1031 Exchanges - C.A.R. Talking Points for Consumers

The California Association of Realtors "Market Matters" Newsletter had mostly rough news. However, it's not all bad. Lenders are having to adjust to higher foreclosure rates leading them to allow defaulting borrowers to remain in their homes. They also noted that 96.4% of mortgage payments were on time. (source Bloomberg.com click here for full story).

This is important information for California Consumers.

• Former Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspan Tuesday said he expects the drop in U.S. home prices will probably end early in 2009 as housing inventory is reduced, and added that "...it is very likely that home prices will stabilize well before that."   He noted that the damage from the subprime crisis won't be fully apparent for months but called the current credit crisis the worst in 50 years.  Greenspan was speaking at a banking conference in Tokyo.

• Despite living in an area with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, 63 percent of Sacramentans believe 2008 is a good time to buy a home, according to a recent survey of 1,200 residents conducted by Sacramento State University's Institute for Social Research.  Forty-seven percent said now is a good time to buy, while 16 percent said waiting six months would be better.  Affordability, cited by 50 percent of respondents as a barrier in the 2006 survey, was identified as an obstacle to homeownership by only 36 percent of those surveyed in 2007.  Although more optimistic about the home-buying market, 75 percent believe it will be at least two years before the Sacramento housing market recovers, and 58 percent said they worry at least some of the time that their income will not be sufficient for them to pay their bills.

• Housing developments designed for adults age 55 and up have boomed over the last decade.  According to San Diego-based MarketPointe Realty Advisors, some 113 such developments and 33,500 housing units have been built during that time in Southern California alone.  The majority (87) are located in Riverside County and the Coachella Valley.  It is estimated that more than 40 percent of households will be 55-plus by 2012.