San Francisco Real Estate - Residential

San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for the week ending June 7, 2009

This week Realogy (Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s parent company) President Richard Smith met with legislators regarding the need for policy initiatives concerning the real estate industry and the economy as a whole. Specifically, the Business Roundtable (an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. corporations)— of which Richard is the chair—issued a set of recommendations for the White House and Congress that are aimed at jump starting the housing market in order to stimulate a broader economic recovery.

The Business Roundtable’s recommendations are as follows:

• Keep mortgage interest rates at historically low levels (below 5 percent) for at least one year;
• Expand the current First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit incentive from the lesser of 10 percent of the purchase price of the home or $8,000 to a higher limit of either 10 percent or $15,000 for all homebuyers, remove the income restrictions and include all primary residence purchases for one full year;
• Conduct a thorough review of current foreclosure mitigation and loan-modification programs in light of rising loan-modification re-default rates;
• Make permanent the current temporary conforming loan limits; and
• Continue to review and strengthen government efforts already underway to review and refine mortgage lending practices.

We believe targeted, demand-side solutions—such as the ones Business Roundtable is recommending—will provide a critical next step for a housing recovery that will help create jobs and boost the economy as a whole. To obtain a copy of the Business Roundtable press release and its Housing Working Group’s detailed recommendations, click here. To read an article that appeared in today’s online edition of The Wall Street Journal containing an interview about the Business Roundtable’s recommendations and why they are crucial to jumpstarting the housing market, click here. We will communicate with you as any legislative opportunities occur for you to contact members of Congress and voice your support—but for now, just know that we appreciate your support and are proud to be part of this initiative.

In other news this week, RealtyTrac released its foreclosure findings with positive news that foreclosure filings dipped 6% in May compared with April. But the news wasn’t all positive as the number is still 18% above this time last year. In California, the picture continues to be a bit more bleak. We are ranked No. 2 out of 50 states in foreclosure filings with 92,249 total filings or one in every 144 households. While the last two months showed a decline with a 4.5% drop from April 2009 to May 2009, the year-over-year number is still a 22.8% increase. For a complete look at the USA Today story that ran on the figures, click here: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-06-10-may-home-foreclosures_N.htm#chart.

While none of us are happy to hear about more homes in the foreclosure process, our local markets are telling us that there is sufficient demand for bank-owned properties – most are still receiving multiple offers when they hit the market.

Read the rest of the article here.

posted by SFResidence.com @ 7:36 AM