Study Finds Gaps in Online Real Estate Sites Listing Information.

Study Finds Gaps in Online Real Estate Sites Listing Information

Some home shoppers may not be getting a full or accurate picture when they view listing information on some popular Online Real Estate Sites, suggests a study conducted by the WAV Group on behalf of Redfin.

The study evaluated the accuracy of information contained in more than 6,000 listings among 33 ZIP codes on five sites: Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, and two regional real estate brokerages — Windermere and Long & Foster.

The Redfin study found that 36 percent of the agent-listed homes shown as active listings on Zillow and 37 percent of those on Trulia were no longer for sale on the local multiple listing service.

“Online Real Estate Sites do not dispute that their listings have some gaps and inaccuracies, though they dispute some of the particulars of the Redfin study,” The New York Times reports. “There’s a simple reason they don’t have everything their rivals do: Neither of them belongs to the local MLSs, which provide the most complete set of agent-listed properties.”

Online Real Estate Sites are not real estate brokerages. Real estate brokers can provide electronic feeds or add their listings so they appear on the real estate sites. As such, some agents that do provide feeds to the sites don’t take listings down quickly after the property sells, says Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin.

Some Online Real Estate Sites say it is forming stronger relationships with brokers so that it can improve the accuracy and completeness of its listing information, according to The New York Times. Zillow said it was making a similar effort.

“There is no gold standard for listings data, so comparing Zillow’s MLS-only listings to an MLS isn’t going to give you the whole picture,” says Cynthia Nowak, a spokeswoman for Zillow, adding that Zillow also includes items that aren’t often listed on the MLS, like for-sale-by-owner listings and new construction.

Source: “On Big Real Estate Sites, Study Finds Gaps in Listings,” The New York Times (Oct. 3, 2012)

Mortgage applications for refinancing Soar to 3-Year Highs.

Mortgage applications for refinancing Soar to 3-Year Highs

Mortgage applications for refinancing and home purchases posted strong gains this week following news of record low interest rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. The gains were led by a surge in applications for refinancings.

Mortgage applications for refinancing rose to their highest level since April 2009, soaring 19.6 percent over the week.

Overall, the MBA reported that Mortgage applications for refinancing — including applications for refinancing and home purchases — soared 16.6 percent for the week ending Sept. 28.

Applications for home purchases — viewed as a main indicator for home sales — increased 3.9 percent last week, MBA reported.

Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, says that the Fed’s latest move to boost the economy is putting downward pressure on mortgage rates and leading to the rising of Mortgage applications for refinancing. The Fed announced recently it would buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month until the job market improves. The program, known as “quantitative easing” or “QE3,” is causing mortgage rates to fall.

Source: “Mortgage Applications Jump as Low Rates Spur Refinancing Demand,” Reuters (Oct. 3, 2012)

Home Builders give Hopeful Buyers Financial Therapy.

Home Builders give Hopeful Buyers Financial Therapy

Home builders are conducting financial boot camps to help buyers qualify for home mortgages.

Home builders such as D.R. Horton Inc., Lennar, and PulteGroup Inc. are offering financial programs about repairing credit scores, creating budgets, and applying for loans to hopeful home buyers who are struggling to qualify for loans nowadays.

“These fiscal rehabs are one reason many Home builders are boosting sales, even though mortgage lending is tight,” Reuters reports.

For example, Home builders like D.R. Horton and Lennar have employed financial advisers that are helping potential home buyers with repairing their credit and developing strategies to help raise their credit scores. The buyers who go through the “financial bootcamps” are then typically able to get a mortgage from the builders’ in-house lending connections.

Some are leery about the financial bootcamps, however. Critics say that builders are helping buyers obtain government-backed loans that require no or low down payments.

“You have people applying for loans that there’s no way they can pay, but it doesn’t matter because the ability to repay isn’t the basis of the loan. It’s the ability to pass underwriting so the loan can be sold,” Brett Weiss, a bankruptcy attorney in Washington, D.C., told Reuters.

However, Home builders argue that the home buyers who go through their financial programs must still meet stringent underwriting standards for the government loans, and they insist that they are not putting people in homes they cannot afford. The builders say that buyers with enough cash and income actually are able to lower their monthly housing costs by buying a home than renting, since mortgage rates are so low and housing affordability so high.

Source: “Homebuilders Put Buyers into Credit Bootcamp,” Reuters (Sept. 28, 2012)

Home Ownership Rate Stands at 65.5%

Home Ownership Rate Stands at 65.5%

Americans still favor home ownership. The U.S. home ownership rate continues to remain around 65.5 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau reported late last week. The home ownership rate is nearly the same as it was in the second quarter of 2011 at 65.9 percent.

The Census Bureau also reported that vacancy rates for housing were 2.1 percent and vacancy rates for renting were 8.6 percent in the second quarter.

The home ownership rate peaked at 69.2 percent in 2004. Home owners outnumber renters in nearly 100 percent of the nation’s 3,095 counties evaluated by the Census.

Keweenaw County, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, posted one of the best home ownership rates: 89.8 percent.

Source: “National Home Ownership Rate Is Pegged at 65 Percent,” The Business Journals (Sept. 28, 2012)

New Home Prices Soar to 5-Year High

New Home Prices Soar to 5-Year High

The median price of a new home rose a record-breaking 11.2 percent in August, reaching $256,000. That marks the highest level since March 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

The prices of a new home in August soared 17 percent compared to last year at this time.

The number of new homes that sold in higher price ranges — $400,000 or more — rose significantly in August.

“This reflects the fact that people who are able to buy a new home right now are those in higher-income ranges who have cash and equity on hand, while first-time buyers are having a tougher time getting qualified for a mortgage,” says David Crowe, the National Association of Home Builders’ chief economist.

As prices rose, inventories for a new home in August remained at record lows. It would take 4.5 months to clear the houses on the market at August’s sales pace, the Census Bureau reported.

Single-family new home sales mostly held steady in August, remaining at two-year highs. Sales slipped 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 373,000.

On a regional basis, new-home sales in August soared 20 percent in the Northeast, 1.8 percent in the Midwest, and 0.9 percent in the West. New-home sales declined 4.9 percent in the South in August.

“New home sales in August effectively tied the pace they set in the previous month, when they were the strongest we’ve seen in more than two years — so this is really a continuation of the good news we’ve been getting on the housing front,” says Barry Rutenberg, NAHB chairman. “Looking at the big picture, sales have been trending gradually upward since the middle of last year as favorable interest rates and prices have driven more consumers to get back in the market for a newly built home.”

Source: “New Home Sales Ease, But Prices Hit 5-Year High,” Reuters (Sept. 26, 2012) and the National Association of Home Builders