The Week in Review September 15, 2008 Wilmington NC

The Week in Review

…..your Wilmington Connection

September 13, 2008

Wilmington has been warm and windy this week with some cooler evenings. But the feel of summer is still here. Lets have a look what has been going on in the Port City.

Port City at No. 6 in best-performing cities list

Last year, Wilmington made the No. 2 spot on the Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners’ 2008 best-performing cities list, with a nod toward its role as a port.

This year No. 2 goes to Raleigh-Cary as strong technology and global trade centers influenced the top 10 list. Which is only 1 hour and a half from Wilmington.

Wilmington still was up there, though, at No. 6, while Provo-Orem, Utah, led the pack.

None of America’s 10 largest cities made the list this year as limited room for expansion hurt their ability to compete with faster-growing regions, especially in the South and West.

The index ranks U.S. metros based on their ability to create and sustain jobs. It includes five- and one-year measurements of employment and salary growth, the organizations said.

The national decline in the housing and construction markets pushed some past performers significantly lower in ranking, including the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area of California and metro Phoenix. But energy center Houston became the top performer among the 10 largest cities at 16th on the list and Dallas rose to 23rd.

El Paso, Texas, was the most improved city, moving from 122nd to 37th, the survey found.

The Milken Institute, based in Santa Monica, Calif., describes itself as a nonprofit, independent economic think tank. Greenstreet Real Estate Partners is an investment and asset management company.

Federal Mortgage Success stories

So far, these government-linked lenders — including other, smaller Maes and Macs — have come through the credit crisis largely unscathed. Some of them, in fact, are even prospering.

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, or Farmer Mac, for example, has been on a roll lately. Its shares have soared 153 percent this year, and its profit is up. Chartered by the federal government in 1988, Farmer Mac buys mortgages on farmland from agricultural lenders and then sells instruments backed by those loans. The company is thriving because the price of crops — and farmland — has been rising.

The Government National Mortgage Association, or Ginnie Mae, meantime, has also come through the last year without the credit problems that have brought Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to their knees. Fully owned by the federal government, Ginnie Mae provides guarantees on mortgage-backed securities backed by federally insured or guaranteed loans. Earlier this year, Ginnie Mae’s sales of new government-guaranteed debt soared to the highest point since 2003, as the market for other mortgage-linked debt collapsed.

Southport aldermen OK annexation of 93 acres

But the 93 acres the city intends to annex is much different than the large swath officials had originally hoped to grab.

The board voted 5-1, with Alderman Nelson Adams dissenting, to approve a resolution of intent to annex land along North Atlantic Avenue, Jabbertown Road and across the Progress Energy cooling canal.

But this intent goes nowhere near the Long Beach Road-N.C. 211 intersection the city had hoped to take in. Oak Island beat Southport to the table in June by passing its resolution of intent first, giving it exclusive rights to land both communities were eyeing.

Oak Island is in the process of annexing land along Long Beach Road to the N.C. 211 intersection.

Southport’s original swath went past Sunny Point to the north and almost to St. James to the west. Both communities were vying for land near the Long Beach Road intersection, which contains two large shopping centers and a Lowe’s Home Improvement store.

Oak Island’s quick move forced Southport to take its annexation in a different direction, which includes 11 parcels along Jabbertown Road.

Adams argued the board originally agreed on a different direction and should have stuck to it.

 

……...until next week in The Week in Review

Tina

The Week in Review Wilmington NC Real October 11, 2008

The Week in Review

….your Wilmington Connection

October 11, 2008

 

Currently in Wilmington there are 2771 homes on the market. There are 323 which are currently under contract and 1489 homes have sold in the last 6 months. Thats about 12%. The price range $250,000 and under are fairing the best with 8 months of inventory on the market. Whereas the higher priced homes are suffering with almost a year and a half and upwards. Homes are selling but patience is needed.

Federal Dollars to fund Holden Beach Sand

The estimated damage to Holden’s beach also constituted the biggest chunk of the $14 million in statewide damage to public infrastructure attributed to the storm and helped push the state over the threshold to seek federal help.

Gov. Mike Easley is seeking a federal disaster declaration that would enable federal grants to be used to repair the damage, including to Holden’s beach.

But the damage to the town’s beach has raised some eyebrows, both for the amount of sand Holden officials claim was washed away and the estimated cost to replace it.

Hanna wasn’t a particularly big or strong tropical systems, bringing rain but not much else to Southeastern North Carolina.

Pending Home Sales Up Strongly

Pending home sales activity surged as buyers took advantage of low home prices and affordable interest rates, according to the National Association of Realtors

The Pending Home Sales Index,1 a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, jumped 7.4 percent to 93.4 from an upwardly revised reading of 87.0 in July, and is 8.8 percent higher than August 2007 when it stood at 85.8. The index is at the highest level since June 2007 when it stood at 101.4.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said home buyers were responding to improved affordability. “What we’re seeing is the momentum of people taking advantage of low home prices, with pending home sales up strongly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island and the Washington, D.C., region,” he said. “It’s unclear how much contract activity may be impacted by the credit disruptions on Wall Street, but we’re hopeful most of the increase will translate into closed existing-home sales.”The PHSI in the West surged 18.4 percent to 109.5 in August and remains 37.8 percent above a year ago. In the Northeast the index jumped 8.4 percent to 79.8 and is 2.0 percent higher than August 2007. The index in the Midwest rose 3.6 percent to 84.5 in August and is 6.6 percent above a year ago. In the South, the index increased 2.3 percent to 96.0 but is 2.1 percent below August 2007.

Yun notes the unusual timing of contract activity in August. “Home buyers in July were hampered by overly stringent lending criteria in the months before the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie,” he said. “August shows some unleashing of pent-up demand before the credit crisis accelerated in September.”He cautioned that the sampling size for pending home sales is smaller than the track on existing-home sales, so there is more volatility in the forward-looking series. “We need to see just how much of this gain holds up.

 

….until next week in The Week in Review

Tina

The Week in Review Wilmington NC November 1, 2009

The Week in Review ….your Wilmington Connection November 1, 2009 Whew! a warm wet week in Wilmington…quite unusual for Wilmington this time of year.  Today was the half marathon at the Battleship, we were all looking forward to the 13.1 mile run…until we saw how hot it was going to be…we then knew.  It would be a race to remember. November 1st…..if you are thinking of buying a home before the tax cedit finishes you better jump on board quick 29 days left. Some lenders may sitll be able to make it happen.  Wilmington NC Real Estate This week in Wilmingon its that price range $250,000 and under that is still seeing the majority of the activity.  Currentlly there are 2310 homes on the market. There are 345 homes that are currently under contract. Just to confirm homes are still selling there were 501 homes sold, and 325 of those homes sold at $250,000 and under. Status of the Extention of the Tax Credit Although the Senate was not able to reach a procedural agreement to schedule a vote on the Unemployment Insurance extension, the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson Amendment to extend and expand the Tax Credit is contained in the bill. The Senate is expected to vote Monday evening for a “Motion to Invoke Cloture”. If 60 Senators vote yes on the cloture motion, the Senate will then be able to schedule a vote on the bill that contains the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson Amendment. Once the Senate acts, the tax credit must still go to the House of Representatives for action. NAR will continue to provide us with updates on the tax credit as events warrant. National Housing Inventory  A change in the inventory. The Total housing inventory at the end of September was down7.5 percent to 3.63 million existing homes available for sale, which shows an 7.8-month supply at the current sales time frame, down from an 9.3-month supply in August. Unsold inventory totals are 15.0 percent below a year ago. “The current housing supply is the lowest we’ve seen in two and a half years,” Yun said. “If we could continue to absorb inventory at this pace, home prices would return to normal, modest appreciation patterns next year. 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, shows that first-time home buyers accounted for more than 45 percent of home sales during the past year. This does not come as a shocking surprise with the first time home buyer tax credit out there. A separate practitioner survey shows that distressed  (short sales, foreclosures) homes accounted for 29 percent of transactions in September. Movement in the first time buyer range allows for tmore opportunites for those sellers who want to move up to their next home.  All in favor to continue the housing tax credit say Ay!   ….until next week in The Week in Review    Tina