New-home sales soared in April!

New-home sales soared in April, an unexpected surge marking the biggest climb in 14 years, according to a report that showed declining inventories and signaled hope for the long-suffering housing sector.

Separately, demand for expensive goods rose mildly in April, according to a government report Thursday that also showed capital spending by businesses grew again.
Sales of single-family homes increased for the first time in four months, rising by 16% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 981,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. March new-home sales decreased 1.4% to an annual rate to 844,000, a figure revised down from an earlier estimated 858,000. Sales fell 3.8% in February and 13% in January. Year-to-year, new-home sales were 11% lower than the level in April 2006.

The average price of a home last month decreased to $299,100, down from $324,700 in March and $310,300 in April 2006. The median price was $229,100, lower than $257,600 in March and $257,000 in April 2006. more....

Where Home Prices Are Hot Now Despite the Housing Slowdown

The housing news isn't all grim. Even as prices sag nationwide, there are several cities in the country where home values are climbing smartly.
Portland, Ore., Boise, Idaho, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Houston, Austin, and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., are among the cities bucking the national trend. Homes' appreciation there between the fourth quarters of 2005 and 2006 far exceeded the national average of 5.9%, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. In some markets, like Boise and Seattle, the appreciation jumped well into the double digits.

There's no single secret of these cities' apparent success, but many of them missed the housing boom of the past five years. From 2001 to 2005, annual appreciation in these cities was between 2% and 5%, far slower than the 7% to 12% national average, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (OFHEO calculates appreciation based on repeat sales or refinancings of the same single-family properties.) Now, prices are playing catch-up.
Location, Location
• In Portland, Ore., Seattle, Salt Lake City, Boise, Idaho, Houston, Austin, Charlotte and Raleigh, appreciation has exceeded the U.S. average.
• These areas missed out on the recent housing boom and are now playing catch-up.
• Most of the cities have educated workers and solid economies with strong central industries. All seem to be luring buyers from depreciating markets. more...

Securing a Loan Gets Tougher....

Mortgage lenders are beginning to scrutinize borrowers more closely, causing some loan applicants, even those with good credit, to face higher costs and more hassles.
As the number of delinquent mortgages climbs, lenders have tightened their standards for issuing loans, including such well-publicized moves as raising minimum credit scores and cutting back on 100% financing and low-documentation loans. Now, some lenders are probing more intently would-be borrowers' finances. They are taking a tougher look at how much the property a borrower wants to buy is worth.

Tighter lending standards are adding pressure to an already soft housing market. Last week, the National Association of Realtors forecast the first annual decline in the median price of an existing home since the group began tracking home prices in the late 1960s, in part because mortgages are more difficult to get. more...

Spring Is In the Air! and Love is Everyhere!

It must be spring. Love is in the air.
"O! how this spring of love resemblethThe uncertain glory of an April day!"
--William Shakespeare

Supply of Homes Continues to Grow, Reflecting Weak Sales

The supply of houses and condominiums available for sale continues to grow quickly in much of the U.S., reflecting weak sales. The number of homes listed for sale in 18 major metropolitan areas at the end of April was up 7% from March, according to data compiled by ZipRealty Inc., a national real-estate brokerage firm in Emeryville, Calif. The data cover listings of single-family homes, condos and town houses on local multiple-listing services.

The increase was above the seasonal norm. Over the past 22 years, home inventories nationwide have increased an average of 4.5% in April from March, according to Credit Suisse Group. Spring is the busiest time of year for home shopping, as families with children try to get settled ahead of the next school year.

The National Association of Realtors yesterday again lowered its forecast, predicting that sales of previously occupied homes will total 6.29 million, down 2.9% from 2006. A month ago, the trade group projected that sales this year would slip 2.2%. Lawrence Yun, a senior economist for the Realtors, said many speculators have fled the market. more....

Happy Mothers Day!

Oh, mama! You've treated us so well. You hauled our friends to gymnastics class, iced one-hundred sugar cookies for the school's bake sale and even paid for all those extraneous classes toward our liberal arts degrees. Yep, we owe you a big one this Mother's Day, so that's why we're going to treat you to these sumptuous brunches and divine dinners. Need some brunch ideas...try these...more...

They Do Love their Mommies

NEW YORK -- MOTHER'S DAY Vicious toward the rest of mankind, mobsters from Capone on down have always had one fierce loyalty -- and this is their holiday

Each and every Mother's Day until he landed behind bars, mobster Jimmy ''The Gent'' Burke performed a sacrosanct ritual.
Burke, the mastermind behind the $5.8 million Lufthansa heist immortalized in ''Goodfellas,'' dropped a few C-notes on dozens of red roses. He then toured the homes of his jailed Luchese crime family pals, providing their mothers with a bouquet and a kiss. He never missed a year, or a mom. more....

U.S. House Prices Slide

Tighter credit and a growing glut of properties are depressing an already weak U.S. housing market, wrecking the industry's hopes for an early rebound.
That leaves buyers in a strong position to negotiate for bargains during the spring home-shopping season, the busiest time of the year for housing sales.
Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of previously occupied homes in March dropped 8.4% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.12 million units -- the largest monthly drop since 1989. The trade group said the median price for homes was $217,000 in March, down 0.3% from a year earlier.

The data reflect sales that closed in March; most of those were negotiated in January and February. The Realtors said bad weather in February hurt March sales. The drop in March followed three months when home sales increased nationally.
Since March, the market appears to have deteriorated further in many parts of the country. Reports from builders show that sales in the past few weeks "have really plunged," says Ivy Zelman, a Cleveland-based housing analyst for Credit Suisse Group. She says prices of new homes also are falling as tighter credit eliminates some potential buyers and builders struggle to shed excess inventory.

Stricter lending standards will reduce demand for housing by 10% this year from where it would have been had credit remained loose, estimates Thomas Lawler, a housing economist in Vienna, Va. He expects housing prices, as measured by the national S&P/Case-Shiller index, to fall 7% in the fourth quarter of 2007 from the year-earlier level.

Standard & Poor's reported yesterday that the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index in February was down 1% from a year earlier. The metro-area price changes ranged from drops of 7.8% in Detroit and 5% in San Diego to rises of 10.6% in Seattle and 7.7% in Portland, Ore. In 15 of the 20 cities, March prices were down from a month before.

Not all delinquent payments or defaults lead to foreclosures, of course, but most experts are expecting a sizable increase in foreclosures over the next year or two as home prices weaken. That will add to the glut of homes for sale.
In areas near new construction, sellers of older homes are up against builders determined to cut prices as much as necessary to shed inventory. "We're marking our inventory to market across the country," Donald Tomnitz, chief executive of D.R. Horton Inc., said in a conference call with analysts last week. more...

Go Bulls!

They're not Done doing the rounds...

When the Washington Wizards ousted the Bulls to advance in the 2004-05 postseason, the team had buttons made up that read, ''2nd Round.'' No need for the Bulls' promotions staff to worry about such fluff. This team wants to add another trophy to the six that sit in the case at the Berto Center. more...