Real Estate Market
As a NJ property appraiser, Abbe Edelman knows the importance of being aware of market changes. One of the primary responsibilities of a property appraiser is to offer an estimate of the fair market value of the property; or approximately what its value would be worth should it be put back on the market. When a property appraisal is obtained it should be a current value of the home. With the recent rebounds of the real estate market, many homeowners have been surprised at the “newer” values of their homes. As the market changes, so do home values; depending on the market changes, this can be good; or it can be bad. Here is where the real estate market is in January 2013.
Showing Some Stability
Mortgage rates had been steadily climbing and seem to have retreated somewhat over the first couple of weeks of January. Recently, there was an increase of about ¼% in interest rates, but for the time being they seem to have stabilized. Over the holidays refinancing and home purchases had both seen significant drops but seemed to be back up for the first part of this year. Refinance applications are back up by approximately 12% and applications for purchase loans rose about 10% in the first couple of weeks of January. As of the middle of January, the Dow was still up and seemed to be steady. There are no great anticipations of it dropping off as the housing market for now seems to be moving minimally which helps keep everything steady in the present real estate market.
Interest Rates
By the middle of January, Freddie Mac had announced that 30 year fixed rates had risen from 3.34% up to 3.40%; this is actually down from last year’s rates since last year during this same time frame 30 year fixed rates sat at 3.89%. For 15 year loans the interest rates had moved slightly up to 2.66%. As for adjustable rates, they were mixed. The average for 5 year adjustable rates fell to 2.67% while the 1 year adjustable rates increased to 2.60%.
Influencing Factors
Unemployment has a great deal of influence on the housing market since most people do not venture into a real estate purchase unless they have job stability. November and December saw small, but steady growth in the addition of jobs which helped at least helped to keep the unemployment rate from moving off of 7.8 %. This is actually the lowest it has been since December of 2008. One thing that is helping the current real estate market maintain is the 1.86 million jobs that were created in 2012.
Builder Confidence Remains Steady for January
The National Association of Home Builders reports that for January 2013, builder confidence is still holding steady. Most agree that the present housing market has a much better outlook than it did last year at this same time as the real estate market continues in a state of recovery, albeit slow. There is some apprehension that the fiscal cliff the nation is facing may have a negative impact in the future should there be funding cuts. For now, builders are at least confident that the recovery will continue even though they are unsure of what may occur in the coming months. The NAHB has conducted a monthly survey for the last 25 years. The various components of the survey are scored and used for calculating an adjusted index. In January, the index was mixed with some components gauging the current conditions as remaining stable, but the outlook over the next 6 months was down. The 3 month average remains up across all regions of the US. This is still encouraging for the present.
