Bailed Out

(for now!) h/t Contrarian.

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

The S&P/Case Shiller® composite index for the month of September was released today. (Discussion underway in today's Bits Bucket).

"Another weak report; weaker than last month. The national index is down 1.5% from the third quarter of last year and 15 of 20 cities are down over the last 12 months. Other than Tampa, FL, there are no new lows this month but many analysts will argue that a double dip will be confirmed before Spring. While some of the bad numbers may reflect the end of the government’s tax incentive for first time homebuyers, there are other problems weighing on the housing market." says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "The national economy is certainly the number one issue for housing. Additionally, there is a large supply of houses on the market and further, hidden, supply due to delinquent mortgages, pending foreclosures or vacant homes. New construction is running at less than half the pace needed to meet normal demand, so a sustained recovery could be a ways off."

"Looking deeper into the data, in the monthly indices, 18 MSAs and both Composites were down in September over August. This is worse than August when 15 were down month-to-month. The only two which weren’t down in September were Las Vegas, which managed to stay a touch above the low set in July, and Washington DC. Overall, there are few, if any, good numbers in this month’s data."

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/30/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/29/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 11/27-11/28, 2010

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Is the Game Really Up?

Theatrics. He ought to know that the "word Belgium is considered to be the rudest word in the universe, and is completely banned in all parts of the Galaxy, except in one part, where they don't know what it means."

Housing Supply

Calculated Risk has a nice summary of current housing supply and what all the numbers mean.

"The key numbers to follow for the housing market are 1) existing home inventory, 2) number of delinquent loans, and 3) the excess vacant inventory."

"...For October, the NAR reported 4.43 million sales (SAAR), and 3.86 million units of inventory, so that equals 10.5 months of supply."

Total Northern Virginia inventory stands at about 7,989 available listings -- last year, the total available listings numbered 6,242. We've finally seen a typical seasonal decrease in inventory, although listings were somewhat elevated YOY this summer after the tax credit buying wore off. Data provided by MRIS shows that Northern Virginia's months of inventory peaked in April 2008 at about 10 months, and currently stands at about 5 months or less.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/23/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Market Still Painful

A $200,000 or 36% loss in Waldorf since 2004? This story seems far-fetched, but I don't follow Maryland very closely.

This is the story dated November 8th -- Selling A Home When The Value Crashes.

"Angela and her husband bought a beautiful, spacious 5,500-square foot home on a half-acre lot in Waldorf in 2004 for $565,000. ...They put the home on the market for $389,000. Within 30 days, they received an offer for $30,000 less."

This part is telling -- the help doesn't match the hype:

"Angela says they asked their bank specifically about President Obama's loan modification program. They hoped to have the principal reduced or the interest rate lowered, which would allow at least one of them to be able to stay in the home.

But Angela says the bank declined and refused to consider any type of modification and came back with sarcasm.

"We were told we should speak with President Obama directly if we had a problem with them."

Someone else got a nice house for a more reasonable $359K. Hopefully they'll have enough left over to pay the monthly utility bill.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/22/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/19/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/16/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/15/2010

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Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 11/13-11/14, 2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/12/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/11/2010

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Northern Virginia's October Housing Sales

Sales were down year-over-year in every Northern Virginia county, and sales were quite weak compared to the last decade of October sales.



Source: MRIS.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/10/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/9/2010

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Is Ireland Facing House Price Collapse?

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 11/6-11/7, 2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/5/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/3/2010

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AP article on QE2.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/2/2010

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Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 11/1/2010

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Caroline Baum: "Bernanke is headed into uncharted waters with no compass, no radar, and no stars to guide him.

The good news is he’s got plenty of fuel. The bad news: His only rations are gruel."

What are your thoughts on QE2? Do you think it's necessary, are you ambivalent, or are you as disgusted as Caroline?