About one-third of U.S. home purchases were paid in cash.
Nearly one-third (31.9%) of U.S. home purchases were paid for with all cash in October, according to a report from Redfin. That’s up from 29.9% a year earlier and the highest share since 2014.
Source: National Mortgage Professionals
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Francis
Down times are excellent times to be buying a home.
I always remind my clients: as long as you can afford comfortably the home you buy, you have a fairly
stable job, and you know you can find a new job should you lose your current one, then any time is good. If you know you may have to sell in one or two years, then it may be best to continue renting until you are more sure of your situation. Otherwise, why continue paying a mortgage - your landlord's mortgage?
This being said, buying a house
requires a significant amount of money and time. The journey isn’t always easy,
but when you get the keys to your new home, it can be one of the most rewarding
feelings ever.
Knowing the home-buying journey, what tools are at your disposal and creating
relationships with experts who can help you get the job done is the key to
getting there.
Francis
Conforming Loan Limits are raised to $1,089,300 by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and this is a big deal for home buyers in California.
Source: California Association of Realtors
Francis
International buyers purchased $59 billion worth of U.S.
residential properties from April 2021–March 2022, up 8.5% from the previous
year and breaking a three-year streak of declines.
The average ($598,200) and median ($366,100) purchase prices
for international buyers were the highest ever recorded by NAR.
China, Canada, India, Mexico and Brazil were the top five
countries of origin by U.S. residential sales dollar volume. The top U.S.
destinations for foreign buyers were Florida, California, Texas, Arizona, New
York and North Carolina.
See the full article here by Troy Green, National Association of Realtors.
Francis
Francis
These are the average and median prices for all sold homes combined in the County of Santa Clara over the past 2 and a half years, month after month.
In this graph we can see that:
- while January is always lower, the best months for a higher sales price (in average) are March to June. while we note that, we have to remember that January average prices are the results of DEC. sales, so all months graphs are the results of the previous months sales. It is not true of all transactions, of course, but we are talking "statistics" here. This is over a large number of transactions.
- the arrows point to the usual rebound in prices in September and October, after the months of July and August, which are traditionally slower.
- the months of November and December are traditionally slower and prices are down during these months - as an average. This was not true this past year though in 2021, and this is noteworthy. In fact, "in the trenches", us Realtors were surprised to see the level of activity in November and December. In general at that time of the year buyers can expect a more relaxed and slower market. Well, not in 2021!
- prices in 2022 are geared for an overall up year as an average; the market started very strong at the beginning of the year, and as we now know has slowed down significantly around may (which is more visible on the median price graphs). However the market is still very active, just not at the high of April-May. The market is now more balanced, with fewer multiple offers and prices which have scaled back at the level of six to nine months ago.
It is important to remember that:
1/ multiple offers depend on the asking price. A very low asking price will draw multiple offers.
2/ it is not expected that prices will "crash" as demand is still very strong, and interest rates are still historically low, as the 3rd graph shows.
3/ a recession, even if it comes around, does not equate necessarily to lower real estate prices - see the last graph.
4/ most analysts and banks forecast real estate prices up every year for the coming years.
Francis
Source: The Skimm
Read the full article here.
Francis
In some cases, a property’s chain of title may go hundreds of years, back to
when the government first granted the right of ownership of the land, by way of
Patent - and perhaps the home’s first owner. Today, when a new buyer closes,
and the paperwork is filed with the local office that handles real estate
records and filings, the new owner’s name will join that chain.
Francis
