Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/31/2010

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Calculated Risk has a comprehensive Government Housing Support Update.

S&P/Case-Shiller® January Home-Price Index

The S&P/Case Shiller® composite index for the month of January was released yesterday.

"'The report is mixed. While we continue to see improvements in the year-over-year data for all 20 cities, the rebound in housing prices seen last fall is fading. Fewer cities experienced month-to-month gains in January than in December 2009, on both a seasonally adjusted and unadjusted basis.' says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. 'Moreover, in four cities – Charlotte, NC, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa – prices reached new lows following the financial crisis. Tampa and Las Vegas experienced some of the largest gains and declines in this cycle, while Charlotte and Seattle saw much more modest price booms and relatively late peaks. On a brighter note, San Francisco and Minneapolis are 15.2% and 12.9% above their trough values. Other recent data on housing also paint a mixed picture. Housing starts continue at extremely low levels, recent reports of home sales suggest the market remains difficult, and concerns remain about further foreclosures and a large shadow inventory of unsold homes. We are in a seasonally weak part of the year, but given the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price data reported today, we can’t say we’re out of the woods yet.'"

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/30/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/29/2010

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Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 3/27-3/28, 2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/26/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/25/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/24/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/22/2010

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Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 3/20-3/21, 2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/19/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/18/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/17/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/16/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/15/2010

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Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 3/13-3/14, 2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/12/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/11/2010

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Northern Virginia February Housing Sales

February homes sales were on the weak side in Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties. This might have been partially due to the extreme February weather. The prices buyers were paying, however, were well above last year's.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/10/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/9/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/8/2010

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It Just Makes You Want to Scream

. . . and scream.

Via Calculated Risk, a series in the Voice of San Diego about post-bubble real estate swindles. The cost to taxpayers is $7.5 million, and the swindle happened in 2008.

A quote about this from Tim Cavanaugh at Reason: "One of the horribly fascinating things about following the real estate market from 2006 until, well, today actually, has been watching how long the body managed to keep running and twitching after the head was blown clean off".

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 3/6-3/7, 2010

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$100,000 Per Home

This was noteworthy from Calculated Risk:

This is no surprise and suggests that the extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit will probably cost taxpayers over $100,000 for each additional home sold.

I recommend reading the whole post.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/5/2010

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Current Housing Inventory

The total "Northern Virginia Inventory" represents the combined housing inventory (listed on the MLS) of Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, Falls Church City, Loudoun County, Manassas City, Manassas Park City, and Prince William County. These numbers are extrapolated from Virgina MLS.

(Here's the spreadsheet on a separate page).

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/4/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/3/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/2/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 3/1/2010

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Happy March! It's good to see the snow melt and the trees bud.