Answering the question, “What’s the real story behind U.S. housing?”, Economics Editor Michael McKee of “The Real Deal” looks at the real U.S. housing on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.”
While some areas are improving more than others, overall, most economic indicators point to a confirmed increase in the Atlanta housing market.
Freddie Mac’s Vice President and Chief Economist, Frank Nothaft, gives a preview of the 2013 U.S. Economic and Housing market outlook.
Stick with us in 2013 for all the latest Atlanta housing news.
As always, if you have a comment or question about any of our articles, we welcome you to leave your comments here.
There’s been a lot of news coming out over the past few months about the Atlanta housing revival, as well as the upward trends taking place nationally. But is the revival real, or are things like a reduced number of foreclosures and lower inventory of housing causing the numbers to be skewed? Ali Velshi of CNN summarizes the housing revival in this report, along with some areas of concern for making sure the revival is real, and not just numbers that are out of focus with reality.
Bookmark our site and check back often. We’ll keep you abreast of the Atlanta housing revival, and tell you when things are for real, and when you might look past the numbers.
Atlanta housing, as well as a forecast for the nation’s housing and economic outlook was presented recently by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) during their 2012 Realtors Conference and Expo.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun says he expects the market share of distressed sales to fall from about 25 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2014.
Mark Vitner, managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo, one of the speakers at the NAR conference, compared distressed homes to an after-Christmas sale. Vitner stated, “most of the best stuff has been picked over, but make no mistake they’ll be with us for a while.”
The Atlanta housing recovery is expected to continue so long as credit does not further tighten and a fiscal cliff is avoided.
The rise in home prices should also stay. Yun predicted a 6 percent rise in the median existing-home price in 2012, with another 5.1 percent increase next year and comparable gains in 2014.
Existing-home sales are projected to move higher year-after-year: a 9 percent increase this year to 4.64 million, 5.05 million in 2013, and 5.3 million in 2014.
Mortgage interest rates are expected to eventually increase to an average of 4 percent next year, and inflationary pressure should cause rates to go up to 4.6 percent in 2014, according to the NAR forecast.
Yun added, “While we’re hopeful that something can be accomplished, the alternative would be a likely recession, so automatic spending cuts and tax increases need to be addressed quickly.”
The state of the housing market continues to improve though recovery remains “fragile,” according to the October Housing Scorecard released by the Obama administration. Signs of improvement include rising home prices, rising home sales, and ongoing efforts through the Making Home Affordable Program.
Bookmark our site and we’ll keep you up to date on all the trends affecting Atlanta housing going forward into 2013 and 2014. Good or bad, we’ll bring it to you here.
Atlanta housing, trying to get back on its feet from one of the worse economic downturns since The Great Depression, could go over the “fiscal cliff” as well if Congress doesn’t come up with a solution before December 31st.
If this so-called “fiscal cliff” does happen, we can all wave goodbye to short sales that have helped the Atlanta housing market get back on its feet. At risk is a provision that erases taxes on selling a home for less than what’s owed to the bank.
Expiration of the tax treatment would create a major new headache for the one in four homeowners who owe more than their house is worth. Those “underwater” sellers would have to come up with a big check for Uncle Sam to pay the tax on the difference, and that would be a big blow to the Atlanta housing recovery.
Lenders have turned to short sales as a faster way of getting bad loans off their books. After a surge in foreclosures brought widespread complaints that lenders weren’t fully reviewing documents, many states passed legislation that made it harder for lenders to seize homes.
Until the housing collapse, forgiven mortgage debt was taxed as ordinary income. Under those rules, a typical household would owe about $19,000 tax on the average settlement relief so far.
But in 2007, as the housing boom turned to bust, Congress passed the Mortgage Debt Relief Act, which shielded such forgiven debt from taxes. The law was extended in 2010 but is due to expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts to steer us all away from the fiscal cliff.
So what exactly is this fiscal cliff anyway? AP’s Donna Cassasta explains…
Here’s Business Insider’s “Ultimate Guide to the Fiscal Cliff – What it is, And What it Could Do to the Economy”
We urge you to write or call your Congressman or Congresswoman emphasizing to him or her how important you feel a solution is to this “fiscal cliff.” The continuing improvement in the Atlanta housing market could be at stake.
September Atlanta housing starts as well as U.S. overall housing starts blew past consensus estimates to nearly 900,000 units nationwide — a four-year high.
Though levels are still well below the 1.5 million historical average, this report adds to other upbeat news and confirms our belief that after seven years of painful contraction, the Atlanta housing market is on the mend.
While some areas are improving more than others, overall, most economic indicators point to a confirmed increase in the Atlanta housing market.
The Willis Report on Fox Business covers RealtyTrac’s Election 2012 Housing Health Check, which shows that 65 percent of counties nationwide have a housing market in 2012 that is worse off than it was in 2008 before the last presidential election.
Anchor Gerri Willis talks to RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist about some of the findings, including some specific counties where housing is better off than four years ago.
Some housing markets are doing better. We continue to keep a finger on the pulse of the Atlanta housing market and will keep you posted here on the positives and negatives as we head toward the holidays.
Everyone’s trying to figure out whether the housing recovery we are seeing now is for real, or if it’s just another one of those blips on the radar like we saw in 2010.
Robert Shiller, co-creator of the Case-Shiller index, discussed the state of the housing market recently on Fox Business News. Here’s what he had to say…
Whether this particular up-tick in the housing recovery is real, or just another blip, remains to be seen… but as Mr. Shiller pointed out in the interview, this time, the housing recovery is developing without any Federal intervention.
Shiller also mentioned a few clouds on the horizon when it comes to a housing recovery. Some of those clouds he referred to are the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is propping up the housing market and supported by the government.
He also made reference to the key macro issues like the eurozone crisis, the slowdown in Asia, and the oncoming fiscal cliff in the U.S.
What are your thoughts? We’d love to hear your opinion on this topic. Do you think this Atlanta housing recovery is real, or just another temporary tick before things start falling again?
A Atlanta housing recovery is underway, along with most regions of the U.S.
As the saying goes, “Better late than never?” U.S. News editor Simon Owens sits down with reporter Meg Handley to discuss the state of the housing market and whether we’re finally seeing a true nationwide housing recovery.
The Atlanta housing recovery is definitely underway. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the bottom, you may have waited too long.
Talk to us today about whether now is the right time to buy Atlanta housing based on your particular circumstances. We’ll go over market specifics with you, and discuss how your financial situation would be affected by getting into a home of your own now, before prices go even higher, and inventory gets even thinner.
A strong recovery appears to be starting for Atlanta housing, according to a report released recently by Goldman Sachs Group.
Their report notes that Atlanta housing has a “long list of positives,” including rising prices, job growth, supportive government policies and a decline in the so-called shadow inventory of homes.
Sachs reported, “The super cyclical housing market has turned and a strong recovery in new-home sales is ahead.” One Sachs analyst wrote, “Over the last year a number of risks to the housing market have abated, giving us confidence that rising home prices will drive a 3-7 year up-cycle in the U.S. market.”
The report went on to note, “the U.S. economy has created enough jobs since the end of the recession in 2009 to fuel new-home sales at an annual rate of 550,000 to 600,000. New houses sold at a pace of 369,000 in May, the highest rate since 2010, according to a Commerce Department report.
Government policies have improved in the past year by addressing supply instead of demand. Recent programs include the bulk sale of foreclosed single-family homes to investors who are converting them to rentals, and the expanded Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which allows refinancing of properties worth less than their mortgages.
The Goldman Sachs report estimated new-home sales would reach 700,000 nationwide in 2014.
As for Atlanta housing, we believe we have already seen the bottom, and the market is definitely showing signs of recovery.
We specialize in Metro Atlanta real estate for sale. Brant Meadows has been helping families buy homes for more than 16 years. Home Hunters Realty of Atlanta, Georgia, is an exclusive buyer's agency serving home buyers only.
