bostonbubble.com

[RealEstateCafe]

Market snapshot confirms seasonal price reductions even in desirable towns

http://realestatecafe.com/market-snapshot-confirms-seasonal-price-reductions-even-in-desirable-towns/
_________________
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services since 1995
97a Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.com/blog
http://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe

[admin]

I was seeing inventory picking up very noticeably, contrary to typical seasonal behavior. So that could eventually turn into a "yes" vote. However, I'd classify it more of an improvement than as an opportunity - more improvement is needed first. Inventory is also no longer surging like it was as of about two weeks ago, probably because of Thanksgiving.

- admin

[RealEstateCafe]

Boston.com's real estate blogger validated the off-season price reductions we discovered and picked some transactions out of the data to write this blog post today:

Top suburbs, tumbling prices

Full URL: http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2013/12/top_suburbs_tum.html

ShortURL: http://bit.ly/CutNrun
_________________
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services since 1995
97a Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.com/blog
http://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe

[RealEstateCafe]

@admin If you think trends in CA may be a sign of things to come in MA, check out this blog post:

"ROSEVILLE HOMES FOR SALE: CASE-SHILLER INTERVIEW SAYS
"DON'T TRUST MOMENTUM"

What is going on with the Real Estate market? Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that my agent said the Real Estate Market was going crazy in Roseville and Placer County? The national news was reporting that the housing market was picking up dramatically. These are typical things we hear from our clients. Economist Robert Shiller said in an interview today that we cannot trust the momentum in the housing market anymore. Why? He points to investors that have bought a large number of homes especially in the West. They have stopped buying for the most part. He believes that investors will divest themselves of this business if the return on investment does not meet expectations.

Roseville Real Estate Information:

Homes for Sale in Roseville Inventory is up by almost 80% in a 12 month period;

The number of Homes Sold in Roseville has flat for about 4 months

https://twitter.com/TEAM__Patterson/status/408734371835691008
_________________
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services since 1995
97a Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.com/blog
http://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe

[admin]

That is a good point. It would be nice to know what portion of the Boston market here has been driven by investors hungry for yield. That's really the only plausible explanation I've heard so far as to why "cash" buyers would come to dominate the market only after interest rates plummeted last fall. Superficially, it may seem that cash buyers flocking to a market would signal strength and a lack of reliance on low mortgage rates because by definition they aren't using a mortgage (at least at purchase time), but yield starved investors would signal exactly the opposite. If interest rates rise, buying rentals becomes less attractive relative to bonds. That would produce a double whammy because investors will stop buying while the remaining, non-cash buyers will be able to borrow less thanks to higher mortgage rates. Make that a triple whammy if investors then decide to sell. BlackRock has been identified as one of the main drivers of the recent buy to rent trade, and divesting their holdings would probably be a drop in the bucket for them, given they are the largest investor in the world.

- admin