Here’s another sign that the tide has turned on the national real estate market: US homes entering the foreclosure process fell to their lowest levels in 7 years during the 3rd quarter of 2013.

This is tremendous news for interested home sellers because foreclosures have been pulling down median sales prices all across the country for the last few years.

What’s more, the drop in foreclosures signals that fewer homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments, which is yet another indication that the market is in fact improving.

And that’s good news for everyone!

More National Housing Market Trends

According to a recent Associated Press article, lenders started the foreclosure process on 174,366 homes between July and September, which is the lowest level since the second quarter of 2006.

Here are some more recent trends that experts are seeing on the national real estate market:

• Foreclosure starts fell 13 percent from the previous quarter
• What’s more, foreclosure starts were down 39 percent from the third quarter last year.
• During the third quarter 2013, foreclosure starts saw year-over-year decreases in 38 states, including Colorado, Arizona, California and Illinois.
• Meanwhile, there were year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts in 11 states, including Maryland, Oregon, New Jersey and Connecticut.
• Although there were fewer homes entering the foreclosure process, lenders actually increased their home repossessions. Thus, data shows there was actually a quarterly increase in homes lost to foreclosure.
• Completed foreclosures increased 7 percent between the second and third quarter.
• Still, completed foreclosures were down 24 percent year-over-year during the third quarter
• 119,485 homes were taken back by lenders during the third quarter. Experts project that the country will complete about 507,497 foreclosures by the end of the year, which is actually down about 24 percent from 2012′s total.
• Foreclosures peaked in 2010 with 1.05 million. They have been decreasing since then.
• The total number of homes taken back by banks increased between the second and third quarter in 26 states, including New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Virginia
• During the third quarter, it took an average of 551 days between the time a home began the foreclosure process to the time it was completed repossessed. This is an increase from the average number of days this process took in the second quarter, which was 526 days.
• New York had the longest foreclosure processing time with an average of 1,037 days, or almost three years. Meanwhile, Maine had the shortest foreclosure processing time with 160 days.
• Florida continues to have the highest rate of foreclosures, with a rate that is more than twice the national average during the third quarter.
• The other states that made the Top 10 List for Highest Foreclosure Rates in the 3rd Quarter were: Nevada, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Indiana and South Carolina.

Keeping Our Eyes on Real Estate Trends for You

While we just shared with you a ton of real estate data, the bottom line is that the drop in overall foreclosure starts is an indication that the US housing market is continuing to improve.

This improvement is being aided by steady job growth, more reliable loans and rising home prices.

Check back soon for more updates on US housing market trends!

Looking back on the year, there were many things we were able to learn along the way.  Fortunately the Hilton Head Real Estate market continues to move as buyers breathe in confidence in the economy or just decide to make their move.  We appreciate our sellers and all the things they are going through as we work together to get their property sold.  Posted below are just a few thoughts we would like to share with our sellers.

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Updated November 2019. Hilton Head Island offers many ways to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We have much to be grateful for on this Island.  We have listed ways to give back locally.  If you are planing a visit to the Island for Thanksgiving, we have listed places to stay and ideas for your Thanksgiving feast.  It is our hope that you have a wonderful day of sharing thanks with family and friends.  Happy Thanksgiving, Ya’ll!

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Home prices in both the United States and Canada have steadily been increasing over the last several months, according to recent housing market data.

Evidently, CoreLogic Home Price Index recently reported that U.S. home prices have increased in nearly all major cities, and were up 12.4 percent year-over-year in August.

Meanwhile, in Canada, home prices are showing their own gains in terms of home prices!

This is encouraging news for anyone hoping to sell their home soon.

U.S., Canada Home Prices Are On the Rise!

Here are three encouraging signs for both the US housing market and Canadian housing market:

• Home prices increased month-over-month throughout the summer
• The proportion of distressed homes on local markets has been declining
• Home values are seeing year-over-year gains

More specifically, here’s a look at recent activity on the U.S. housing market:

• Home prices increased 1.8 percent between June and July.
• August saw a 0.9 percent increase in home prices
• Nevada saw the largest increase in home prices, with a 25.9 percent year-over-year home price increase.
• Nevada was followed by California, Arizona, Utah and Florida respectively in terms of home price appreciation.
• For metropolitan areas, San Bernandino and Los Angeles in California saw more than a 20 percent year-over-year increase in August. That makes them some of the highest jumpers in price appreciation.
• Out of the 100 largest cities, Akron, Ohio, was the only one to see prices decrease.
• New Mexico had the smallest appreciation, with just a 1.54 percent increase, followed by Vermont, Delaware, West Virginia and Kentucky. Those states had between a 2 and 3 percent increase.
• All of the above statistics factored in distressed sales. But if you take those out, home prices increased by 11.2 percent year-over-year in August 2013
• Still, home prices remain 17.1 percent below their peak in April 2006. 
• Analysts remain optimistic about the future, predicting a 12.7 percent price hike for September.

And here’s a look at what Canadians are seeing in terms of home prices:

• Canadian home prices increased by 0.1 percent between July and August
• Home prices were also 1.8 percent higher than a year earlier

Your National Real Estate Experts

The summer home-buying season ended on a positive note in most markets in Canada and the United States, which is sure to please home sellers everywhere!

And given that analysts are expecting this upward trend to continue, home owners can feel optimistic when they ultimately decide to list their properties!

Check back here soon for updates on housing market trends that may affect you!

Hilton Head Island, SC – Our Hilton Head “blog” now has over 7,500 readers and hundreds of visitors every day.  It has been our goal to keep you posted on the local happenings, area news, worthy events, property ownership ideas and important information. Hopefully one of these posts has given something back to you.  Listed below are the 10 articles in order of their popularity.  I would love to know what your favorite was.  Maybe it was one below or one from the past.  E-mail me and let me know! Read the rest of this entry

The condition of a property can often be corrected with price, however improvements to the condition will make a Hilton Head property sell faster and quite possibly for more money in the market today.  Condition is really the only thing a seller can change other than price to get their property sold.   With available inventory and selection that exist on Hilton Head Island, buyers do not have to settle for a property that needs work.  It is still a beauty contest for Hilton Head Island properties and the best will win.  Sellers have spotted this trend and have become pro-active in positioning their properties to be the next sold.  Listed below are several ways to make a property more saleable. Read the rest of this entry

Hilton Head buyers that are agonizing over a 1% counter offer from the seller are missing the point and usually the property in today’s market.  It is easy to understand why a buyer stays put on their offer in a declining market, but that option is going, going, gone.  Just look at Zillow pricing for Hilton Head over the last year.  It shows an improvement of almost 10%.  A buyer that gets sticker shock in an improving market, just may have to wait for the next recession to buy a home. Read the rest of this entry

The national housing market continues to show great gains lately, according to recent data from the Standard & Poor’s Case/Shiller home price index and other national sources.

Despite some setbacks like rising mortgage rates, the housing market is on an upward swing.

Just Consider These 3 Indicators:

1.) more sellers are listing their homes
2.) more lenders are approving loans
3.) more builders are constructing new developments

This is great news for the entire economy but particularly for interested home sellers!

U.S. Homes for Sale

Here’s an overview of the recent data released by several housing market experts, as originally reported by the New York Times:

• Home values increased 12.4 percent from July 2012 to July 2013
• Year-over-year home prices were up in all 20 cities tracked by Case/Shiller, varying from 3.5 percent in New York to 27.5 percent in Las Vegas.
• Month-to-month home increases were only 0.6 percent, a slowdown from the 1.7 percent increase in April and the 0.9 percent increase in May and June.
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported an 8.8 percent gain in home prices year-over-year.
• Meanwhile, Lennar and KB Home reported plenty of growth and profits in the third quarter, with Lennar seeing a 39 percent increase in 3rd quarter earning year-over-year and KB seeing its profit increase by 7 times year-over-year!
• The number of mortgage applications for home purchases has increased by 7 percent over the last year, although refinance requests have actually decreased 70 percent since early May.
• 2.5 million households regained equity in their homes during the second quarter, according to CoreLogic.

Experts credit the improvements on the housing market to an array of reasons, including people rushing to invest in property before prices continue to rise, lenders gradually relaxing their lending standards, an increase in overall housing inventory, a small inventory of foreclosures on the market and mass home purchasing by investors.

The recent activity on the housing market is sure to benefit the entire country, even if residents aren’t planning on buying or selling a house.

That’s because when the housing market improves, people tend to feel wealthier and thus are more likely to spend money.

This in turn bolsters the greater U.S. economy as a whole!

Still, it should be noted that rising mortgage rates may cool off the housing market slightly in the next few months. Rates have increased from 3.4 percent in January for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to 4.4 percent in July.

But these rates are well below what they’ve been in recent decades!

National Housing Market News that Affects You

As you can see, our national housing market is getting stronger everyday – which is good news for all of us!

Check back here soon for more updates on the current state of the national housing market and how it may affect your home buying and selling efforts.

The National Association of Realtors recently released some data that is sure to be encouraging for anyone thinking about selling a home.

Evidently, existing home sales increased for the second month in a row in May to a level that is significantly higher than last year.

What’s more, median home sales prices saw double-digit year-over-year increases.

All of this suggests that the national housing market is indeed rebounding.

Overview of the Recent Report from the National Association of Realtors

Here are some more highlights from the recent report:

• Sales of existing homes (which include single-family, town homes, condos and co-ops) increased 4.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.18 million.
• In April, that figure was 4.97 million.
• What’s more, sales of existing homes were 12.9 percent higher than the 4.59 million-unit pace that the nation saw in May 2012.
• Sales of existing homes have reached their highest levels since November 2009.
• In November 2009,  a lot of buyers were taking advantage of the tax stimulus program. Thus, the market jumped to 5.44 million
• Existing home sales have shown year-over-year increases for the last 23 months.
• Meanwhile, the national median price has seen year-over-year increases for the last 15 months.
• The total housing inventory at the end of May jumped 3.3 percent to 2.22 million existing homes for sale, which represents a 5.1-month supply.
• A year ago, the total supply of existing homes for sale was 6.5 months.
• In May, the median home sales price for existing homes was $208,000, up 15.4 percent from May 2012.
• For the last six months, the median existing home price has seen double-digit increases.
• Meanwhile, the total number of distressed homes hasn’t changed since April, representing about 18 percent of May sales.
•  Still, that’s the lowest supply of distressed homes on the market since October 2008.

Analysts say that because of the high demand for homes, buyers across the country can expect a limited supply of available homes for sale for the rest of 2013.

The only likely remedy for the housing shortage is an increase in new home construction by 50 percent, experts say.

Experts also noted that the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.45 percent to 3.54 percent between April and May.

In May 2012, that rate was 3.8 percent.

National Real Estate Trends that Affect You

The type of housing market environment we’re seeing right now is nearly opposite of what we saw during the housing boom.

Just six years ago, there was plenty of overbuilding going on all across the nation.

Today’s housing market is marked by a great shortage of homes for sale.

Pair that with a lot of pent-up home buyer demand as well as a 29 percent increase in buyer traffic and you have favorable conditions for home sellers across the country.