Terry Winkle Real Estate Blog

New Construction Stats for 2009 in Twin Falls

Terry Winkle — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:26:00 +0000

I have had lots of inquires about how new construction has done this last year. I wanted to get you some stats for you to look at and decide what you think:

10 years ago there were 176 building permits pulled for New Construction Single Family Homes.

5 years ago there were 438 building permits pulled for New Construction Single Family Homes.

3 years ago there were 547 building permits pulled for New Construction Single Family Homes.

1 years ago there were 193 building permits pulled for New Construction Single Family Homes.

This year there were 190 building permits pulled for New Construction Single Family Homes.

Overall looking at completed numbers from 2009 we were:

-1.55%	from 2008

-25.19%	from 2007

-52.83%	from 2006

-17.62%	17.6% decrease from 2005; 24.9% increase over 2004

51.60%	51.6% increase over 2004; 175.5% increase over 2001

	9.5% increase over 2003

	16.3% increase over 2002

Sold home stats for 2009 in Twin Falls

Terry Winkle — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:50:43 +0000

End of the year stats for you to see how the market is doing.

Total # sold Residential Homes in Twin Falls County – 860. Of which 640 where in Twin Falls City.

Average Sales Price for: County - $144,370, City $148,195

116 Homes were sold new construction and 116 homes were sold distressed (Bank-owned, Foreclosure, & Short Sale) in the county of Twin Falls.These two combined totaled 13.5% of the sold.

Of those homes, 102 homes were sold new construction and 83 homes were sold distressed (Bank-owned, Foreclosure, & Short Sale) in the city of Twin Falls. Those two combined made up for 13% of the market sold.

Lastly, Total # of sold Residential lots: 59 for city and 90 for the county.

Side note: Of the 11,620 Sales that took place through the Intermountain Multiple listing sales in the 2009, 37.9% were comprised of distressed properties.

There was a total of 34 building permits pulled for new construction in Twin Falls County for 2009.

Updated stats for home buyer and seller in Twin Falls

Terry Winkle — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:01:17 +0000

I love the condensed insight we get in this: Last Tuesday the Case-Shiller Home Price Index for 20 cities came in UP a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for October. This was the fifth consecutive monthly increase for the index. Year-over-year, prices are still down 7.3%, but that’s a less steep rate of decline than we’ve been seeing.

It looks like home prices could be stabilizing, though well below their peaks in most markets. This price decline, plus the dramatic drop in mortgage rates, have made homes more affordable than they’ve been in a long time. A writer for the Wall Street Journal compared home price index values, mortgage rates and average weekly earnings going back to 1987. The finding? On average, housing is as affordable now as it was in the mid-1990′s, when homes were a real steal. Of course, this conclusion is based on average prices, so affordability may be greater or less in individual markets.

Christmas Eve, the Treasury lifted the limit on the money it can put into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to keep their net worth positive over the next three years. Some economists point out that Fannie and Freddie could now replace the Fed as a big buyer of mortgage-backed securities to help keep mortgage rates down after March 31. That would be great, but nothing is certain. Smart buyers are taking advantage of TODAY’S low mortgage rates AND the expanded tax credit that requires a signed contract by April 30 and a closing by June 30!

Real Estate Stats from lenders view

Terry Winkle — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:49:13 +0000

Ran across this information this morning. I thought it had some great insight. Although it is from a national view, its still speaks volumes for the market we are in.

November Existing Home Sales came in UP 7.4%, at an annual rate of 6.54 million. This was way ahead of estimates and a 44.1% sales jump over a year ago. We had increases in all regions of the country, all due to single-family homes.

The median price went up to $172,600, down 4.3% from a year ago, but a big improvement from January, when prices were off 17.5% from the prior year. The supply declined to 6.5 months, as inventories fell to 3.52 million, their lowest level since December 2006. In the past three months, Existing Home Sales are up 28.5%. One more sign of housing market recovery came in a report that prices for homes financed with conforming mortgages increased 0.6% in October.

November New Home Sales fell 11.3%, to an annual rate of 355,000. But November was an unusual month, with uncertainty over the tax credit slowing things down. New Home Sales are still UP 7.9% from January and inventories dropped in November to 235,000. This is the lowest level since 1971 and a 58.9% decline from the mid-2006 inventory peak. So even at this slower sales pace, experts feel home building will have to increase over the next few months to meet the demand that’s out there.

Maybe the market is turning around…

Stats on Building permits for Twin Falls

Terry Winkle — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:38:52 +0000

Following is something to note. From January of 2009 to November of 2009 there has been 173 total single family dwellings permits pull to build in Twin Falls. As compared to last year there were 192 pulled by this same time. Up to this point that puts us roughly around -10% below what we were last year. From the additional information below one might believe that it appears were are pulling out of the slump, at least in new construction.

-25.19%	from 2008

-52.83%	from 2007

-17.62%	17.6% decrease from 2006; 24.9% increase over 2005

51.60%	51.6% increase over 2004; 175.5% increase over 2001

	9.5% increase over 2003

	16.3% increase over 2002

Active homes stats for Twin Falls

Terry Winkle — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:24:43 +0000

Look at what the statistics are saying about the Price Range and Days on Market for homes between $100,000 – $150,000 in that last six month for Twin Falls active homes. This price range is the most popular range purchased and viewed by buyers:

Dec. 2009 - 217 Active homes, 9.6 months of inventory

Nov. 2009- 209 Active homes, 9.6 months of inventory

Oct. 2009 – 211 Active homes, 9.9 months of inventory

Sept. 2009- 218 Active homes, 10.6 months of inventory

Aug. 2009 - 207 Active homes, 9.9 months of inventory

July 2009 – 214 Active homes, 10.3 months of inventory

It appears with this information that we are holding steady in the hottest price range in Twin Falls at a average of 213 active homes every month making for a 10 month supply of homes to sell through with no new inventory.

Homes for sale inventory for Twin Falls in Nov 08 vs 09

Terry Winkle — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:36:40 +0000

Interesting information about the inventory levels comparing November 2008 to 2009 active listings:

2008 – 638 homes active in November with 340 homes between $100,000 – 200,000. This put the average days on market around 21.7 months as a whole.

2009 – 632 homes active in November with 359 homes beteween $100,000 to $200,000. This put the average days on the market around 32.8 months as a whole.

Similar amount of inventory, but its taking longer to sell through the number of units according to these numbers.

Home Sold Stats in Twin Falls Nov. 08 vs. 09

Terry Winkle — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:23:36 +0000

Exsisting homes sold in Twin Falls:

YTD Nov. 2008 – 507 homes sold, Average price $153,051

YTD Nov. 2009 – 497 homes sold, Average price $143,276

Number of Units sold we are down only -2.0% from last year

Average price sold is down -6.4%

I gather that we are seeing more realistic numbers in the pre-exsisting home sales market than we are in the new construction market. I would also venture to say that it would be worth investing in the pre-exsisting homes in order to get a more realistic price and value. Any thoughts?

Terry Winkle — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:52:27 +0000

Just want to make sure that this is clarified – Taxpayers who claim the First-Time Homebuyer Credit on their 2009 tax return will NOT be able to file electronically but instead will need to file a paper return.

A new version of Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit, will be available in the next few weeks. A taxpayer who purchases a home after Nov. 6 must use this new version of the form to claim the credit. Likewise, taxpayers claiming the credit on their 2009 returns, no matter when the house was purchased, must also use the new version of Form 5405.

If you have any other questions, contact your accountant.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=215791,00.html

Twin Falls Sold Housing Stats from Nov. 08 vs. Nov 09

Terry Winkle — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Just to answer a questions on how things are looking compared to last year and this year for new construction in November:

2008 - 133 Homes sold in Twin Falls at a 97.1% list to sales price.

2008 - Avg. price $185,750

2009 - 94 Homes sold in Twin Falls at a 95.5% list to sales price.

2009 – Avg. price was $180,074

This is leaves us with a -29.3% drop in units sold compared to last year and a -3.1% drop in values of the new homes. Although inventory is not selling as many units we are not losing too much in the actual value of the new construction homes. Could this be a sign of strengthening?