Is the 'Great Senior Sell-Off' Coming?

Daily Real Estate News | Monday, April 01, 2013

About 1.5 to 2 million homes belonging to seniors will come on the market by the end of this decade, predicts Arthur C. Nelson, professor of urban planning at the University of Utah. Nelson says he sees a momentum growing among baby boomers to put their homes up for sale and downsize.

“This is the decade of the shakeout, where the boomers will begin turning 65 and we'll begin to see how they influence the housing market,” Nelson told The Chicago Tribune. Nelson cites other research that shows when people hit their late 60s they tend to start selling off their homes at a much faster rate.

The baby boomer generation began reaching age 65 in 2011 and will continue until 2029.

“As they enter their late 60s, they'll begin to unload their homes in cumulatively higher rates,” Nelson says. “I'm calling it the Great Senior Sell-Off.”

But Nelson says he’s concerned there may not be enough buyers for the homes.

About 80 percent of seniors are home owners when they reach 65—the highest home ownership rate among any age group. But Nelson notes that about 4 percent of senior home owners move each year and about 60 percent of them then opt to move into rentals. As such, Nelson predicts a surge in construction of apartments for more affluent renters.

Source: “Get Ready for Great Senior Sell-Off,” The Chicago Tribune (March 29, 2013)

2013 Home Buying Season Kicks Off Early

Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Home prices are rising, the number of homes for-sale is showing a slight increase, and homes are selling faster—all signs that spring is in the air in real estate, according to the latest MLS data released by realtor.com®.

Nationwide, median list prices continue to tick up, reaching $189,900 in February. Inventories last month increased 1.15 percent month-over-month, after recently hitting record lows. Also, homes are selling faster with the median age of inventory at 98 days, a 9.26 percent drop from the previous month.

“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 housing recovery well underway,” says Steve Berkowitz, chief executive officer of Move Inc. “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.”

Median list prices were up 5 percent or more in 51 markets on a year-over-year basis, according to realtor.com®. California markets are seeing some of the highest increases in list prices as well as some of the largest declines in for-sale inventory. Other top performing markets include Phoenix, Seattle, and Denver, according to realtor.com®.

“However, many smaller industrialized markets in the Midwest and the Northeast registered year-over-year price declines, as did Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City,” Lexie Puckett reports in a recent realtor.com® blog post. “While the number of markets experiencing year-over-year list price declines had been increasing, this pattern appears to be turning around as home list prices increased in 78 markets last month on a year-over-year basis and declined in 39.”

Source: “Spring Home Buying Season Starts Early According to Realtor.com’s February Trend Data,” RISMedia (March 18, 2013)

Foreclosure Filings Fall 25% in February

Daily Real Estate News | Thursday, March 14, 2013

RealtyTrac counted a total of 154,281 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions, or bank repossessions — last month. The number is up 2 percent from January, but is down a full 25 percent from February 2012.

The number of American homes entering the foreclosure pipeline also declined 25 percent from a year earlier, and bank repossessions tumbled 29 percent year-over-year to land at their lowest volume since September 2007.

“At a high level the U.S. foreclosure inferno has been effectively contained and should be reduced to a slow burn in the next two years,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist says. “But dangerous foreclosure flare-ups are still popping up in states where foreclosures have been delayed by a lengthy court process or by new legislation making it more difficult to foreclose outside of the court system.”

The highest rates of foreclosure were documented in Florida, Nevada, and Illinois.

Source: “U.S. Foreclosure Filings Fall 25 Percent in February,” Fox Business (March 14, 2013)