Home prices increase for the fourth straight month

According to S&P spokesman David Blitzer, “Existing home sales were up 20% in August compared with 12 months earlier. Foreclosures have dropped most of the year.” Housing prices have continued to increase for the fourth straight month. While it is still too early to declare a housing market recovery, it is a positive indication that things are moving in the right direction. Anthony Sanders, a professor of real estate at George Mason University also stated, “Four months of price increases is a pretty good sign that the market has stabilized." Keeping this momentum up would allow for lenders to "loosen their purse strings" a little, which would in turn allow more interested home buyers to qualify for loans.

To read more on this article from CNN Money, follow this link:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/27/real_estate/home_prices_July/index.htm?section=money_realestate&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_realestate+%28Real+Estate%29

Arizona retail sales increased in July by 8.6%

Arizona retail sales increased by 8.6% in July compared to July 2010. According to the article, Arizona consumers showed no signs of any economic distress affecting their spending. “Sales of motor vehicles jumped 18 percent, sales of clothing and accessories rose almost 14 percent and sales of building materials and home, lawn and garden products were up 9.6 percent.” With very little positive news on the economy, it’s refreshing to know our state is remaining somewhat resilient to the adverse news broadcasted daily. “In all, Arizona consumers spent $3.55 billion on goods and services in July 2011 compared with $3.27 billion in July 2010.”

For further information, follow the link to read the complete article from AZCentral.com: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2011/09/26/20110926retail-sales-july-ariz-jumped-86-over-year-earlier.html

Scottsdale, Gilbert, Chandler & Phoenix make the top 50 for "Best U.S. Cities to Live"

Scottsdale has been named, on Businessweek.com, as the 4th best city to live in the United States. One would think that the upscale resorts and celebrity sightings would be one of the reasons, however the decision was made based on other statistics. “Scottsdale was recognized by the site for more fundamental quality-of-life reasons - superior schools, low unemployment and bevy of parks, in the online ranking of America's 50 best cities released this week.” Among the rankings, Gilbert (41st place), Chandler (45th place) and Phoenix (49th place) all made the “top 50.”

For more information on the Businessweek.com article, follow the link: http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2011/09/21/20110921businessweekcom-names-scottsdale-fourth-best-city-nation.html

Good Opportunity for Investors as the Cost of Rent is on the Rise

The cost of rent is on the rise according to Stan Humpries, an economist for the real estate website Zillow, also stating that pricing is expected to rise by 4% this year and in 2012. “At some point, lower home prices and higher rents will attract more home buyers,” Humphries says. This is good news for real estate investors looking to take advantage of the market conditions and make a profit. "Already, investors are snapping up homes and converting them into rentals. In August, investors accounted for 22% of existing home sale activity, the NAR says. Cash buyers, who are most often investors, accounted for 29% of sales."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2011/09/22/20110922Rental-housing-becoming-less-affordable.html#ixzz1Yo3FvvOq

What the "Twist" Means for Banks

The Federal Reserves’ new program Operation Twist, is designed to lower long-term interest rates. The Federal Reserve expects to keep long-term rates low by shift their asset profile from short-term assets to long-term assets. This program will positively impact mortgage rates, especially long-term rates such as 30 and 15 year mortgages. The move had an immediate effect on the 10 year note. The 10 year note dropped below a yield of 1.8% in trading this morning For more about Operation Twist can be seen in the link to Bloomberg News below.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveschaefer/2011/09/21/what-bernankes-operation-twist-means-for-banks/

National Association of Realtors Show Positive Percentages

According to the National Association of Realtors, percentages are up. Arizona is up 23.5% year over year; the West as a whole was up 18%, and moved higher. Investors accounted for 21% of the home sales countrywide and cash sales accounted for 29%. Foreclosures accounted for 31% of the sales nationwide. This shows a strong push towards investment property purchasing in Arizona and the rest of the country. Low interest rates in August, through mortgages and credit line facilities was also a strong contributor to the numbers.

For additional information on the percentages and numbers mentioned, please refer to this link: http://www.realtor.org/research/research/ehsdata

Phoenix & Atlanta to be Best New Home Markets

Barclay Capitol has reported today that Phoenix and Atlanta are to be the best markets for newly built homes in the U.S. The report did not give a time frame but did forecast it would happen once the cities have cleared out “distressed inventory and excess supply.” Barclay analysts have made the prediction based on the growing population and “speedy absorption of distressed real estate.” The Phoenix area population is predicted to raise 2.6% annually for the next five years. The Barclays analysts also stated,“While improved operating performance may take several quarters to materialize, the recent selloff provides a potential entry point for some of the long risk recommendations that follow from our analysis.”

For the complete article from Bloomberg, follow this link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-12/phoenix-and-atlanta-will-be-best-new-home-markets-in-u-s-barclays-says.html