Stonecrest Blog

Jim’s Corner – Market Updates

Stonecrest Homes’ CFO, Jim Chapman, regularly comes across interesting news about the market. For this reason, Stonecrest would like to present Jim’s Corner, a division of our blog dedicated to interesting information Jim would like to share with our investors, homeowners and fans. Enjoy!

To help the economy succeed, the Fed is certainly using its ability to the max. Coming out of the FOMC meeting Wednesday, September 21st, the Fed announced “Operation Twist” – a strategy of selling its short-term securities to buy long-term bonds to drive down long term interest rates, especially for mortgages. This latest Fed effort to help the housing market is great news for anyone thinking of buying a home, as mortgage rates should stay very very low.

Wednesday’s other great news for housing was August Existing Home Sales came in UP 7.7%, to an annual rate just the other side of 5 million units, the best reading since March. This dropped the supply of existing homes to 8.5 months. Tuesday, August Housing Starts were down 5%, to a 571,000 unit annual rate. But, hey, dealing with a hurricane and floods, builders across a good part of the East were hesitant to break ground. Better news came with building permits – UP 3.2% for the month and now UP 7.8% versus a year ago. As for the long dormant consumer, here are some more good economic signs. Same-store sales were UP 3.4% versus a year ago, as measured by the International Council of Shopping Centers. Redbook Research reported an even better 4.1% boost in same-store sales. Then, some economists said they expect consumer spending to climb at a 1.5%–2% annual rate in Q3. The economy may not be booming, but it’s not double-dipping back into recession either.

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Jim’s Corner – Atlanta Expected to be One of Best New-Home Markets in US

Stonecrest Homes’ CFO, Jim Chapman, regularly comes across interesting news about the market. For this reason, Stonecrest would like to present Jim’s Corner, a division of our blog dedicated to interesting information Jim would like to share with our investors, homeowners and fans. Enjoy!

The following article was written by John Gittlesohn “Phoenix and Atlanta Will Be Best New-Home Markets in U.S., Barclays Says”.

Phoenix, where foreclosures have surged and prices plummeted since the U.S. housing bubble burst, and Atlanta are the best potential markets for the sale of newly built homes, Barclays Capital said in a report today.

Atlanta has the potential for 47,317 new houses a year, followed by Phoenix with 46,485 and Dallas with 33,997, Jeff Meli, Vincent Foley, Cedric Morris and Robert Tayon, analysts with Barclays, wrote in the study. Phoenix leads 16 metro areas examined for potential revenue with $4.45 billion in new home sales. It’s followed by Washington with $3.94 billion and San Diego with $3.31 billion. Continue reading Jim’s Corner – Atlanta Expected to be One of Best New-Home Markets in US…

Jim’s Corner – New Prices Firm Despite Volume

Stonecrest Homes’ CFO, Jim Chapman, regularly comes across interesting news about the market. For this reason, Stonecrest would like to present Jim’s Corner, a division of our blog dedicated to interesting information Jim would like to share with our investors, homeowners and fans. Enjoy!

The following is an article written by Jon Dienhart and Ken Lee.

Despite the continuing trend of new homes comprising a

Continue reading Jim’s Corner – New Prices Firm Despite Volume…

Jim’s Corner – Info That Hits Us Where We Live

Stonecrest Homes’ CFO, Jim Chapman, regularly comes across interesting news about the market.  For this reason, Stonecrest would like to present Jim’s Corner, a division of our blog dedicated to interesting information Jim would like to share with our investors, homeowners and fans. Enjoy!

The below information was received from a colleague of Jim’s, Michael Notartomaso of The Hilton Head Group, Inc.

…Those of us who think we can participate in a housing market recovery sooner rather than later just got welcome support from some industry experts. As reported by Fortune on CNNMoney.com, “After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is

Continue reading Jim’s Corner – Info That Hits Us Where We Live…

Jim’s Corner – Real Estate: It’s Time to Buy Again

Stonecrest Homes’ CFO, Jim Chapman, regularly comes across interesting news about the market.  For this reason, Stonecrest would like to present Jim’s Corner, a division of our blog dedicated to interesting information Jim would like to share with our investors, homeowners and fans. Enjoy!

The following is an exerpt from Fortune Finance, daily breaking financial news.

Forget stocks. Don’t bet on gold. After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is housing.

So let’s state it simply and forcibly: Housing is back.

Two basic factors are laying the foundation for dramatic recovery in residential real estate. The first is the historic drop in new construction that so amazes [Mike] Castleman [Founder and CEO of MetroStudy]. The second is a steep decline in prices, on the order of 30% nationwide since 2006, and as much as 55% in the hardest-hit markets. The story of this downturn has been an astonishing flight from the traditional American approach of buying new houses to an embrace of renting. But the new affordability will gradually lure Americans back to buying homes. And the return of the homeowner will start raising prices in many markets this year.

Of course, home prices are low and home construction is weak for a reason: incredibly low demand. For our scenario to play out, America will need a decent economy, with job creation and consumer confidence continuing to claw their way back to normal.

One big fear is that today’s tight credit standards will chill the market. But we’re really returning to the standards that prevailed before the craze, and those requirements didn’t stop prices and homebuilding from rising in a good economy. “The credit standards are now at about historical levels, excluding the bubble period,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “We saw prices rising with fundamentals in those periods, and it will happen again.”

To see why, let’s examine the remarkable shift in home affordability. A new study by Deutsche Bank measures affordability in two ways: first, the share of income Americans are paying to own a home. And second, the cost of owning vs. renting. On the first metric, the analysis finds that homeowners now pay just 9.8% of their income in after-tax mortgage, tax, and insurance payments. That’s down from 17.2% at the bubble’s peak in 2007, and by far the lowest number in the Deutsche Bank database, going back to 1999. The second measure, the cost of owning compared with renting, should also inspire potential buyers. In 28 out of 54 major markets, it’s now cheaper to pay a mortgage and other major costs than to rent the same house. What’s most compelling is that in all of the distressed markets, owning now wins by a wide margin — a stunning reversal from four years ago. It now costs 34% less than renting in Atlanta. In Miami the average rent is now $1,031 a month, vs. the $856 it costs to carry a ranch house or stucco cottage as an owner. (For more, see The top 10 cities for home buyers).

To read the full article and why you should buy now, click here.

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Jim’s Corner – Optimism Is Palpable

Stonecrest Homes’ CFO, Jim Chapman, regularly comes across interesting news about the market.  For this reason, Stonecrest would like to present Jim’s Corner, a division of our blog dedicated to interesting information Jim would like to share with our investors, homeowners and fans. Enjoy!  Continue reading Jim’s Corner – Optimism Is Palpable…