Home Sellers Respond to Growing Market by Jim Woodard on Creators.com

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Home Sellers Respond to Growing Market

More homeowners are deciding this is a good time to place their home on the market than was previously predicted by analysts. Many of those owners want to get a jump-start on the active spring selling season.

Home listing inventories increased by 1.15 percent month-over-month in February, and houses stayed on the market for an average of 98 days, down 9.26 percent from January. Month-over-month list prices also increased to $189,900, which was reported by the National Association of Realtors.

"As we enter the busiest time of the year for home buyers and sellers, our latest housing trend data shows just how competitive the market is with a significant national housing recovery well underway," Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, Inc., said in a statement.

"Looking ahead, we can expect the amount of inventory to increase this spring along with higher list prices as sellers become more comfortable with the market conditions," Berkowitz added.

This recent news indicates to some that a growing number of "move-up" homebuyers are less reluctant about venturing into the market and are taking early advantage of the recent uptick in housing prices, according to the report. "This positive swing coupled with the consistent, gradual downward trend of annual inventory levels, which decreased by 15.97 percent over the last two years, are giving sellers more motivation to strike while the iron is warming."

Nationally, the median list price also rose by 1.55 percent during the month of February and 1.01 percent annually, while the median age of inventory dropped in nearly all of the 146 markets Realtor.com tracks.

California markets showed the biggest decreases with year-over-year declines in for-sale inventories.

Q: Is there a move to eliminate the GSEs?

A: The days of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) might indeed be numbered. Three industry analysts recently gave testimony before a Senate committee on housing finance reform.

While all three experts expressed support for more private capital and less government involvement, the proposed degrees of government support varied.

Mel Martinez, co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission, recommended the elimination of the GSEs over a period of about 5-10 years and the creation of a limited, government guarantee called the "Public Guarantor."

Q: Are home foreclosures decreasing?

A: Foreclosure starts in February showed some pick-up in activity month-over-month, while REOs (bank-owned properties) fell to their lowest level since September 2007, according to RealtyTrac's foreclosure market report for February.

RealtyTrac reported a 10 percent increase in foreclosure starts from January after three straight months of declines.

Year-over-year, foreclosure starts were still down 25 percent.

Bank repossessions, or REOs, hit a 65-month low in February, according to RealtyTrac, and were 11 percent lower from the previous month and down 29 percent from February 2012.

Q: Is our housing market in a healing mode?

A: To quote President Obama, "Our housing market is healing, and consumers, patients, and home owners enjoy stronger protections than ever before," he wrote in the opening pages of the report in summarizing the country's economic state.

"But there are still millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded."

Obama addressed the obstacles the economy faces, notably the looming across-the-board spending cuts (known as the "sequester"), as well as threats from a slower population growth.

Q: Do renters in single-family homes tend to be more stable than those renting multifamily units?

A: The growing population of single-family renters is more likely to stay in their home for longer periods of time compared to multifamily occupants. That suggests demand for single-family rentals offers greater stability than the multifamily market, according to a new survey from Premier Property Management Group.

In a survey of renters conducted by ORC International, 26 percent of single-family renters said they were more likely to stay in their current home five or more years compared to 22 percent of apartment dwellers. Single-family renters were also characterized as earning more income, but are more likely to have a bigger household.

Q: How long have home values been rising?

A: Home values nationwide rose for the sixteenth straight month in February, according to the Zillow Home Value Index.

To find out more about Jim Woodard and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.