signs of strength and recovery in the most recent tracking period. Foreclosure sales declined, while the median price was the highest in the country. According to a September 30, 2010 report from the OC Metro, “Orange County foreclosure sales fell 27 percent in the second quarter from the same time last year, though transactions rose about 3 percent from the first quarter, according to figures released by Irvine-based RealtyTrac. A total of 3,524 properties in some stage of foreclosure – default, scheduled for auction or bank-owned – sold to third parties in the period. That number accounts for 31.5 percent of all residential sales in the county, down from about 43 percent in the second quarter of last year. The number also declined from 38 percent in the first quarter, according to the report…In Orange County, the average selling price for a foreclosed home was $420,336 – it’s a 22 percent discount, according to RealtyTrac. Meanwhile, 1,189 REO sales – transactions that occur while a property is actively bank owned – took place in the county in the second quarter. The number is down a whopping 57 percent from the same time last year, though it rose 2.5 percent from the first quarter.”
Newport Beach homes for sale were the most expensive in the country, according to Coldwell Banker and a second report from the OC Metro published on September 22, 2010. This article, written by Kristen Schott, noted that “Newport Beach takes the top spot among the 10 most expensive housing markets in America, with an average listing price of $1.8 million for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom property, according to a study conducted by New Jersey-based Coldwell Banker Real Estate. The most affordable housing market in the U.S. is Detroit, Mich., with an average listing price of $68,000. That equates to a $1.7 million difference between Newport Beach and Detroit, according to the Home Listing Report, which measured more than 18,000 four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties in nearly 300 markets across the U.S. The average listing price among homes surveyed is $353,000.”
The Auburn real estate market
Oct 15th
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The Auburn real estate market, part of the larger Sacramento area housing market, saw a series of problems related to foreclosure in recent months. As more and more distressed Auburn homes for sale and properties are brought to foreclosure auctions, the number of individuals affected – including renters – continues to rise. A September 14, 2010 article from the Sacramento Business Journal written by Michael Shaw noted that “Foreclosures in Sacramento County were sharply higher in August, though they did not top the peak reached in March, housing data company ForeclosureRadar said Tuesday. A total of 997 homes went back to lenders during the month, while another 198 were sold to a third party. The recent high was in March, with 1,035 homes going back to lenders and 277 sold to a third party. Before August, foreclosures had been trending down in the region. The county’s inventory of foreclosed homes that have not been resold reached more than 6,000 homes. In Placer County, 184 homes went back to lenders in August, the same total as July. The county also peaked in March with 215 homes going back to banks at foreclosure sales.”
Thousands of renters in the Auburn housing market have been evicted as a result of impending foreclosures or short sales, according to a September 23, 2010 report from KCRA News. The article noted that “
A San Francisco-based tenants’ rights group held a special meeting for renters facing foreclosure Thursday night at the Sacramento Housing Alliance. Tenants Together said last year more than 200,000 renters were affected by foreclosure. Of those 200,000, Tenants Together said, in Sacramento, the foreclosure crisis forced nearly 14,000 renters out of their homes, in Placer County nearly 2,000 and in San Joaquin County just over 8,000. In fact, it’s not illegal for homeowners to rent out a home even after it goes into default. Tenants Together said that scenario is happening with increasing frequency forcing renters to move. “It’s a huge number. It’s a shocking number,” said Giti Dadlani, an organizer for Tenants Together. Derek Dunbar, a Sacramento resident, had only been renting his home three months before he found out it was in default.”
The Almaden Valley real estate market
Oct 13th
- Image by donjd2 via Flickr
The Almaden Valley real estate market, a predominately residential region found in the midst of the Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley, and Bay Area housing markets, saw continued depression in terms of units sold but a slight uptick in median price during the August tracking period. A September 17, 2010 report from the San Jose Mercury News said that “If your idea of good news is that even though the sky’s falling, it’s not falling as quickly as it was a month earlier, you’ll be pleased by the latest home-sales numbers for the Bay Area. A survey released Thursday shows that while sales dropped in August to an 18-year low, they fell less sharply than they did in July. Prices rose year over year, although the report showed they dipped month-to-month. August sales of resale single-family homes in Santa Clara County fell about 12 percent from 1,203 to 1,058, which looked a lot better than the June-to-July swoon of more than 24 percent, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego. San Mateo County fared even better in August, with sales actually climbing 2.8 percent from 465 to 478. Median prices moved up in both counties from a year earlier — 6.8 percent in Santa Clara from $515,000 to $550,000, and nearly 16 percent in San Mateo from $585,000 to $676,000. Overall, the Bay Area showed nearly an 11 percent drop in sales and a 9.3 percent rise in the median price from August 2009.”
A parallel report by the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal regarding Almaden Valley and other Silicon Valley homes for sale painted a similar picture for the local market, finding that “Silicon Valley home sales in August were down 8.70 percent from the same month last year and down 8.42 percent from July, according to a report Friday from the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. In all, 1,196 homes sold and closed in the county during the month, but the Realtors’ group said a slowdown in demand in the past three months has not reversed a 2010 trend where monthly average sales prices for Santa Clara County was consistently higher than the same month in 2009. The average sales price in August was $690,642 for Santa Clara County single family homes, townhouses and condos. Although this was a 2.79 percent decrease compared to July, it was up 11.87 percent from a year ago.”
The Santa Cruz real estate market
Oct 1st
- Image via Wikipedia
The Santa Cruz real estate market is quite far off from its peak before the recession, but has remained relatively stable in the past year. Although sales declined in the most recent tracking period, the median price of a Santa Cruz home for sale increased by ten thousand dollars between August 2009 and August 2010. According to a September 14, 2010 report from the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “More than 90 agents with Bailey Properties showed up Tuesday morning to hear real estate guru Carole Rodoni explain why buyers are reluctant and what to do about it. “We have an economy where nobody knows where it’s going,” said Rodoni, who speaks every quarter to agents at Bailey, one of the largest local real estate companies. Just look at Santa Cruz County‘s home-buying statistics for August.
The median price was $510,000, little changed from $500,000 a year ago, according to Gary Gangnes, who tracks the numbers, but down from three years ago when it hit $770,000. Listings have grown and interest rates are at historic lows, but buyers are not biting. There were 152 single-family home sales, little changed from 154 a year ago. Homes under $500,000 made up 46 percent of sales, with those selling for more than a $1 million comprising 8 percent. About 1,200 homes in the county are in foreclosure, compared to less than 1,000 a year ago. Most of them end up either in a short sale or owned by a bank, which puts more downward pressure on prices. Even million-dollar homes have been lost to foreclosure.”
Local analysts also noted that the number of homes sold were near the record low for the Santa Cruz County real estate market. Compared to the all-time low of one hundred forty three homes sold in July 2007, realtors in Santa Cruz County sold one hundred and forty five homes in July 2010 and one hundred and seventy five single family homes in June of 2010. The decline from June to July could be interpreted as the result of the expiration of the federal housing tax credit, which temporarily inflated sales figures for a few months.
