USA House Prices: Nominal, Real, and Price-to-Rent Values

Below are three graphs from Calculated Risk showing nominal prices (as reported), real prices and a price-to-rent ratio: Nominal House Prices The first graph shows the quarterly Case-Shiller National Index SA (through Q3 2011), and the monthly Case-Shiller Composite 20 SA and CoreLogic House Price Indexes (through September) in nominal terms (as reported). Real House Prices The second graph...

Private-Equity Firm to Buy $800 Million more Commercial Property

The acquisition would be the latest sign of the big bet Blackstone is making on commercial property at a time of growing unease about the global economy. While many investors have stuck to the sidelines, Blackstone’s funds have been buying up highly-leveraged properties that crumbled in value when the market collapsed.

US Real Estate: Smart diversification option for HNI Indians

The reason is perhaps not hard to come by. Rohit Prakash, President – American Full House LLC says, “In the last few years property prices in India have risen significantly. Investors who invested at the lows in India have gained from this rise. They are now looking at booking profits and investing in other assets that are available at reasonable valuations. The US real estate market is one such avenue where prices are currently at the lower end of the range with potential for strong upside. In addition, while smaller investors may be hard pressed to find good properties at $100,000 in India very easily today, there are quite a few such opportunities in the US.”

Miami-area home sales held at 5 year high in September

Miami-area home sales held at a five-year high in September, rising 15 percent from a year earlier as price reductions and super-low mortgage rates helped stoke year-over-year sales gains across the price spectrum. The median sale price fell short of the year-ago level for the 48th consecutive month but the magnitude of the decline – 1.5 percent – was the smallest yet, a real estate information service reported.

Southern California Aug Home Sales Rise

August was the first month since June 2010 to post a year-over-year gain in home sales. Last month was also the first since November 2009 in which all six Southland counties logged higher sales than a year earlier.

CoreLogic: 10.9 Million U.S. Properties with Negative Equity in Q2

Nevada had the highest negative equity percentage with 60 percent of all of its mortgaged properties underwater, followed by Arizona (49 percent), Florida (45 percent), Michigan (36 percent) and California (30 percent). The negative equity share in the hardest hit states has improved. Over the past year, the average negative equity share for the top five states has declined from 41 percent to 38 percent.

USA: Real House Prices and Price-to-Rent

Real prices are back to 1999/2000 levels, and the price-to-rent ratio is also back to 2000 levels in real terms (adjusted for inflation using CPI less Shelter). On a price-to-rent basis, the Composite 20 index is back to October 2000 levels, and the CoreLogic index is back to March 2000. In recent months, rents have been increasing; lowering the price-to-rent ratio.

Las Vegas: Best place to buy a home and rent it out

The housing market in Las Vegas may continue to struggle, but for investors, the city is the best place to buy a home and rent it out, a new report revealed on Monday. HomeVestors of America and Local Market Monitor released its list of best markets to invest in rental property, and Las Vegas came out on top… That means investors can buy homes at low prices and have a sizable pool of renters from which to choose… The return could be short-term (the cash flow attained by renting out the property), long-term (the appreciation of the property over time) or both, he said. The risks include future potential home-price drops in the market.

Rents Rise, Vacancies Go Down

Vacancy rates are falling fast (the excess supply is being absorbed). The falling vacancy rate is pushing push up effective rents. Note: The excess housing supply includes both apartments, condominiums, and single family homes. A record low number of multi-family units will be completed this year (2011). Only 8,700 apartments came on the market in Q1 (in the Reis survey area).

US realty turns hot property; Indians snapping up big housing deals

Rohit Prakash, based in Austin, Texas, has for long been doing brisk business helping Americans and foreigners buy and sell property in the capital of one of America’s biggest states.

Recently, he set up American Full House to cater to Indians looking to buy homes in locations that have seen a huge price drop. An Indian buyer who contacted him sometime ago is close to doing two deals in a suburb of Los Angeles at $82,000 and $85,000 each for a three-bedroom condominium. At the peak of the housing boom, these properties were selling at close to $250,000.
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Indian buyers are mostly exploring cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other parts of southern California and Phoenix, and Miami, where prices are still 60% lower than the peak.
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Prakash of American Full House points out that rentals in most American markets are still high as people who have foreclosed their homes are looking to rent out property. “One could easily get a return of 6-10% in many markets here,” he says.

A spokesperson of the National Association of Realtors attributed the international appetite to the fact that properties in the US are less expensive compared with foreign properties. Homes in the US are viewed as a secure investment. The average price paid by an international buyer in the US was $315,000 and the states with the heaviest concentration of such buyers are Texas, Florida, California and Arizona. With more and more Indians likely to join the rush, the list is only likely to expand.