San Francisco Real Estate Agent
San Francisco Real Estate Agent
The Federal Reserve today voted to maintain the current target range for the federal funds rate at 0 percent to 0.25 percent, anticipating that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.
“The economy has continued to contract, though the pace of contraction appears to be somewhat slower,” the Fed said in a prepared statement. “Household spending has shown signs of stabilizing but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Weak sales prospects and difficulties in obtaining credit have led businesses to cut back on inventories, fixed investment, and staffing. Although the economic outlook has improved modestly since the March meeting, partly reflecting some easing of financial market conditions, economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time,” and inflation will remain subdued.
As previously announced, the Fed will continue to provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, and will purchase a total of up to $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion of agency debt by the end of the year. In addition, the Federal Reserve will buy up to $300 billion of Treasury securities by autumn.
Source: California Association of Realtors®
New signs emerge that recession may be easing
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer< ?xml:namespace prefix ="" o />
Thursday, April 16, 2009
(04-16) 14:00 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) –
Housing construction unexpectedly plunged, the number of people receiving jobless benefits grew and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said its first-quarter profit dropped compared with last year.
That was the bad news. But those same reports Thursday included some silver linings suggesting the recession may be easing.
The pace of new-home construction seems to be nearing a bottom. First-time jobless benefit claims fell more than expected for the second straight week and JPMorgan’s profits were larger than analysts had expected. In the past week, two other banks, Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., issued positive earnings reports, too.
All told, growing evidence indicates the economy may be stabilizing.
James Temple,Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, April 17, 2009
(04-16) 10:53 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Bay Area home prices are still falling, but the pace slowed significantly in March, extending a trend that is beginning to foster real hope that the market is approaching the bottom.
The median sales price across the nine-county region stood at $295,000 for existing single-family homes last month, a 46.3 percent drop from a year ago but off just 0.5 percent from February, MDA DataQuick of San Diego reported Thursday.
That month-to-month price change has been narrowing recently. The median declined 2.4 percent in February compared to the previous month and 7.9 percent in January. The biggest recent drop was 11.1 percent in September. Year-over-year price declines have floated around 47 percent for the past five months.
“It’s very meaningful because it means that we’re finding the floor for median home prices,” said Esmael Adibi, director of the Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University in Orange. “I believe now that with the continuation in the strength of home sales and improvement in affordability, we will be very near the bottom in the next few months.”
For the first time in more than a year, the California Association of Realtors in February reported small month-over-month price increases in Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo.
The SF Business Times’ new ranking of the Largest Residential Real Estate Firms in the Bay Area has just come out, based upon 2008 gross sales.
Paragon is #10 in gross sales, and for brokerages with at least 100 agents, Paragon is #1 for the highest average sales per agent.
To help provide first-time home buyers with peace of mind when purchasing a home, the C.A.R. housing Affordability Fund (C.A.R.H.A.F.) is offering a new mortgage protection program to first-time home buyers.
Rates on conforming loans up to $417k and super-conforming loans up to $625k are down about .25% since the big Fed announcement last Wednesday—they were down further but have since retraced. Increases of super-conforming loan limits to $729k have still not been announced by Fannie and Freddie—it’s expected very soon. Rates on Jumbos from $729k to $3.5m are steady.
Last week, the Fed said they’d increase their mortgage bond buying program from $500 billion by June to $1.25 trillion by December. This will help keep rates low because mortgage rates drop when bond prices rise on buying rallies. But consumers shouldn’t assume rates will drop significantly from current levels. Here’s why:
Read more
In this edition:
Foreclosure Sales in San Francisco
Upper-End Home Market Wilts
New Condo Developments Reduce Prices
Regarding Statistics
Average Dollar per Square Foot in Selected Bay Area Zip Codes
Sales Price to List Price
Financing Conditions & Tax Credits
By Julie Haviv – Analysis
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The coast-to-coast fire sale in the U.S. housing market appears at long last to have caught a bit of a bid.
Yes, residential real estate remains in the throes of the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Yes, home prices are the lowest in six years and still falling. And yes, it still takes three quarters of a year to sell a house.
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