Has the pendulum shifted? Have we seen the worst of the real estate market here in Metro Detroit?

#marketupdatejan17#

Supply is down 20% and buyer demand is up 6%

The real estate market is changing right before our eyes. In the last year inventory or the amount of homes for sale each month has decreased by more than 20%. This in part due to the fact that there are a lot less bank foreclosures on the market. Lenders are much more open to short sales which avoids a foreclosure.

Of the 5,139 sales last month (the fact that there were 5,139 sales last month is remarkable in itself), 757 or 14.7% were short sales. Had the lender not been open to a short sale a lot of those homes would have eventually foreclosed. In general we know demand is up…

The MARK Z. Home Selling Team finished number 81 in the country out of 2 Million plus Realtors on the "Top 250 Teams by Transaction Sides List" for 2011. The Wall Street Journal and Real Trends Inc. anncounced the top 1,000 real estate agents and teams for 2011 in the United States. Teams and Agents were ranked based on the total number of closed transactions in 2010. I wanted to congratulate my team on a very successful year in a very challenging real estate market. 

We are starting to see the market turn for the positive. Although we are seeing home prices increase in certain communities, we are still having appraisal issues on many houses. Foreclosure inventory is very scarse and when one does pop up on the scene more times than not, it is a…

Positive Signs ahead although prices are still declining

The amount of homes for sale or on market inventory and average days on market continue to decline compared to 2010 levels for the same period. In fact there are 6,000 fewer homes on market in March 2011 VS. March 2010.

When you see the words MLS, this stands for Multiple Listing Service. Out of the 32,317 homes listed for sale, 27,686 of the houses were NOT foreclosures and 4,631 of the homes listed were bank foreclosures. Of the 27,686 homes 7,464 were short sales, where the homeowner is trying to sell the home for less than they owe.

The average days on market is 97 days compared to last year in March when it was 102 days on average before a home would sell.

Home Prices Decline…

Metro Detroit Home Prices Rise 1.6%, While Inventory Is Down

Waiting for the market to bottom out? You may have missed the boat. All the signs of an upward trending market are in place. Demand is up, while supply is down. Foreclosures are rare and when they do hit the market usually sell for over the asking price. Interest rates are still at an all time low. We are still having a hard time getting homes to appraise, but in time that should clear itself up. Below is specific data to each county comparing February of 2011 vs. February of 2010. 

Synopsis of Inventory (02/2011 vs. 02/2010)

*All MLS on -market inventory was at 32,695 units - 4,907 of these are foreclosures, 27,788 of these are NON-foreclosures.

Analysis:

*On-market inventory…

This chart, from a recent paper by Alan Mallach, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, helps explain why more properties haven’t ended up on the market as foreclosure resales.

There isn't a day that goes by that one of my investors or buyers in our pipeline doesn't ask "Where did all the foreclosures in Michigan go?" A lot of investors and commonly known as "fix and flippers" have a lot of cash sitting around waiting to jump all over the next bank foreclosure.

The number of properties in the foreclosure or delinquency pipeline has grown to record highs, yet volumes of bank-owned properties have fallen steadily over the past year.

What’s happening?

• Some delinquent loans have “cured,” either naturally or through loan modifications. Even…

By now you probably received your real property tax assessment notice for 2010. If you haven't, rest assured they are in the mail and you will get them in the next couple weeks. If you do not agree with how your municipality has assessed the true value of your property, you have the right to appeal it.

An appeal of a property tax assessment begins at the local level with the board of review. Under Michigan law, the board of review meets on the second Monday in March unless the governing body authorizes an alternative starting date to meet which would be the Tuesday or Wednesday following the second Monday of March.

There are not too many positives to focus on, in the economic condition that Michigan is faced with this, however your property taxes being…

Number of Homes For Sale Each Month In Metro Detroit

Get off the fence and sell now!

This is data that nobody is talking about. As you can see from the chart above there are currently only 37,608 homes for sale in Metropolitan Detroit, compared to over 68,000 homes for sale back in January of 2008!

If I was looking to sell my own home sometime within the next 1-10 years, even if the…

It's been another exciting morning and Mortgage Bonds are on the plus side after starting the day lower.  But don't touch that dial, because another day of Treasury auctions may cause pricing to change quickly.

Interestingly, Germany and France have both declared that their recession is over.  We don't quite understand how they can confidently be beating the drum on this, but time will tell.  On the news, Mortgage Bonds drifted lower and were pushed lower still after Wal-Mart beat earnings estimates for the 2nd Quarter.  But this didn't jive with the Retail Sales report, which was worse than expectations.  And a disappointing Initial Jobless Claims numbers soured the Stock market and helped boost Mortgage Bonds.

Initial Jobless Claims rose by 558,000…

Mortgage Bonds are trading higher so far today for the 3rd consecutive session.  But two big events later this afternoon could cause volatility - At 1:00pm ET,  the results of the $23B 10-year Note auction will be released and shortly thereafter, at 2:15, the Fed will issue their Policy Statement from the 2-day Fed Meeting. 

There is not likely to be any change to the Fed Funds Rate, but we will be listening carefully for the Fed's outlook on inflation and indications of rate hikes down the road.  Fed members will probably say that while the economy is stabilizing, the recovery will be slow.  And they may make comments on their current $300B Treasury purchase program which is set to expire in September, as well as the current $1.25T Mortgage Backed…