Dubuque Real Estate Market Analysis – March 8th, 2009

Current Total Listings: 410 ( no change )

Active/Available Listings: 325 ( + 2 )

 Pending Sold Listings: 85 ( - 2 )  or 20.7 % of Current Market  ( - 0.5% )

Dubuque Area Sales Previous 12 Months: 725  ( - 2 ) or 60.4 Homes Sold per month ( - 0.2 )

Supply of Homes: 5.4 Month Supply ( + 0.1 ) 

Percentage Selling Per Month: 18.8% ( - 0.1% ) 

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This Year: 725 Sales ($146,310 avg. – avg. down 2.9% from previous yr.)

One Year Ago: 892 Sales ($150,627 avg. - avg. up 2.8% from previous yr.)

 Two Years Ago: 1016 Sales ($146,585 avg. – avg. up 5.3% from previous yr.)

Three Years Ago: 963 Sales ($139,219 avg. – avg. up 7.4% from previous yr.)

Four Years Ago: 897 Sales ($129,615 avg. sale price)

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OFHEO.gov (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) is an invaluable resource to anybody and everybody involved in real estate.  Not only should agents, appraisers, and mortgage lenders be familiar with OFHEO and its mission, but homeowners and those hoping to someday be homeowners should be in the know about the great data OFHEO.gov provides.

According to the OFHEO.gov website, OFHEO’s mission is:

…to promote housing and a strong national housing finance system by ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association)  and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation).  OFHEO works to ensure the capital adequacy and financial safety and soundness of two housing government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the nation’s largest housing finance institutions.

One of the ancillary services OFHEO provides is monthly, quarterly, and annual tracking of appreciation rates, known formally as the House Price Index, with appreciation (or depreciation) rates broken down by national, state, major metropolitan areas.  I personally make a point to visit OFHEO.gov at least once a quarter to download the latest report.  The most recent report available to the public is the Quarter 4, 2008 report, released last week on February 24th, 2009.  In it I found, as usual, some interesting facts about housing price trends.

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• Nationwide, house prices fell by 3.4% in the 4th quarter and fell by 8.2% for the previous full year
• This is the 6th straight quarter (18 months) of nationwide price declines, coinciding with the actual start of the recession in the fall of 2007, see chart below.
• Iowa ranks 8th best among the states with a slight decline of .64% for the 4th quarter and decline of .95% for the year.
• Illinois ranks as the 32nd “best” state with a quarterly decline of 3.03% and an annual decline of 5.75%
• The three worst states, no surprise, were Florida, California, and Nevada with respective annual declines of 23.86%, 25.52%, and 28.24%.  Sorry, Mr. DiCaprio, your $8.9 million-dollar mansion is now only worth a paltry $6.6 Million
• 44 of the 50 states saw annual declines for the previous year, see chart above.

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Sounds and looks pretty grim, right? Well, in good old Dubuque Iowa we haven’t been doing all too bad.  In fact, we actually saw in increase in prices for both the 4th Quarter (up .04%)  and the annual figure (up .57%).  Granted, these aren’t exactly big gains by any means, but at least we’re holding mostly steady against the national trends.  You’re not getting mea-rich owning real estate, at least not right now.  If, for example, you bought a home for $150,000 on December 31st, 2007, that same home “should” have been worth about $150,900 at the end of 2008.

At least we’re not Merced, CA, - they had a one-year decline of 49.5% – truly amazing.

 You can access the full OFHEO.gov report here. 

As always, I encourage your questions or comments via the comments function available in every post.

Dubuque Real Estate Market Analysis – February 22nd, 2009

This week’s analysis of the current Dubuque real estate market shows a slight contraction in overall inventory, down in both Total Listings and Available Listings.  This brings our current supply of homes down to A 5.3 month supply of available homes.  As you may have noticed in the previous Dubuque MLS Week in Review we posted a few more sales this last week than previous weeks.  Though, do take note, the average sales prices are skewing to the lower side of the price scale, rolling back our current twelve month average sales price to $146,378.

Current Total Listings: 409 ( - 9 )

Active/Available Listings: 318 ( - 6 )

Pending Sold Listings: 91 ( - 1 )  or 22.2 % of Current Market  ( +0.2% )

Dubuque Area Sales Previous 12 Months: 721  ( + 3 ) or 60.1 Homes Sold per month ( + 0.3 )

Supply of Homes: 5.3 Month Supply ( – 0.1 ) 

Percentage Selling Per Month: 18.9% ( + 0.5% )

 Past One Year: 721 Sales ($146,378 avg. – avg. down 3.0% from previous yr.)

Two Years Past: 907 Sales ($150,929 avg. - avg. up 3.7% from previous yr.)

Three Years Past: 1019 Sales ($145,604 avg. – avg. up 4.2% from previous yr.)

Four Years Past: 956 Sales ($139,787 avg. – avg. up 8.6% from previous yr.)

Five Years Past: 905 Sales ($128,758 avg. sale price)

Today at approximately 1:30PM CST on Tuesday, the President signed the latest economic stimulus bill into law.  Now, we can all argue into the wee hours about whether this latest attempt to kick-start the economy is a good idea, but, at the end of the day, it’s  still the law. 

In addition to being limited to first-time home buyers, the tax credit:

• Is equal to 10% of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
• Is available for homes purchased on or after Jan. 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.
• Does not have to be repaid.
• Has income limits of $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples.

I happen to be a member of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and they have been doing a great job keeping the public updated as to the housing provisions in the stimulus bill.  Click the image below to view NAHB Tax Credit website.

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last time I posted an update about the recent trends in Iowa mortgage rates.  This week I posted both the 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages.  Notice that while the 15-year and 30 year rates seem to follow each other up and down the rate scale, they aren’t necessarily tied together.  See the size-able dip 15-year notes took towards the end of January while 30-year rates continued a slow, steady climb in that same time frame.

Graph courtesy of BankRate.com

Of course, these are averages for 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages.  Local rates can, and do, vary on not only a daily, but frequently an hourly basis.  Check with your favorite local banks or credit unions to get local rate quotes. 

If you haven’t already been working with a bank or credit union or even a mortgage broker, I do have access to in in-house mortgage lender at Ruhl & Ruhl with 1862 Mortgage.  1862′s local rep, Ashley Schrempf would be more than happy to quote you current rates as well as pre-qualify you if you may be in the market for a home loan in the near futute.

Dubuque Real Estate Market Analysis (February 12th, 2009)

     Quick analysis of the numbers this week shows a slight increase, again, in our overall listed inventory.  However, that entire increase amount, plus two other listings, went under contract this week, leaving less actual inventory available for those buyers still out on the prowl.

     A nice reverse trend I’ve noticed is how our current rolling 12 month rolling record of sales has actually gained ground against the previous 12 months.  The Dubuque market had consistantly over the last two months or so had been trailing by over 200 homes sold against the prior 12 months. Now we’re down to all of 190 sales short of the prior year.  Not exactly a harbinger of a complete turnaround, but the trend is going in the right direction.

Current Total Listings: 418 ( + 8 )

Active/Available Listings: 326 ( - 2 )

Pending Sold Listings: 92 ( + 10 )  or 22.0 % of Current Market  ( +2.0% )

Dubuque Area Sales Previous 12 Months: 718  ( n/c ) or 59.8 Homes Sold per month ( n/c )

Supply of Homes (months): 5.4 Month Supply ( – 0.1 ) or 18.4% per month ( + 0.2% )

Past One Year: 718 Sales ($147,573 avg. – avg. down 2.1% from previous yr.)

Two Years Past: 908 Sales ($150,741 avg. - avg. up 3.2% from previous yr.)

Three Years Past: 1029 Sales ($146,124 avg. – avg. up 4.9% from previous yr.)

Four Years Past: 944 Sales ($139,271 avg. – avg. up 8.7% from previous yr.)

Five Years Past: 911 Sales ($128,097 avg. sale price)

As always, I encourage your comments and questions about Dubuque real estate, join in the conversation in the comments section below…

Since I was toying around on MSNBC’s site, I also found this completely unrelated video about how getting enough sleep will help you lose weight. I, like a lot of folks, could stand to take off a few, and if getting more sleep is the key, cound me in!  I’ll be sleepy-sleep time by 8:30 tonight!

Interesting tidbit from Inman News about Century 21 and their advertising strategy going into 2009:

Century 21 bids adieu to TV ads

Real estate ad dollars continue migration to online

Century 21 Real Estate will stop running national television spots in order to beef up online advertising such as display ads, search-engine marketing, and partnerships with real estate listing sites.

Although we no longer have a C-21 franchise in Dubuque, I know that this points to the ever-growing trend by real estate companies to abandon traditional media (print, television, & radio) in favor of online marketing.  It’s old hand now in the real estate industry that upwards of 80% of buyers BEGIN their home search online. 

Realtors and their brokers are coming to the realization that so-called “old media” isn’t having quite the same effect it used to.  That’s not to say there isn’t a place in a marketing plan for these outlets, it just points to the trend of companies and agents spending their advertising dollars where the majority of buyers (and sellers) are these days.  I’ve noticed this same trend in Dubuque real estate marketing strategy and fully embrace it, myself (obviously!).

Though we’re actually past Monday morning, I still wanted to make what I intend to be a regular post on RiverBankstoCornFields.com.  Those who know me well, know that I am a maven for stats and their interpretation. 

In sending out regular e-newsletter updates for the last three years, I make a reporting on the Dubuque MLS (Multiple Listing Service) stats about home listings and sales a regular feature.  So, without too much further ado, I give you the Monday Morning Dubuque MLS Stats.

Current Dubuque Market Inventory Analysis

Current Total Listings: 365

Active/Available Listings: 313

Pending Sold Listings: 52 (14.2 % of Current Market)

Dubuque Area Sales Previous 12 Months: 723 (60.3 Homes per month)

Current Supply of Homes (in months): 5.2 Month Supply (19.2% selling per month)

Dubuque Available vs. Pending and Trying to Sell vs. Selling

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Twelve Month Dubuque Averages For Sales Posted

Past One Year: 723 Sales ($147,730 avg. – Down 2.2% from previous)

Two Years Past: 928 Sales ($151,063 avg. - Up 3.0% from previous)

Three Years Past: 1019 Sales ($145,457 avg. – Up 4.1% from previous)

Four Years Past: 929 Sales ($139,741 avg. – Up 9.6% from previous)

Five Years Past: 926 Sales ($127,541 avg.)

Dubuque Year on Year Sales Totals and Year on Year Average Sale Prices