Every Day There is Another Story That Housing is Recovering, and Then It's Not: Read More

What is the real story on short sale numbers and borrower delinquencies? The story seems to vary on a daily basis.

But according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, which keeps track of these statistics, the delinquency/foreclosure rate was still 11.33% as of the end of the 1st quarter of 2012.  That's the lowest since 2008, but is still a lot of homeowners on a national basis.

• The lending industry will still be involved in short sales for several years into the future.
• The foreclosure backlog remains high even though the ninety day delinquencies are decreasing, probably due to skyrocketing of short sale numbers because banks are being much more proactive on the alternatives.
• New housing starts for 2012 are projected to only be 559,000, when in the past new homes were added at the minimum rate of 1,000,000 annually from 1968-2008  or 60,000,000 homes.  Yet to meet new household demand projected for years between 2010-2020, 1.2-1.8 million new homes will be needed to meet the demand.
• Southern California and Northern California are two of the areas in the entire country with positive population growth, and the biggest need for more available housing.

We are in a continuing shortfall of enough residential properties on the market!

Click here for the complete Harvard University 2012 Joint Center for Housing Studies Report.  The first several pages are the Executive Summary, while the entire report is about 44 pages. 

While the housing market may be turning a corner, thankfully, in certain ways, there are still multiple issues to be faced, and the current lack of housing inventory is certainly one of them. The current amount of inventory in Southern California, and many areas across the nation, is less than 2 months, and lower. That means if no new properties come on the market, at the current rate of sale (which has picked up and become competitive for many buyers), all inventory will be gone in that given period of time. For buyers to buy, there must be sellers who are selling.

Sellers, to find out if you are in a position to sell right now, contact me for a market consultation!
ASK ME.