Video - Brief Analysis Of Bethesda MD Real Estate Market - November 2011

Bethesda Real Estate

Real Estate Market Slow To Rebound

The federal government has exhausted their options for trying to help the real estate market rebound. Low interest rates, loan company bail-outs and mortgage refinancing deals have gone nowhere fast.  “There isn’t a lot the government can do to prevent foreclosures,” says Paul Willen, a researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “And we’ve just been banging our heads against the wall now for four years, trying.” Laurie Goodman of Amherst Securities forecasts that 1 in 5 homeowners will have trouble with their mortgages in the coming years.
 
The Feds understand all too well that America’s prosperity is closely linked to what’s going on in real estate. Americans need jobs to buy homes. More importantly, Americans need jobs and homes to feel confident enough to spend in other places. In a typical expansion, Goldman Sachs says that housing contributes half a percentage point to growth in GDP. Over the past year, housing has actually subtracted 0.15 of a percentage point from our GDP in a negative feedback loop.

Real estate agents have met with many disappointments over the past three years, with prices starting to flatten out, only to drop once again. Forecasters keep saying the tumbling real estate values are done dropping, but it’s clear that most of America is not over the hump just yet. Perhaps prices will begin to stabilize in 2014, some say. For now, new construction is depressed, sales of new homes are low, delinquencies are high, and foreclosure auctions are keeping prices low. Technically, real estate has never been cheaper in the US – for those who can afford to invest anyway.

King Farm MD homes

Bethesda Real Estate

Gaithersburg MD Homes For Sale Market Update - November 2011

At www.DCRealEstateMarketPlace.com, we just wrote a short article about a few statistical findings for the Gaithersburg MD real estate community.  What we found out was a bit hard to make sense of!  Median asking prices for homes for sale in this area have been on the rise over the past two years, which I would think is a postive sign for the market.  But at the same time, inventory levels are also rising, which most people view as a negative trend.  Confusing.

So here's a third graph to see if we can't really figure out what is going on...

This graph shows how long homes in the area have been staying on the market over the past two years.  Sadly, this graph isn't very helpful either!  Our measurements today are a bit higher than they were two full years ago, which makes it seem like a bad number.  But at the same time, today's homes are on the market a shorter time today than they were last year, which makes it seem like we are making progress!

Most markets are either clearly improving, or clearly declining.  But not here in Gaithersburg, it's all up in the air here, it all depends upon each specific home.

For more information on Gaithersburg, or any other area in and around DC, please visit http://dcrealestatemarketplace.com

Homes Values Boosted By Local Businesses

Over the past 14 years, neighborhoods with thriving small businesses saw an increase in local homes values by 50 percent over non-small business areas or poorly performing small business areas, according to the American Express OPEN Independent Retail Index. The study found that communities with a robust small business scene were likely to see a 4 percent annual increase in homes prices, along with the infusion of 1,800 jobs into their communities.

Susan Sobbott, president of American Express OPEN, issued a statement that said: "This research validates what we know intuitively -- that small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. There is concrete evidence that thriving independent neighborhoods lead to higher real estate values and more local jobs."

Not surprisingly, large urban areas like New York City, San Francisco, and Washington DC (and in my opinion, Bethesda real estate would be no different) fared the best. The most ideal businesses were restaurants and flower shops, rather than law offices or insurance agencies, when it came to influencing the values of homes in an area, the report also said. Unfortunately, what Amex found is that the majority of urban areas have seen the number of bars and restaurants decline by 7 percent and other small retailers by 11 percent over the last two decades. If that trend continues, we can expect the values of our homes to continue to fall. So report analysts say perhaps the best thing you can do for homes in your community is to go out and support those local entrepreneurs who add so much to your bottom line.

For more information on Bethesda MD real estate and other communities in and around the Washington DC marketplace, please visit http://dcrealestatemarketplace.com

Buy Real Estate, Get Visa?

The Federal Government is desperate to improve the situation of joblessness and a tanked real estate market… but what can they do about it? Doesn’t the market have to simply run its course? Don’t prices simply have to drop? Don’t investors need to snap up as many properties as they can to rebuild neighborhoods? Doesn’t the average American need to buy when they have a job again? There is a new proposal on the table – a Bipartisan Bill that would allow foreigners who spend $500,000+ on US real estate to obtain Visas to live in the United States.

Advocates of the plan say it could really boost the California market, which is attractive to Chinese real estate buyers. Nationwide, sales to foreigners and new immigrants reached $82 billion, up from $66 billion last year, said the National Association of Realtors. Florida and California led these real estate transactions, but Colorado, New York, Hawaii, and Texas will also see huge increases in demand. Sandra Miller, a Santa Monica realtor, said 10 percent of the luxury market is comprised of foreign investors, but offering them US visas to live here could easily triple that figure.

It’s the Government’s hope that these international tourists would take advantage of another offer once here – to get on the fast track for a green card if they invest at least $500,000 in an American business that creates at least 10 jobs.

According to New York Senator Chuck Schumer who introduced the legislation, “Many people want to come and live in the United States. They will be here spending money and paying taxes, and the most important thing is they'll sop up the extra supply of homes we have right now compared to demand, and that's what's dragging our economy down."

What do you think? Will this help our real estate market and unemployment rates?

To check out what is happening in the Bethesa real estate market, make sure to visit http://dcrealestatemarketplace.com/

Video - Brief Analysis Of Bethesda MD Real Estate Market

Bethesda luxury real estate

Bethesda Real Estate - October Analysis

Over at www.DCRealEstateMarketplace.com, we just wrote a short article about how luxury homes for sale in Bethesda MD were faring when compared to the overall market, but ran out of room before sharing just one more graph.

This graph shows the Median Action Index, which is a compilation stat assembled by Altos Research out of California for most major metro areas, and which purports to show whether or not a market is in a Buyer's or Seller's market, and how strongly.

A score of 30 on this graph would indicate a neutral market, with anythig below 30 belonging to a Buyer's market.  Clearly, that's where Bethesda is, with the most expensive group of homes, shown in black, even further in a Buyer's market than the overall pool of available properties.