Bakersfield makes the top 10 metros for year-over-year percentage increase in median home values...

Daily Real Estate News

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS July 24, 2012

Zillow calls bottom for home values Index based on 'Zestimates' shows first year-over-year quarterly gain since 2005 Inman News® By INMAN NEWS Share This U.S. home values eked out their first year-over-year quarterly gain in five years during the second quarter of 2007, according to a report released today by online real estate marketplace Zillow. Zillow's second quarter real estate market report showed median home values up 0.2 percent at the end of June compared to a year ago, to $149,300. The report also showed median home values have posted four consecutive months of year-over-year gains. "After four months with rising home values and increasingly positive forecast data, it seems clear that the country has hit a bottom in home values," said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries in a statement. The Phoenix metro continued its leadership among U.S. metros with a 12.1 percent year-over-year median home value increase to $136,200 in the quarter anding June 30. The Fort Myers, Fla., metro area took the second place spot with a 7.9 percent median home value increase for the quarter from last year to $136,000. The Green Bay, Wisc., metro area, with a 6.6 percent jump in median home values to $131,700, rounded out the top three. Among the top 10 metros for annual price gains, all but one -- Denver, at $211,300 -- had index values well below the June U.S. median existing-home price of $189,400, as reported by the National Association of REALTORS® earlier this month. The Zillow Home Value Index average for all 10 was $130,090. Of the 167 metros Zillow tracks, 53 showed increases in estimated median home values from the second quarter of 2011. The Zillow Home Value Index is built from automated valuation estimates ("Zestimates") generated by Zillow for single-family residences, condominiums and cooperatives, regardless of whether they sold within a given period. At the national level, the Zillow Home Value Index reflects the median Zestimate of all homes in the U.S. expressed in dollars. The Zillow Rent Index, launched in March and an additional component of Zillow's real estate market report, shows a U.S.-wide 5.2 percent year-over-year increase to $1,276 from a year ago. See the top 10 metros for year-over-year percentage median home value increase below. Location: Phoenix Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $136,200 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 12.1% Zillow Rent Index $1,148 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 0.3% Chase Field in Phoenix via Doug James/Shutterstock Location: Fort Myers Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $136,000 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 7.9% Zillow Rent Index $1,220 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 7.7% Fort Myers Beach in Fort Myers, Fla., via Shutterstock Location: Green Bay, Wisc. Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $131,700 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 6.6% Zillow Rent Index N/A Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) N/A Downtown Green Bay, Wisc., image via Flickr/Chad Davis Location: Miami Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $148,300 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 6.4% Zillow Rent Index N/A Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) N/A Miami Beach and luxury apartments image in Miami via Shutterstock Location: Tulsa, Okla. Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $102,300 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 5.7% Zillow Rent Index $936 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 3.5% Downtown Tulsa, Okla., via Flickr/熊.陈美芬.Phan Ly Photography.On/Off Location: Punta Gorda, Fla. Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $118,800 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 4.5% Zillow Rent Index $1,056 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 8.8% Punta Gorda, Fla., train station via Flickr/M. Keefe Location: Anderson, S.C. Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $89,400 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 4.1% Zillow Rent Index $832 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) -3.9% Tour de la France in Anderson, S.C., image via Flickr/Team Traveller Location: Grand Rapids, Mich. Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $108,000 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 3.7% Zillow Rent Index $1,145 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) -6.0% View of downtown Grand Rapids, Mich., via Shutterstock Location: Denver Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $211,300 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 3.5% Zillow Rent Index $1,495 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 5.4% Moonrise, downtown Denver via Shutterstock Location: Bakersfield, Calif. Zillow Home Value Index (Q2 2012) $118,900 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 3.4% Zillow Rent Index $1,252 Percent change (Q2 2011 to Q2 2012) 8.9% Amtrak station in Bakersfield, Calif., with trains via Richard Thornton/Shutterstock Inman News reporter Paul Hagey compiled this report.

19 Metros That Will Hit 1 Million By 2042 - Neighborhoods - The Atlantic Cities

19 Metros That Will Hit 1 Million By 2042 - Neighborhoods - The Atlantic Cities

19 Metros That Will Hit 1 Million By 2042

• NATE BERG
• JUL 20, 2012
• 4 COMMENTS

Shutterstock

• Share
• Print
• Share on emailEmail

Over the next 30 years, 19 metropolitan areas in America will pass the one million population threshold, according to a new report [PDF] from IHS Global Insight for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. By 2042, 70 metros will be members of the million-plus club. These will account for nearly 213 million people in 2042, more than half of the Census Bureau's estimated 2040 population [PDF] of roughly 392 million.

Here's a list, ranked by the percent of growth they're expected to hit in the next three decades.

Metropolitan Area	2012 Population	2042 Population	Percentage Change 2012-2042
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida	641,700	1,305,000	103.4%
Provo-Orem, Utah	553,300	1,096,300	98.1%
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas	819,600	1,609,200	96.3%
Boise City-Nampa, Idaho	639,300	1,139,400	78.2%
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida	716,700	1,159,000	61.7%
Stockton, California	706,500	1,077,200	52.5
Bakersfield-Delano, California	863,700	1,296,200	50.1%
Colorado Springs, Colorado	647,100	1,007,100	49.4%
Tucson, Arizona	998,900	1,474,800	47.6%
Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, South Carolina	698,200	1,014,300	45.3%
Albuquerque, New Mexico	909,400	1,300,100	43%
Knoxville, Tennessee	711,000	1,012,700	42.4%
El Paso, Texas	839,500	1,181,800	40.8%
Columbia, South Carolina	786,600	1,105,300	40.5%
Fresno, California	955,200	1,311,600	37.3%
Omaha, Nebraska-Council Bluffs, Iowa	888,000	1,167,400	31.5%
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California	840,100	1,098,000	30.7%
Tulsa, Oklahoma	956,600	1,249,800	30.6%
Honolulu, Hawaii	973,300	1,167,400	20%

Photo credit: Christian Mueller /Shutterstock

Keywords: Metropolitan Areas, Population Growth

Nate Berg is staff writer at The Atlantic Cities. He lives in Los Angeles. All posts »

Foreclosure inventory continues to decline in California

Central Valley Business Times

Foreclosure inventory continues to decline in California 

DISCOVERY BAY 
July 11, 2012 4:46pm

    

•  But not everywhere in the Central Valley

•  ‘Negative equity, not foreclosures, are the problem’

The number of homes in California sold through foreclosures in June dropped by 13.4 percent from May. And when compared to a year earlier, the courthouse steps sales were down 48.8 percent, according to a new report from ForeclosureRadar Inc., a Discovery Bay-based foreclosure information company.

In addition, initial foreclosure filings were basically flat, being down 0.93 percent over May and down 3.14 percent from June 2011.

That wasn’t the case in many parts of the epicenter of the nation’s mortgage meltdown – the Central Valley.

Here are ForeclosureRadar’s figures for Central Valley initial filings in June, with the raw number first followed by the percentage difference from May and then the percentage change from June 2011:

• Butte County: 68; -46.46 percent; -46.88 percent

• Fresno County: 578; -4.78 percent; +3.21 percent

• Kern County: 547; -17.25 percent; -5.36 percent

• Kings County: 127; -24.40 percent; +6.72 percent

• Madera County: 68; -31.31 percent; -20.93 percent

• Merced County: 154; -12.00 percent; +3.36 percent

• Sacramento: 1,148; -6.36 percent; -5.12 percent

• San Joaquin: 577; -2.37 percent; +9.49 percent

• Stanislaus: 404; -4.04 percent; -0.49 percent

• Tulare: 322; +1.58 percent; +18.38 percent

• Yolo: 87; +10.13 percent; +10.13 percent

• Yuba: 66; +17.86 percent; -13.16 percent

“We already have significantly low home sales in the market today, and with the declining level of foreclosure sales, the inventory will continue to decrease,” says the report. In California, banks take on average 272 days to resell properties they take back at auction, thus, Realtors, investors, and homebuyers should brace themselves for significantly less inventory in next years' selling season, it says.

"Today California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the Homeowner Bill of Rights, an anti-foreclosure package which naively thinks that slowing foreclosures will benefit homeowners and the economy by leaving those owners stuck in their prison of debt,” says Sean O'Toole, founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar.

“We've long said negative equity, not foreclosures, are the problem, and this bill, like almost all government efforts to date, does nothing to truly help underwater borrowers. Fortunately this bill was watered down significantly from its original form, so we don't expect it will have the same impact that we've seen from more aggressive legislation in Nevada," he says.

Additionally any impact on foreclosures sales, or REO resales, is more than a year a way based on current foreclosure timeframes. Mr. O’Toole says.

“The most ironic part of this bill’s passage is that foreclosures have already plummeted, and that the real housing crisis in now a lack of homes available for sale. Next spring, we expect there will be half as many REO's available for sale in California, significantly impacting overall home sales and hurting homebuyers, investors, real estate related services and the economy," he says.

On track! California Senate approves high-speed rail

Central Valley Business Times

SACRAMENTO 
July 6, 2012 3:57pm

•  Votes in favor of releasing building funds

•  ‘Let us do what is right’

The California state Senate Friday afternoon approved the releasing of state bond money to begin construction of the nation’s first high-speed passenger train system.

The vote was 21-16. Approval required 21 votes.

The state Assembly had approved releasing the $2.7 billion earlier this week.

The state money will be combined with a $3.3 billion federal grant to begin building a 130-mile segment of the system, from near Madera to near Bakersfield, in the Central Valley later this year.

Fresno Democrat Michael Rubio, through whose district the first segment would be built, voted in favor of releasing the money even though he said he was aware of the opposition of farmers and ranchers. “We cannot jeopardize the industry that feeds this state and the world,” he said in comments on the floor leading up to the vote. But he said he had been assured that the eventual route of the tracks would be such as any taking of farmland would be mitigated.

Mr. Rubio cited the action of Abraham Lincoln, who pushed for a transcontinental railroad at a time when the nation was near bankruptcy and ripped by civil war.

“Let us do what is right,” he urged.

“Four years after the passage of a voter approved initiative, the people expect us to get going,” said Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, the Senate’s president pro tem.

“What happened to our bipartisan commitment to putting men and women in hard hats back to work?” he said, referring to Friday’s report that the nation added just 80,000 jobs in June.

“What is difficult in the present often becomes the symbol of pride” to future generations, he said.

But critics targeted the location of the first construction contending that it would be a segment of track with little value until it was connected south to Los Angeles and north of San Francisco. Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who said he supports high-speed rail, h e cannot support the current plan, which he termed as building “a stranded asset” in the Central Valley.

“Ridership kept slipping. The date kept being pushed back. The ticket prices kept increasing. The private sector would not join in to fund the plan,” said Sen. Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, who joined with all other Republicans in voting against the release of the money.

“It is a giant jigsaw puzzle with pieces strewn over the table,” she said.

California voters in 2008 narrowly approved a total of $9 billion in bonds to begin construction of the system. The initial route would link San Francisco and Los Angeles. Eventual expansion would take the system to Sacramento in the north and San Diego in the south.

The trains would hurtle through the Central Valley at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour.

Shortage of homes for sale in Bakersfield | KGET TV 17

Shortage of homes for sale in Bakersfield | KGET TV 17

Breaking News – Investor Demand Rising

Marcus & Millichap’s Commercial Real Estate Videos - Hessam Nadji

Bakersfield home values drop slightly, supply still low

Bakersfield home values drop slightly, supply still low:
The median sale price of an existing single-family home in the Bakersfield area in May was $137,000, down 5.6 percent from April but up 1.4 percent from May 2011.
That's according to the Preliminary Crabtree Report, a monthly guage of the local housing market prepared by Gary Crabtree of Affiliated Appraisers.