Last
week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications
increased more than 23.0 percent from the week prior. The fine print stated
that most of the increase was driven by refinancing activity, given record low
rates. Residential construction data also provided glimmers of hope. By now,
many have surely noticed that the supply-demand balance is changing. What some
may not realize is that this is a leading indicator, while home prices are a
lagging indicator. Price appreciation is the final phase of recovery. Excess
supply is down–in some areas, it's way down. Purchase demand in most areas
strengthened throughout the second half of 2011. For sellers, it's less scary
out there. For buyers, it's still a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending January 14:
• New Listings decreased 5.2% to 1,216
• Pending Sales increased 28.4% to 728
• Inventory decreased 23.8% to 17,690
For the month of December:
• Median Sales Price decreased 6.5% to $145,000
• Days on Market decreased 2.5% to 140
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 1.7% to 90.6%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 35.6% to 4.6
The attached Weekly Market
Activity Report is produced by the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®
(MAAR) for REALTOR® members and interested parties on a weekly basis.
Minneapolis Lakes Office Showing Data WEEKLY SHOWING
UPDATE
Under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, you may be able to exclude up to $2 million -- if that debt was on your principal residence.
If the debt was on a second home or an investment property, then you are out of luck; the amount that was forgiven (or canceled) is taxable income to you.
If your canceled debt was on a refinanced loan, the law is murky. If you used the refinance proceeds to substantially improve your house, then there is no tax to pay. But if you used those proceeds for other purposes -- regardless of how significant the investment may have been -- the cancellation creates a taxable event for you.
The IRS has an excellent, free, publication on this topic, called "Canceled Debts, Foreclosures, Repossessions and Abandonments." It is Publication 4681, and will soon be published at the following link on the IRS website -- http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4681.pdf -- or by calling (800) 829-3676, or (800) TAX-FORM.
Data prepared by online real estate valuation and search company Zillow -- based on the company's home-value estimates and its Zillow Home Value Index, which is generated from those value estimates -- reveals that six of the 10 metros with the most severe 5-year fall in value are in California, while two are in Florida and the other markets are in Arizona and Nevada.
Merced, CA Modesto, CA Stockton, CA Las Vegas, Nevada Vallejo, CA Salinas, CA Daytona Beach, FLA Bakersfield, CA Fort Meyers, FLA Phoenix, AZ
2010 Home sales lowest level in eight years
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by James Anderson , Staff Writer
Date: Thursday, January 13, 2011, 11:04am CST
Selling a home in 2010 was no easy task, as the number of homes sold dropped to the lowest level seen in eight years.
There were 37,608 homes sold last year in the Twin Cities metro, down 16.8 percent from 2009, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.
The number of homes brought to market also hit an eight-year low of 82,127, down 1.4 percent from 2009.
The numbers weren’t all bad: There was a 2.3 percent gain in median sales price from the previous year, due in large part to more upper-bracket home sales.
MAAR predicts listings, sales and median price to all increase in 2011, though most had also hoped that 2009 would be rock bottom for the real estate market — not 2010.