Average Rate on 30-Year Mortgages Dips This Week :: EDGE on the Net

 

Average U.S. mortgage rates are near historically low levels.
Mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday that the nationwide average rate for a 30-year loan dipped to 4.12 percent, down from 4.14 last week. The average for the 15-year mortgage, which had taken a big dip the previous week, was unchanged this week at 3.22 percent.
Rates on one-year adjustable mortgages averaged 2.38 percent this week, down from 2.40 percent last week.
Mortgage rates are slightly lower than they were at the same time last year, having fallen recently after climbing last summer when the Federal Reserve began talking about trimming back the monthly bond purchases it has been using to keep long-term rates low.
At 4.12 percent, the rate on 30-year mortgages is down from 4.53 percent at the beginning of this year. Rates have fallen modestly this year as Fed officials have sent strong signals that while they are trimming their monthly bond purchases, they are in no rush to start boosting a key short-term rate the Fed controls.
To calculate average mortgage rate, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for a 30-year mortgage was 0.5 point this week, the same as last week. The fee for a 15-year loan, popular in refinancing, was also 0.5 point, unchanged from last week.
The fee on a one-year adjustable rate mortgage was 0.4 point, unchanged from last week.
The average rate on a five-year adjustable rate mortgage was 2.98 percent, unchanged from last week. The fee was 0.4 point, up from 0.3 point last week.

Average Rate on 30-Year Mortgages Dips This Week :: EDGE on the Net

Miami’s Condo Boom REDUX

By Martha Brannigan The Miami Herald
A Metromover passes by Reach, a condominium under construction at Brickell City Centre.

mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com

The grand opening of the pre-construction sales center for the SLS Lux Brickell condominium drew hundreds of real estate agents on a sultry June evening. With the imposing bronze sculpture Male Torso by Fernando Botero looming above, Related Group chairman and CEO Jorge Pérez made the rounds as the crowd tipped stemmed glasses of bubbly and nibbled hors d’oeuvres. Pérez was in high spirits. And why not? SLS Lux Brickell already had reservations from buyers to purchase $200 million in units — half the project’s total sales — before the formal launch of the sales center June 11, according to Related, which is jointly developing the prime site with real estate baron W. Allen Morris, who owns the land. “Miami is the sweetheart of the world,” said Pérez, who is leading a new boom in condominium construction six years after the last one ended in a spectacular crash. Back then, thousands of buyers reneged on contracts for newly built Miami condos amid nosediving values. Now, he said, “Everyone wants a place here.” Along with the reliable stream of investors from Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico, Miami keeps attracting buyers from Russia, England, France and Canada, among other places. All eyes are on the Chinese to see if they will join the fray in any significant way.  Continued>>> Miami’s condo boom redux - Business Monday - MiamiHerald.com

Miami Real Estate Prices Reflect More Balanced Growth - Press Release - Digital Journal

 

Miami Real Estate Prices Reflect More Balanced Growth

Miami real estate market in May continued to reflect strength, healthier growth, and more balance between buyers and sellers, according to the 30,000-member MIAMI Association of REALTORS and the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system.

Median Sale Prices Rise by Narrower Margins
Median sale prices again increased for both single-family homes and condominiums in May but remain at affordable 2003 levels. The median sale price for single-family homes increased 12.6 percent, up to $250,000 from $222,000 in May 2013, marking 30 straight months of growth. The average sale price for single-family homes increased 21.4 percent from $408,021 in May 2013 to $495,525 last month.

"The Miami real estate market continues to perform well as demand remains historically strong but while fueling more balanced price growth," said 2014 Chairman of the Board of the MIAMI Association of REALTORS Liza Mendez. "Sales are consistent with 2013 activity, which set a third consecutive sales record, and properties are selling rapidly and close to asking price."

The median sale price for condominiums has increased for 35 consecutive months. Compared to May 2013, the median sale price for condominiums increased by 3.6 percent to $186,600 from $180,000 a year prior. The average sale price for condominiums increased 3.8 percent to $384,900 from $370,843 in May 2013.

READ MORE>> Miami Real Estate Prices Reflect More Balanced Growth - Press Release - Digital Journal

Existing home sales up 4.9%; best gain since '11

 

Existing home sales rose for the second-straight month in May - climbing to their strongest pace since fall - as more homes on the market helped draw buyers.

Sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million, up 4.9% from April's revised 4.66 million rate, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

The monthly percentage gain was the highest since August 2011. Last month's sales rate also beat economists' median forecast of 4.73 million in Action Economics' survey.

"The long-awaited spring bounce in home sales looks to have finally appeared," said RBS Markets chief U.S. economist Michelle Girard in a research note.

Both sale prices and inventory improved last month, which is a good sign, said Stephanie Karol, of IHS Global Insight.

"As long as sellers feel assured of making a profit, they will feel emboldened to list their homes; and as buyers feel they have a good selection of well-located properties to choose from, they will continue to look and bid," she said in a research note.

Despite sales' improving trend the past two months, they are still weaker than last year. In May 2013, the annualized sales rate was 5.15 million.Through May, sales are down 8.2% from the first five months of last year.

READ MORE>> Existing home sales up 4.9%; best gain since '11 | News-Herald Media | marshfieldnewsherald.com

Condos Make a Comeback as Towers Rise From Boston to L.A. - Bloomberg

 

Condos Make a Comeback as Towers Rise From Boston to L.A.

By John Gittelsohn, Prashant Gopal and Hui-yong Yu Jun 11, 2014 12:01 AM ET

Source: Glodow Nead Communications via Bloomberg

Millennium Partners plans to open a sales center later this year for a 442-unit project in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood called Millennium Tower Boston.

Millennium Partners plans to open a sales center later this year for a 442-unit project in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood called Millennium Tower Boston.

For the first time since the U.S. housing crash, new condominium towers are sprouting in downtown Boston, Seattle and Los Angeles as developers bet on the return of the riskiest type of residential real estate.

Buyers are signing deals to reserve units in two new high-end projects in Boston. A 41-story tower rising in Seattle is the first phase of the largest condo development ever in the city. In Los Angeles, a 22-floor building is slated for construction later this year, the first ground-up high-rise condo project downtown since 2005.

Construction cranes also spike the skylines of - Read More >>  Condos Make a Comeback as Towers Rise From Boston to L.A. - Bloomberg

Miami’s condo euphoria treads a historically familiar trail | Miami Today

 

If you’ve been around Miami at least a decade you recall the euphoria that’s causing condos to spring up faster than we can count.

“At this rate, we’ll have 12,000 [units] just this year,” architect Willy Bermello told fellow members of the Miami’s Urban Development Review Board two weeks ago as more than 1,300 units in four unrelated towers sought approval.

Mind you, he only tallied what’s about to rise inside the city of Miami, the county’s hottest but not only boom area.

As with all of Miami’s many booms, this one has unique elements, the reasons those caught up in the cycle use to assure anyone worried about a bubble that “this time is different” – which is always true right up to the point that it isn’t.

This time indeed differs from the bust eight years ago: buyers now finance construction, not the banks that did it last time and certainly not developers, who for years have operated on OPM – other people’s money.

So if condo values should ever fall – and it’s a safe bet that they will by some percentage someday – it’s the buyers who’ll be losers, nobody else.

And since most buyers are foreigners who rent out their units, bankers and developers take comfort, telling us that none of us will get hurt if the bubble bursts.

Nobody wants to talk about this, because lots of jobs and income are at stake. Why shake up the market?

Well, nobody wanted to talk about it in the past decade, either. In fact, nobody ever wants to talk about it.

Last decade, the global economic slide left more than 20,000 unsold condos in the county. We all thought they’d linger on the market – but fortunately the current boom soaked them up, leaving a hunger for more.

Developers are more than happy to feed that hunger. They are feeding it quickly. In downtown alone, 49 projects with 16,843 units are listed in preconstruction, though in their frenzy developers may already have begun some of them.

Thankfully, they’re building high-quality buildings. They will fill a need. Condos won’t go begging. The only question is, at what price? How long will it take foreign buyers to regain their full investments in sales or to rent profitably long term?

At the right purchase price, these units are all solid investments. But defining “the right purchase price” is tricky as the frenzy sends the sale price per foot of new units soaring.

Before the last bust $300 per square foot defined a luxury condo. The same units bring more than $600 per foot today. New condos are pricing well above $1,000 per foot – and getting their price.

Continued > Miami’s condo euphoria treads a historically familiar trail | Miami Today

Florida cities lead in short sales

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Florida metro areas continued to lead the nation in short sales of homes in April.

The research firm RealtyTrac said last week that Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa, and Palm Bay had the highest rates of short sales in the nation. The rates for those metro areas ranged from almost 15 percent to more than 13 percent of all home sales.

The nationwide rate in April was 5.2 percent.

A short sale occurs when a home is sold for less than the amount owed on the property.

There was a bright spot in Florida from the RealtyTrac report.

The report says Miami had one of the fastest price appreciation rates in the nation in April. Home values in Miami grew by 20 percent from the previous year, according to RealtyTrac.

ORLANDO, Fla.: Fla. cities lead in short sales - Florida Wires - MiamiHerald.com

60 Percent of all Miami Residential Sales in Cash - WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL Global News Center

 

According to the Miami Association of Realtors, the Miami real estate market continued to stabilize in April 2014, as prices increased by more narrow margins and active inventory rose while demand remained strong.
Median sale prices in Miami increased for both single-family homes and condominiums in April.  The median sale price for single-family homes increased 8.0 percent, up to $243,000 from $225,000 in April 2013, marking 29 straight months of growth. The average sale price for single-family homes increased 11.3 percent from $421,207 in April 2013 to $469,088 last month.

Continued at> 60 Percent of all Miami Residential Sales in Cash - WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL Global News Center

Miami Real Estate Affordable despite Rising Prices - Press Release - Digital Journal

 

An analysis of prices in Miami-Dade County year-to-date reveals that 58 percent of residential properties are selling for less than $250,000 despite rising prices, according to the 30,000-member Miami Association of Realtors.

While record real estate sales activity in Miami-Dade has fueled double-digit price increases for nearly three years, median sale prices are what they were in 2003. The price growth – Continued > Miami Real Estate Affordable despite Rising Prices - Press Release - Digital Journal

South Florida existing home prices rose in April, despite slowing sales momentum

 

By Martha Brannigan
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com

South Florida homes continue to get pricier, but slowing sales momentum is signaling that buyers are balking at sellers’ lofty expectations as their choices widen.

The median price of an existing single-family home in Miami-Dade County rose 8 percent to $243,000 in April from a year earlier and was up 3.3 percent from March, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. The median condo price rose 10.3 percent to $193,000 from a year earlier, but - Continued at> South Florida existing home prices rose in April, despite slowing sales momentum - Business - MiamiHerald.com

US home sales rose 1.3 percent in April

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of existing U.S. homes rebounded slightly in April, but the pace of buying remained below last year's level.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales rose 1.3 percent from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.65 million. Purchases of homes over the past 12 months have dropped 6.8 percent.

Much of the gains were concentrated in the volatile condominium market, which experienced growth of 7.3 percent. Sales of single-family homes were up just 0.5 percent last month.

Nearly five years into the recovery from the Great Recession, Continued >  US home sales rose 1.3 percent in April - Yahoo Finance UK

And Now, The 18 Essential Miami Hotels, November '13 - Hotel 18 - Curbed Miami

And Now, The 18 Essential Miami Hotels, November '13 - Hotel 18 - Curbed Miami

How to manage your online reputation

I would like to share this Blog with you.

Managing your online reputation can be a daunting task at times – whether it’s because you’ve posted something less than smart on Facebook, someone assumes your name or someone is talking about you and your business and you can’t control what they’re saying. The Internet is impossible to control, and anyone can say anything about you – that, in the end, is the beauty of the Internet. However, it’s not just about what others are saying about you, but also how you conduct yourself online, and especially on social media that can damage your reputation.

Read complete Blog here;

http://www.socialable.co.uk/how-to-manage-your-online-reputation/#%21

Home Buyer's Checklist: 15 Things to Look Out For | eHow

Home Buyer's Checklist: 15 Things to Look Out For | eHow:

'via Blog this'

Frugal Traveler: Find Awesome Accommodations For Less | eHow

 

Accommodations often end up being the priciest part of your trip. Hotels can run hundreds of dollars per night, especially in popular cities like Paris, Rome and New York. Renting a home, though often cheaper than a hotel, can also set you back hundreds of dollars per night. The good news: There are plenty of ways to save on hotels and home rentals, as well as alternatives to these accommodations, that can keep the cash-strapped traveler on budget.

Frugal Traveler: Find Awesome Accommodations For Less | eHow