Miami office market vacancy to fall in 2012

Wellls Fargo Financial Center

Miami’s office market is projected to see its most significant annual decline in vacancy since 2006, according to a report from Marcus & Millichap. Miami’s market has attracted a number of U.S. and international firms in the last year, contributing to the vacancy drop. The firm projects vacancy in the Miami market to fall by 90 basis points this year to 16.2 percent, erasing most of what was a 120-basis-point jump in 2011. Asking rents are also expected to increase by 2 percent, along with a 3 percent rise in effective rents to $24.86 per square foot. — Alexander Britell

Zillow: South Florida home prices reach bottom

April 25, 2012 10:30AM

South Florida’s home prices have bottomed out, according to Zillow, the Palm Beach Post reported. “The last two years we’ve seen the rate of decline slow and now we’re seeing this uptick for the first time, where instead of sloping down, the curve is sloping up,” said Svenja Gudell, a senior economist at Zillow. The company projects South Florida prices to increase by 5.6 percent this year. The price rise is being driven by investment-seekers, according to Gudell. [Palm Beach Post]

RE/MAX Survey of 53 Metros Finds Home Prices Up Again

According to a March 2012 housing report released by RE/MAX, home prices have risen for the second month in a row now on a year-over-year basis. The RE/MAX report included 53 metro areas and found the median price in March was $184,525, a 7.3 percent price increase from February, and a 5.8 percent increase from a year ago in March 2011. A consecutive increase on a year-over-year basis has not occurred since August 2010, according to the report.

Miami, Fort Lauderdale among most-searched-for real estate targets

Miami and Fort Lauderdale are both among the most-searched-for cities by those looking to buy homes nationwide, the Miami Herald reported. Numbers from Realtor.com showed that Fort Lauderdale ranked 17th, and Miami ranked 18th. Another Florida metro area, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, was ranked fifth. That comes in line with data reported earlier this year by Trulia, which showed Florida as having seven of the top 10 metro areas in terms of online demand. [Miami Herald]

Midtown sells 39 units in two weeks

The 2 Midtown property in Miami has sold 39 of its remaining 61 units in two weeks, according to Fortune International, which is marketing the condominium tower. The sales include a penthouse unit that sold for $1.5 million. Most buyers are paying all cash, although Fortune is offering a mix of financing options for some units at the project, which is just south of 36th Street in downtown Miami. Fortune CEO Edgardo Defortuna told The Real Deal about his strategy at the property earlier this month. — Alexander Britell

Economist: Florida existing home prices could rise 10 percent in 2012

Existing home prices in Florida could increase by as much as 10 percent by the end of this year, according to Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, the Palm Beach Post reported. “Compared to other parts of the country, the Florida market, particularly the South Florida market, is [recovering] very rapidly from oversupply to a shortage of inventory,” Yun said at a conference in Palm Beach. “That clearly implies we will begin to see some modest turnaround.” [Palm Beach Post]

RE/MAX Housing Report

RE/MAX Published their housing report. Press the link below to view it.

RE/MAX Housing Report

South Florida residential inventory

Compiled by Condo Vultures Realty using the South Florida Shared Multiple Listing Service. Active listings are properties where no current sale contract exists; pending sales are properties in which a contract for sale has been executed, but not yet closed. Listing brokers control the status of a property listing. — Adam Fusfeld

U.S. home building slows, permits hit 3½-year high

WASHINGTON (AP) – April 17, 2012 – U.S. builders started work on fewer homes in March after they sharply cut back on apartment construction. But builders requested the most permits for future projects in 3½ years, suggesting many anticipate the housing market could improve over the next year.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 654,000 homes last month. That’s down 5.8 percent from February. Apartment construction, which can fluctuate sharply from month to month, fell nearly 20 percent. Single-family homebuilding was mostly unchanged.

Building permits, a gauge of future construction, rose 4.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 747,000. That’s the highest level since September 2008.

Jonathan Basile, director of economics at Credit Suisse, said the increase in permits is a “good sign for broader economic activity” and should lead to increase in construction in the coming months.

Yet the rate of construction and the level of permits requested remain only about half the pace considered healthy. Economists say that construction activity is still depressed and the housing market has a long way to go before it is back to full health.

Since the fall, builders had slowly grown more confident in the market after seeing more people express interest in buying a home. But that interest has yet to materialize into many sales. As a result, builder confidence fell this month for the first time since September.

Part of the reason for the previous optimism was a mild winter that allowed builders to keep working in most parts of the country. And an improving job market has many slightly more optimistic about home sales this year.

January and February were the best for sales of previously occupied homes in five years. And an average of 212,000 jobs was created each month from January through March. Unemployment has sunk from 9.1 percent in August to 8.2 percent last month.

Though new homes represent just 20 percent of the overall home market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

There are some hurdles to a smooth recovery: Builders are struggling to compete with deeply discounted foreclosures and short sales – when lenders allow homes to be sold for less than what’s owed on the mortgage.

After previous recessions, housing accounted for at least 15 percent of U.S. economic growth. Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, it has contributed just 4 percent.

Another reason sales have fallen is that previously occupied homes have become a better deal than new homes. The median price of a new home is about 30 percent higher than the median price for a re-sale. That’s nearly twice the markup typical in a healthy housing market.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press, Derek Kravitz, AP real estate writer.

US home prices by city, at a glance

MIAMI – April 16, 2012 – After steady declines, U.S. home prices rose slightly in February and March in some major metro areas, according to CoreLogic and Trulia, two real estate data firms. Price gains have occurred in many hard-hit areas, such as Miami and Phoenix, while losses have been reported in cities ranging from Las Vegas to Seattle to Wilmington, Del.

Here’s a look at some of the cities with the sharpest home price gains and losses over the past year, according to Trulia:

Best metro areas year-over-year change

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.: 14.8%
Miami: 14.1%
Phoenix: 13.2%
Pittsburgh: 9.2%
Little Rock, Ark.: 6.7%
Orlando: 6.3%
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Fla.: 6.2%
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla.: 6.1%
West Palm Beach, Fla.: 5.8%
Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich.: 5.6%

Worst metro areas year-over-year change

Tacoma, Wash.: -11.9%
Seattle: -9.1%
Sacramento, Calif.: -8.3%
Las Vegas: -7.7%
Wilmington, Del.: -7.7%
Columbia, S.C.: -7.3%
Cleveland: -6.9%
Fresno, Calif.: -6.8%
Milwaukee: -6.7%
Allentown, Pa.: -6.7%
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Foreclosure Filings Decline in U.S. to Lowest Since 2007

Foreclosure filings in the U.S. fell in the first quarter to their lowest level in more than four years after lenders under legal scrutiny slowed actions against delinquent homeowners, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

Default, auction and repossession notices were sent to 572,928 properties, down 2 percent from the previous three months and 16 percent from the first quarter of 2011. It was the lowest quarterly tally since the fourth quarter of 2007, the Irvine, California-based data firm said today in a statement. One in every 230 U.S. households received a filing.

“The low foreclosure numbers in the first quarter are not an indication that the massive reservoir of distressed properties built up over the past few years has somehow miraculously evaporated,” RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer Brandon Moore said in the statement. “The dam may not burst in the next 30 to 45 days, but it will eventually burst, and everyone downstream should be prepared for that to happen.”

The five largest banks agreed Feb. 9 to a $25 billion settlement after their foreclosure practices were subjected to a 16-month probe by all 50 state attorneys general. The accord removed some barriers to property seizures and cleared the way for lender actions to resume without releasing banks from individual or class-action claims or criminal liability.

Estimates of the number of homes that will be lost to foreclosure or distressed sale range from 1.6 million currently in the pipeline -- the forecast from Santa Ana, California-based CoreLogic Inc. (CLGX) -- to 8 million homes over the next five years, according to Oliver Chang, a housing analyst with Morgan Stanley in New York.

Surge of Foreclosures

A surge of foreclosures was started between August and November of 2011, and with legal delays it now takes an average of 370 days to finish the repossession process, Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman, wrote in an e-mail.

“We’d expect many of those foreclosure starts from last year to become completed foreclosures around the same time period this year,” he said.

Filings totaled 198,853 in March, down 4 percent from February and 17 percent from a year earlier. It was the first time since July 2007 that the number fell below 200,000.

The largest decreases occurred in states with no court supervision of repossessions, led byArkansas with a 79 percent decline from a year earlier and Nevada with a 62 percent drop, RealtyTrac said. Both states passed laws that “disrupted the normal foreclosure process,” according to the data firm. Filings fell 55 percent in Washington, 41 percent in Arizona, 31 percent in Texas and 21 percent in California.

Connecticut, Florida

States with judicial oversight of the process had increases from the first quarter of 2011, with filings rising 45 percent in Indiana, 38 percent in Connecticut and 26 percent in Massachusetts,Florida and South Carolina, RealtyTrac said. They were followed by Pennsylvania, with a 23 percent gain.

Judicial states had bigger decreases in filings last year from “artificial” delays, resulting in backlogs that are showing up in gains now, Blomquist said.

Nevada had the nation’s highest rate of foreclosure filings per household at one in 95 in the first quarter, followed by California at one in 103 and Arizona at one in 106. Georgia was fourth at one in 119, and Florida fifth at one in 123.

California led in filings with 133,245 properties receiving notices, accounting for 23 percent of the U.S. total. Florida was second at 73,344 and Illinois third at 37,660. Georgia followed at 34,234, Michigan had 27,934 and Arizona had 26,956, according to RealtyTrac, which sells default data from more than 2,200 counties representing 90 percent of the U.S. population.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Levy in San Francisco at dlevy13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net

U.S. Home Prices Have Smallest Decline in More Than 2 Years

U.S. home prices fell 0.8 percent in January from a year earlier, the smallest decline in more than two years, as the U.S. property market begins to stabilize.

The region that includes Massachusetts and Connecticut led the decline, falling 3.5 percent, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said today in a report from Washington. In the area that encompasses North Dakota and Minnesota, prices jumped 5.2 percent, the only region to show an increase over January 2011.

While demand for homes has increased in recent months, prices have been slow to follow.Sales (ETSLTOTL) of previously owned U.S. houses held close to an almost two-year high in February, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.

“The market for single-family homes picked up in the second half of 2011, after being stuck near the bottom for nearly three years,” Patrick Newport and Michelle Valverde, economists for IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in a note to clients yesterday. “This pickup is real, but the road to recovery will be a long one.”

The FHFA’s U.S. House Price Index was 19.2 percent below its April 2007 peak and roughly the same as the February 2004 level. The year-over-year decline in January was the smallest since November 2009, when prices fell 0.6 percent.

Prices in January were unchanged from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the FHFA.

The report measures changes in real estate values using purchases of properties with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae (FNMA) or Freddie Mac. (FMCC) It doesn’t provide a specific price for houses.

As measured by the National Association of Realtors, the median home price was $154,600 in January. In February, it climbed to $156,600, the trade group said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Prashant Gopal in New York at pgopal2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net

McCraney completes four leases in WPB

April 12, 2012 12:00PM

Vista Business Park

McCraney Property Group has completed four leases at Vista Business Park in West Palm Beach, the company announced today. Pure Global Brands renewed a lease for 7,300 square feet at McCraney’s Vista Business Park in West Palm Beach, along with an additional 1,152 square feet. Three other tenants signed at Vista, including Grapevine Billing and Consulting Services, which leased 5,240 square feet, Classic Promotions, which expanded to 8,000 square feet and National Analysis Center, which expanded to 10,000 square feet. “We’re excited to see the market turnaround with more demand for our Class A flex space,” said Steven McCraney, president and CEO. — Alexander Britell

Is Buying A Florida Condo Too Risky?

By JUNE FLETCHER

Q. My real estate agent told me to stay away from buying a condo. She felt that too many Florida condo associations are not financially solvent. What's your opinion?

-Tampa

A. Buying a condo in Tampa is a gamble right now, but worth considering.

It's clear that your market is changing. According to the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, multifamily sales (condos and townhouses) fell almost 26% in February from a year earlier, while pending sales were flat. But during the same period, inventory levels fell to 3.6 months, less than half the level of the year before, and median sales prices jumped by almost 38% to $80,000. The percentage of the original sales price received also increased by 5.1 percent to 92.9%. These figures suggest that while the hangover from the great building bender of a few years ago continues, it's abating.

Yet it's not clear that the market has really turned the corner, largely because no one is sure when the many condos taken back by banks—the so-called "shadow inventory"—will be released for sale. Moreover, new foreclosures keep coming: in Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, one out of every 315 housing units received a foreclosure filing in March, compared to one out of every 662 nationwide, according to RealtyTrac.

For buyers, this is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, foreclosures depress prices, making units more affordable. On the other, once you've purchased in a community that has had many defaults, its collective troubles become your own. So even if you faithfully pay your condo fees, if too many of the other owners don't, shared facilities like exercise rooms and tennis courts will become neglected. And if the complex needs a major repair, like a new roof, the association will have to sock you with a special assessment that could run into the thousands of dollars.

That's why it's important to check out the community carefully before making an offer. Walk around looking for signs of poor maintenance or financial distress, such as a dirty or drained pool, peeling paint, weedy landscaping or unattended security guardhouse. Ask neighbors and local real estate agents about the development's reputation: Are there more renters and empty units than there used to be? Do fees seem reasonable for the level of amenities provided?

Then, try to gauge the community's long-term financial health. Contact the association's treasurer and ask to see the annual budget and reserves. Ask if the association has put liens on any units for unpaid dues, if it's being sued or if any special assessments are planned.

Make any contract you put on a unit contingent on your real estate attorney's review and approval. By Florida law, you'll have three days to review condo docs (15 days if the condo is new). If you find anything objectionable in these docs within that time frame, you have the right to rescind your purchase without penalty. And if you don't get these docs, you don't have to close.

The Wall Street Journal

Fla.’s housing market continues on positive track in Feb.

ORLANDO, Fla. – March 21, 2012 – Pending sales and median prices rose, while the inventory of homes for sale dropped in Florida’s housing market in February, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®.

“Growing optimism about the economy, gains in the state’s jobs market and continued low mortgage rates are generating interest in Florida real estate,” says 2012 Florida Realtors President Summer Greene, regional manager of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Florida 1st in Fort Lauderdale. “Increased statewide pending sales for both single family existing homes, up 36.1 percent, and for townhouse-condo properties, up 19.8 percent, show that buyers are encouraged by these positive signs.”

Pending sales refer to contracts that are signed but not yet completed or closed; closed sales typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in February was $134,000, up 7.2 percent from the year-ago figure, according to data from Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis department and vendor partner 10K Research and Marketing. The statewide median for townhome-condo properties was $95,000, up 15.9 percent over Feb. 2011.

The national median sales price for existing single-family homes in January 2012 was $154,400, which is 2.6 percent below the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). In California, the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in January was $268,280; in Massachusetts, it was $265,000; and in Maryland, it was $219,500.

The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. Housing industry analysts note that sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes.

Statewide sales of existing single-family homes totaled 14,270 in February 2012, down 4.8 percent compared to the year-ago figure. Looking at Florida’s year-to-year comparison for sales of townhomes/condos, a total of 7,545 units sold statewide last month, down 16 percent from those sold in February 2011. NAR reported the national median existing condo price in January 2012 was $156,600.

In February, the months supply of inventory stood at 6.2 for single-family homes and at 6.3 for the condos/townhomes, according to Florida Realtors.

“The overall picture that these statistics show is of a stabilizing housing market,” said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. John Tuccillo. “While closed sales are down, so are listings and so is inventory. These are signs of a market that’s moving from being a buyer’s market to a balanced market.

“For the past year, median sales prices have been slowly rising; and over a longer period of time, prices have really flattened out – again, signs of an improving housing market.”

The interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.89 percent in February 2012, down from the 4.95 percent average during the same month a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac.

To see the full statewide housing activity report, go to Florida Realtors Media Center and look under Latest Releases, or download the February data report PDF under Market Data.

© 2012 Florida Realtors®              

U.S. housing recovery depends on foreclosure processing, mortgage rates

April 12, 2012 02:15PM

Home prices nationwide are finally bottoming out, though foreclosures threaten the market’s strength, Reuters reported. Reuters’ survey of 24 economists forecast the Case-Shiller Home Price Index rising 2 percent next year, up 0.5 percent from the 1.5 percent growth projected in the news agency’s January survey.
Traditionally, housing leads the American economy out of a dip, Reuters said. However, this recession has proved different, likely because home prices have “an oversized reach,” in the current economy, the survey shows. Home prices fallen approximately 32 percent from their peak, at the end of 2005, Reuters said. And an estimated 11 million Americans are underwater on their mortgages.
“We are expecting a gradual improvement, but if we get a big wave of new foreclosures coming to the market, price declines could be even greater,” Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York, who was consulted in the survey, told Reuters. The economists found that Americans’ expectation that more foreclosed homes would still be flooding the market was causing them to delay purchasing a home.
The economists also said that the purchase of additional mortgage-backed securities by the government might help keep mortgage rates at their historic lows, which could be key to spurring a housing recovery. [Reuters]