Friday Facts March 11, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS
March 11, 20100

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal on February 16, 2011, the down payments demanded by banks to buy homes have ballooned since the housing bust forcing many people to rethink what they can afford and potentially shrinking the pool of eligible buyers. Median down payments in 9 major U.S. cities rose to 22% on conventional loans. That percentage doubled in 3 years and represents the highest median down payment since tracking began in 1997.

From a blog by Steve Murray of RealTrends: The market is shifting again. Indications are that listings may be moving back into a position of importance. With the growing strength of such sites as Realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia along with strong traffic on Craigslist, having listings online is driving an increase in traffic to sales professional websites.

Inman News reports that Realty Trac’s 2010 stats show that 1 in 4 sales or 26% of U.S. home sales were foreclosures. On average, they sold for more than 28% less than those homes not in foreclosure. Realty Trac’s CEO says that the Catch 22 for 2011 is “accelerating foreclosure sales will help clear the oversupply in the long run…in the short run they’ll continue to weigh down home prices”.

RISMedia posted that HomeGain.com announced the results of its FSBO versus Realtor survey. 83% of sellers surveyed used a Realtor, and of those, 59% sold. 17% of sellers did not use a Realtor, and of those, 39% sold. 24% of FSBO’s eventually enlisted a Realtor to help sell the home.

Good news and bad news. NAR reported that nationwide, existing home sales were up 2.7% in January. This is the first time in the last 7 months that sales were better than in the previous year. NAR also reported that pending home sales fell 2.8% in January which was the second straight monthly decline and the slowest pace since October.