Seeking Alpha's Housing Tracker is a collection of housing-related excerpts from various sources, grouped by topic. Feel free to post any interesting links on the subject in the comments section below.
Quote of the Day
"Why try to catch a falling knife? Let it hit the ground. That's what an auction does.” - Jon Gollinger, co-founder of Accelerated Marketing Partners, which conducted a recent auction of luxury condos in California. Developers are increasingly selling condos at drastically reduced prices by auction, in an effort to find a pricing bottom. (WSJ, Sept. 10)
House Sales/Price Data
Most Local Home Sellers Losing Big Bucks In Deal. California: “Real estate research firm MDA DataQuick: Almost two-thirds of property owners who sold homes in San Diego County this summer lost money on the deal. Those who lost money were down an average of $161,000, or 35.5% less than the home had sold for previously. Altogether… $422 million in reduced home values. Of the 4,318 homes sold between June 22-Aug. 22… 2,624 or 62.7% were sold at a loss… Many of the sales [were] foreclosures… DataQuick: Losses on foreclosures running 39% off the previous sale price, compared with a 27% loss for nonforeclosures. In some ZIP codes, foreclosures represented nearly 90% of all sales. Many of the other sales were short sales.” (San Diego Union Tribune, Sept. 14)
Hawaii Homes In Top Third Of Priciest Markets. “Hawaii's home prices did not fall within the 10 most expensive nor least expensive markets in the U.S., according to Coldwell Banker's annual home price comparison index. The average sales price of a home on Honolulu in 2008 was recorded at $780,000, which falls in the upper-third tier of the market, right below Washington, D.C., at $785,000 and Pasadena, Calif., at $794,500.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, Sept. 14)
August Home Prices Fall From Last Year In LI, Queens. New York: Multiple Listing Service of Long Island: August median home-closing prices for Long Island and Queens were nearly 8% lower than a year ago, but edged up slightly from July in Nassau and Queens. In Suffolk, the median closing price last month was $370,000, down from $389,000 in July. But Nassau's median price was $477,500 last month, up from $458,500 in July; and in Queens, the figure increased to $410,000 from $399,900.” (Newsday, Sept. 13)
Scottsdale Is Arizona's Priciest Housing Market. “Scottsdale is Arizona's most expensive housing market and Mesa is the most affordable, according to the annual Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index. The index, released last week, tracked prices of similar homes in 315 U.S. cities. The average sales price in Scottsdale for this year through July was $472,833, compared with $231,720 in Mesa. La Jolla, Calif., was the most expensive U.S. housing market at $1.84 million, followed by Greenwich, Conn., $1.78M, and Beverly Hills, $1.77M.” (Arizona Republic, Sept. 13)
Tucson's Median Home Price Plunges By 7.5 Percent. “Arizona: Tucson Association of Realtors MLS: The median price for homes sold in Tucson dropped sharply last month… The median price in August was $185,000, the lowest since January 2005. Previously this year, the median, or middle price of homes sold, has been holding steady at about $200,000. The fall to $185,000 is 7.5% below where it was in July and about 16% below where it was in August 2007. The average price of homes sold in August was $238,504, down 6.4% from July and down 12.9% from August 2007. Realtors attributed the sudden median price drop to an influx of foreclosures and short sales.” (Arizona Daily Star, Sept. 12)
Maui Realty Still Cooling. “August sales for Maui's real estate sector continued to trend downward; however, there were pockets of optimism as August's median residential and condominium sales prices rose to nine-month highs. Last month, 65 single-family homes changed hands in Maui, a 21.7% drop from 83 in the prior year. Single-family home prices fared better, dropping only 2.3% to $625,000 from the year-ago $639,996. There were 50 condominium sales last month, a 56.5% drop from 115 in August 2007. However, the median price paid for a condominium rose 6.8% to $632,500 from $592,000 in August 2007.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, Sept. 11)
Home Sales Slip For Month. South Carolina: “Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors: Grand Strand home sales and prices continued year-over-year declines in August… Realtors sold 472 homes in August, a 36% drop from August 2007. The median selling price of a single-family house fell 10% to $194,580, and the median condo price fell 7% to $155,000… The number of condos on the market inched down again last month to 7,574, about 397 fewer than were on the market in January and 1,979 fewer than in August 2007.” (Myrtle Beach Online, Sept. 11)
Condo-Minium. “Developers increasingly are resorting to auctions to unload units at steep discounts. Unlike ubiquitous foreclosed-home auctions, these events seek to establish market prices for untainted, often upscale properties… Thirty-nine luxury coastal condominiums in Long Beach, Calif., went under the hammer in late August at about [50% off]… Thirty-three of the 39 condos sold… Marty Clouser, SVP of the auction group at Kennedy Wilson Inc.: "Developers are at a point where they feel an auction will yield similar, if not better, results than waiting 18 months to have the inventory absorbed.” Still, so-called accelerated sales strategies are being adopted more slowly in the Miami area, where overbuilding has left the city, by some estimates with a 35-year supply of condos.” (WSJ, Sept. 10)
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