|
|
-
DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – North Texas home builders posted more conservative home start numbers in 2009 than in previous years, but some still fared well. Overall, builders started about 13,500 homes in the area last year, a more than 70 percent decrease from the market’s peak in 2006. The 20 largest builders built 17 percent fewer homes in 2009 than in 2008. Fort Worth–based D.R. Horton Inc. increased its starts by 20 percent between 2008 and 2009, building about 2,289 homes last year, according to Residential Strategies Inc. However, this was less than half the number of homes the builder started in 2006. The next three largest builders — Pulte-Centex, Highland-Huntington and Meritage-Legacy — reduced their starts in the DFW area in 2009.
|
-
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – RealtyTrac’s annual foreclosure report, released yesterday, revealed Texas metro rates to be under the national average of 2.21 percent. Austin and Round Rock area foreclosure rates increased 39.5 percent between 2008 and 2009. About 1.25 percent of all housing units, or one in every 80 homes, foreclosed last year, and 8,002 homeowners filed. This was an increase of 54.6 percent from 2007. Of the 203 metros ranked nationwide for foreclosures, the area was ranked 117th. Dallas–Fort Worth ranked 94th with a 1.5 percent foreclosure rate, and Houston was 111th with 1.3 percent of its area homes foreclosed upon. San Antonio ranked 109th in RealtyTrac’s report, with a 1.31 percent foreclosure rate.
|
-
CARROLLTON (ALNsystems.com) – The number of apartments rented statewide dropped 2.4 percent between December 2008 and December 2009, according to the latest figures from ALN. Meanwhile, rents fell by an average of 2.5 percent. Here's how select cities fared for the year ending December 2009: Austin
Occupancy stayed roughly the same, while average monthly rent dropped 4.7 percent from $827 to $788. Dallas
Occupancy decreased from 89.3 percent to 86.7 percent. Rent fell 3.5 percent, going from $777 to $750. Fort Worth
Occupancy dropped from 87.5 percent to 85.8 percent. Rent decreased 2.5 percent, going from $675 to $658. Houston
Occupancy decreased from 88.1 percent to 84.9 percent. Rent was down 0.9 percent, going from $748 to $741. San Antonio
Occupancy decreased from 88.2 percent to 87.8 percent. Rent decreased 0.1 percent, going from $689 to $688. Lubbock
Occupancy fell from 92.1 percent to 89.7 percent, while average rent decreased 4.3 percent, going from $638 to $610. Amarillo
Occupancy dropped from 90 percent to 89.1 percent, while average rent increased 4.9 percent from $561 to $588. Corpus Christi
Occupancy decreased from 91.6 percent to 89.9 percent. Rent dropped 2.2 percent from $696 to $681.
|
-
CEDAR PARK (Austin Business Journal) – Schlitterbahn Waterparks plans to build a $360 million resort development and convention center in this city north of Austin. The city will provide $6 million for the 95-acre project’s infrastructure costs. The Lower Colorado River Authority has not yet determined how the water park may affect local conservation efforts. The Cedar Park location is a partnership between Rick Redmond, Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Cedar Park city hall.
|
-
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The nation’s labor market hit bottom in August 2009, but the Texas labor market has not yet hit that mark. The Texas economy lost 277,400 nonfarm jobs from December 2008 to December 2009, an annual job loss of 2.6 percent. Over the same period, the U.S. economy lost more than four million jobs or 3 percent of its total nonfarm jobs. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 5.6 percent in December 2008 to 8.3 percent in December 2009, while the U.S. rate rose from 7.4 percent to 10 percent during the year. Only two Texas industries (education and health services, other services) and the government sector had more jobs in December 2009 than in December 2008. Nine other industries experienced net job losses over the 12 months. Only one Texas metro area, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, experienced a positive employment growth rate from December 2008 to December 2009. Twenty-five metro areas experienced net job losses. The state’s actual unemployment rate in December 2009 was 8 percent. Amarillo had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Lubbock, Midland, College Station–Bryan, and Abilene.
|
-
FORT WORTH (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) – A growing number of Texas homeowners are filing for bankruptcy to avoid losing their homes, according to a recent study by Foreclosure Listing Service. Unfortunately, bankruptcy may not offer the protection they're hoping for. The Addison-based firm analyzed post-bankruptcy cases of homeowners in 60 Texas counties and found that $2.28 billion worth of real estate was affected by a bankruptcy filing last year. That's an increase of 26 percent over 2008’s volume of $1.92 billion. In 2009, 12,170 properties were affected — about 1,000 more than the previous year. In those cases, the homeowner did not comply with a mortgage payment schedule set up by a court trustee, said George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service. As a result, the property loses bankruptcy protection. "Generally, when these properties lose the protection of the bankruptcy court, they enter the foreclosure pipeline," Roddy said.
|
-
DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Nearly 1,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit filings in Texas have been flagged for possible ill-use of a taxpayer identification number primarily used by illegal immigrants, who are not entitled to the credit. This number represents nearly one-third of the 3,200 suspicious homebuyer tax credit claims submitted by noncitizens around the country, the total of which are valued at $20.8 million, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for the tax administration, said that involvement of third-party preparers in some questionable homebuyer claims filed nationwide suggested that there may have been “conspiracies and attempts to cheat the government by more than one person.” Of the 1.5 million claims made to the Internal Revenue Service for the tax credit, the Justice Department has filed one criminal case and one civil injunction against tax preparers for submitting false claims for the homebuyer credit. One of these cases was from Mission, Texas.
|
-
DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Still-rising mortgage delinquencies and a stock of bank-owned homes have not finished leaving their impact on the housing industry, warn economists at this week’s National Association of Home Builders’ annual conference in Las Vegas. Many lenders, wary of hurting residential values, are cautious about putting repossessed homes back on the market, said David Berson, chief economist for mortgage insurance firm PMI Group. “That does mean it will be longer before we start to get a real recovery in home prices,” he said. “We are still years away from that — perhaps three years.” While the market struggles for recovery, analysts warn that foreclosures will continue. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for mortgage firm Freddie Mac, sees them peaking in the second half of 2010. In the Dallas–Fort Worth area, about 5.7 percent of home loans were 90 days or more behind in payments at the end of November, less than the nationwide rate of over 8 percent, according to First American CoreLogic. North Texas home foreclosure filings rose more than 20 percent in 2009 and are expected to continue rising in 2010 unless economic conditions improve. Texas is one of 11 states that account for 70 percent of home foreclosures, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
|
-
LAS VEGAS (Real Estate Center) – Smaller homes, lower prices. That's the outlook for new home builders this year. In fact, 95 percent of those polled by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) say they will do one or the other, maybe both. Rose Quint, assistant vice president for NAHB's Survey Research Economics and Housing Policy Group, told the media at the 2010 NAHB International Builders' Show that builders were given a list of 40 features and asked which ones they were likely to include in new homes this year. Here's what's hot and what's not. Items most likely to be found in new homes for 2010: - Walk-in closet in master bedroom
- Separate laundry room
- Insulated front door
- Great room
- Low-E windows
- Linen closet
- Programmable thermostat
- Energy-efficient appliances and lighting
- Separate shower and tub in master bedroom
- Nine-foot ceilings on first floor
The least likely items homebuyers will find in new homes this year include: - Outdoor kitchen
- Outdoor fireplace
- Sun room
- Butler's pantry
- Media room
- Desk in kitchen
- Two-story foyer
- Eight-foot ceiling on first floor
- Multiple shower heads in master bath
- Smaller kitchen area than in recent years
"Builders will focus heavily on energy-saving features," said Quint. "Things we thought were consumer necessities — such as granite countertops in the kitchen or home offices — are not on the list." Also on the chopping block this year are energy-guzzlers like the high-ceiling entryways. Builders hope nine-foot ceilings will give the buyer a feeling of more square footage, which has been reduced. Buyers will be looking for ways to save money. For example, water-saving toilets use an average of 39,000 fewer gallons of water annually for a family of four. That's enough for a lifetime of drinking water for three people, said Shane Judd, senior marketing manager of water conservation for Kohler. NAHB conducted a consumer survey to compare the wants of older buyers with others.They found that those age 55 and older have a slightly different "want" list in a new home: - Washer-dryer in the unit
- Storage space
- Windows that open easily
- Garage door opener
- Easy-to-use thermostat
- Master bedroom on first floor
- Private patio
- Porch
- Attached garage
- Bigger bathrooms
Watch the Real Estate Center's website for a video coming soon with details on what consumers want in a new home this year.
|
-
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) – Land prices fell 5 percent statewide last year for the first time since the early 1990s, according to data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The decline marked the end of an appreciation run that peeked in 2008, when the median price per acre was $2,359, 330 percent more than the median price in 1994. Charles Gilliland, research economist with the Real Estate Center, estimates prices dropped to around $2,141 per acre last year and thinks prices will continue dropping in 2010. “The sellers are anticipating a ‘V'-shaped recovery and that happy days are going to be here again,” Gilliland said. “The potential buyers are saying, ‘Why should I pay this today when I can pick it up cheaper next year?'” The number of sales fell 37 percent in 2009, as did the size of rural parcels sold. At an average of 70 acres, that’s the smallest amount per sale on record and a sign that buyers can’t afford to commit to bigger tracts. However, while demand for recreational and subdivision property development has declined, there is still interest in irrigated cropland. Gilliland said that superior, well-maintained parcels of land are what sell now, since buyers have plenty of choices. “Buyers haven't disappeared, but they are resisting the prices,” said Gilliland.
|
-
WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – The National Association of Home Builders reported that its housing market index fell to 15 in January, the lowest reading since June. The dip, which is the second-straight monthly decline, echoes builders’ fears that demand for new homes will be weak, despite the federal tax credit extension for buyers. The index represents the outlook of 504 residential developers surveyed nationwide. Index readings below 50 indicate negative sentiment about the market.
|
-
NEW YORK (concierge.com) – Six Texas hotels have made the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List for 2010. The Gold List includes the year’s top 100 hotels worldwide based on data collected from the annual Reader’s Choice Survey. Six categories — including best rooms, best service, best food, best location, best design and best activities — are each graded on a 100-point scale and averaged together for a hotel’s overall score. Lake Austin Spa Resort and the Four Seasons Hotel Austin made the list with overall scores of 90.9 and 89.2, respectively. San Antonio’s Watermark Hotel & Spa made the top 100 with a score of 92.2. The Omni La Mansión Del Rio’s score of 87.4 put it on the list, as well. Two Dallas hotels, the Rosewood Crescent Hotel and Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, placed in Condé Nast’s rankings. Readers gave them overall scores of 88.4 and 89.5, respectively.
|
-
HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – Texas ranked 29th in state foreclosure rates for 2009, with 1.06 percent of the state’s total housing units receiving at least one foreclosure filing, according to a report by RealtyTrac. That calculation includes default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions. Overall, 100,045 housing units received foreclosure filings in Texas last year, up 4 percent from 2008 and up 18 percent from 2007. In comparison, Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in 2009, with over 10 percent of its housing units receiving foreclosure filings. Colorado was tenth in the nation, with 2.37 percent of its units receiving foreclosure filings.
|
-
DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Home starts in Dallas–Fort Worth jumped almost 10 percent in fourth quarter 2009, the first increase in the annual start rate since second quarter 2006, according to Residential Strategies. Builders started 3,615 homes in the last three months of 2009, compared with 3,200 starts in the same period in 2008. Homes priced between $150,000 and $200,000 saw the biggest increase. However, DFW new home starts during 2009 fell to their lowest point since 1991 — 13,499 units. Fourth-quarter new home sales were the strongest in 2009, but they fell 15 percent from fourth quarter 2008 to 4,710. “Home starts were generally up fourth quarter nationally, but that level is still way below where it was several years ago,” said Dr. James Gaines, research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. While there is almost an eight-month supply of new homes nationally, DFW has a 6.5-month supply. A six to 6.5-month supply is considered market equilibrium.
|
-
ARLINGTON, Va. (Associated General Contractors of America) – Construction employment declined in 324 out of 337 metropolitan areas over the past year as spending on construction projects dropped by over $137 billion in November to a six-year low of $900 billion, according to a new analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist, noted new Census Bureau figures show developer-financed construction suffered the largest decline in spending between November 2008 and November 2009. He added that private lodging investments were down 46 percent; retail, warehouse and farm spending were down 41 percent; and private office construction investments were down 39 percent. Simonson said declines in investments were leading to sweeping industry layoffs. Texas construction employment declined 16 percent in the year ending in November 2009, as the number of employees fell from 663,700 to 554,500.
|
|
|
|