As 2012 draws to a close, I thought it would be interesting to point out a few real estate related facts over the past year. Some of them suprised me, a couple went under or over my radar. Let's see how you do! Conventional mortgages were at a record low at 3.31% with even better deals sometimes for qualified buyers. But will the MID(Mortgage Interest Deduction program) stay in place? With the fiscal cliff unresolved as of today that is one of the cuts that might see the chopping block, injuring the housing comeback that many think will be the backbone of a general recovery. Year to year, the sale of single family homes rose nationally 26.3% and prices increased at 9%. An interesting stat is that banks have switched their focus to short sales from foreclosures, expecting a greater return - 65% of distressed sales were short sales this past year. Hopefully that also means that the banks will speed up that processs and let people move on with their lives. 5 major banks were fined billions of dollars which they then put back into helping some homeowners refinance,compensating other owners unfaiarly foreclosed on and other financial solutions to ease the burden of the ubiquitous loss of equity tand its now obvious consequences. Yeah! They finally have extended the flood insurance law, after many short term extensions, until 2017, especially important to states such as Florida. However, the possible caps, harder qualifications and eligibility could put a cloud on what is otherwise good news.New home sales were the fastest paced since 2008 increasing 2.5% (also attributable to existing home sellers still holding out for higher prices and the ramped up activity of investors who have known how to take advantage of the market conditions), up 4.4% just from Oct to Nov. an exception was 2010 when increased activity was seen partially due to the tax credit offered to buyers.There is much more - read about it on Floridarealtors.org
Murrell Weissinger, Watson Realty Corp
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