Closing Strong: Florida Single-Family Closed Sales

Florida’s housing market has improved in 2012 compared to 2011, and keeps pushing forward. The year is closing out strong with sales and prices continuing their positive trends. With one month left to go, let’s look at the progress in November as well as year-to-date.
Florida’s pending sales were significantly higher in November. Single-family homes had 45.8% more pending sales in November 2012 than November 2011. Townhouse-condo pending sales were up 30%. Closed sales show a similar trend – increased pending sales push some closed sales through even with hurdles in the market. Both single-family and townhouse-condos closed sales increased from last year. The more exciting news – looking at the difference in the year-to-date numbers – is a 13,703 improvement in single-family closed sales and an 880 increase in townhouse-condos for the year as a whole.


Prices have been even more positive for the market. Every month in 2012 has reported a higher median price than the same month in 2011. This comes as no surprise, as investors grab inventory at the lower end of the market. In November 2012, the single-family median price was $150,000 versus $134,000 in 2011. Townhouse-condo median price improved from $91,000 to $112,000 over the same period.
The positive change in median price has correlated with sellers receiving more of their asking price. In November, single-family sellers received 92% and townhouse-condo sellers received nearly 93% of their original list price. Realistic sellers who price their house to market conditions are even receiving multiple offers.
Florida’s market is tipping toward sellers. Months’ supply of inventory is at 5.1-months for single-family homes and 5.3-months for townhouse and condos, dipping below the 5.5-month threshold that signifies a balanced market.
The Sunshine State’s housing market has been recovering all year. Sales and prices have increased and inventory has dropped. Some areas of the state and price ranges may have lower or higher inventory. Therefore, it’s smart to advise each client with information tailored to their needs, allowing you to stand out as the industry professional.

-- Erica Cross, research analyst, Florida Realtors

The Employment Situation in December

While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.

With the passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act earlier this week, more than 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses now have certainty that their income taxes will not rise. Additionally, unemployment insurance was extended for two million Americans who are searching for a job, and companies will continue to receive tax credits for the research that they do and continue to have tax incentives to accelerate investment in their businesses. By allowing income tax cuts for the top 2 percent of earners to expire, this legislation further reduces the deficit by $737 billion over the next decade. It is important that we continue to move toward a sustainable federal budget in a responsible way that balances revenue and spending while protecting critical investments in the economy and essential support for our most vulnerable citizens.

Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that private sector businesses added 168,000 jobs in December. Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 155,000 jobs last month. The economy has now added private sector jobs for 34 straight months, and a total of 5.8 million jobs have been added over that period, taking account of the preliminary benchmark revision. In 2012, private businesses added two million payroll jobs, taking account of the preliminary benchmark revision.

The household survey showed that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.8 percent in December. The unemployment rate in November was revised from 7.7 percent to 7.8 percent as a result of BLS’s annual update of seasonal factors. The labor force participation rate was also unchanged at 63.6 percent in December. Over the last 12 months, the unemployment rate has decreased by 0.7 percentage point as a result of growing employment, and the labor force participation rate has been essentially unchanged.

According to the establishment survey, in December employment rose notably in the health care and social assistance industry (+55,000), restaurants and bars (+38,000), construction (+30,000), and manufacturing (+25,000). The manufacturing sector has added jobs in 30 of the last 35 months, gaining half a million jobs over that period, the most for any such period since the late-1980s. Payrolls rose in both residential and non-residential construction jobs. Retail trade lost 11,300 jobs, following gains totaling 161,300 over the previous four months. Government lost 13,000 jobs in December, mostly in local government education, which lost 11,500 jobs. The local government education sector has now lost 294,400 jobs since its recent peak in November 2009.

As the Administration stresses every month, the monthly employment and unemployment figures can be volatile, and payroll employment estimates can be subject to substantial revision. Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available..

by Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers

What You Must Know About Home Appraisals

Appraisal value does not mean market value. Home owners prefer to have lower appraisal value to pay less property taxes. If you think the appraisal value of your home is too low, you can seek a second opinion.

Understanding how appraisals work will help you achieve a quick and profitable refinance or sale.

 

When you refinance or sell your home, the lender will insist that you get an appraisal—an opinion of the value of your home based on what similar homes in your area have sold for in recent months.

Here are five tips about the appraised value of your home.

1. An appraisal isn’t an exact science

When appraisers evaluate a home’s value, they’re giving their best opinion based on how the home’s features stack up against those of similar homes recently sold nearby. One appraiser may factor in a recent sale, but another may consider that sale too long ago, or the home too different, or too far away to be a fair comparison. The result can be differences in the values two separate appraisers set for your home.

2. Appraisals have different purposes

If the appraisal is being used by a lender giving a loan on the home, the appraised value will be the lower of market value (what it would sell for on the open market today) and the price you paid for the house if you recently bought it.

An appraisal being used to figure out how much to insure your home for or to determine your property taxes may rely on other factors and arrive at different values. For example, though an appraisal for a home loan evaluates today’s market value, an appraisal for insurance purposes calculates what it would cost to rebuild your home at today’s building material and labor rates, which can result in two different numbers.

Appraisals are also different from CMAs, or competitive market analyses. In a CMA, a real estate agent relies on market expertise to estimate how much your home will sell for in a specific time period. The price your home will sell for in 30 days may be different than the price your home will sell for in 120 days. Because real estate agents don’t follow the rules appraisers do, there can be variations between CMAs and appraisals on the same home.

3. An appraisal is a snapshot

Home prices shift, and appraised values will shift with those market changes. Your home may be appraised at $150,000 today, but in two months when you refinance or list it for sale, the appraised value could be lower or higher depending on how your market has performed.

4. Appraisals don’t factor in your personal issues

You may have a reason you must sell immediately, such as a job loss or transfer, which can affect the amount of money you’ll accept to complete the transaction in your time frame. An appraisal doesn’t consider those personal factors.

5. You can ask for a second opinion

If your home appraisal comes back at a value you believe is too low, you can request that a second appraisal be performed by a different appraiser. You, or potential buyers, if they’ve requested the appraisal, will have to pay for the second appraisal. But it may be worth it to keep the sale from collapsing from a faulty appraisal. On the other hand, the appraisal may be accurate, and it may be a sign that you need to adjust your pricing or the size of the loan you’re refinancing.

By: G. M. Filisko
Read more: http://buyandsell.houselogic.com/articles/what-you-must-know-home-appraisals/#ixzz2GvuIoTsd

St. Regis Bal Harbour condo sales spur boom in N.E. Miami-Dade

 

By Peter Zalewski The Miami Herald

 

 

Special To The Miami Herald

 

Strong condo sales topping $750 million in year one at the newly opened St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort & Residences are spurring a development boom in Bal Harbour and the neighboring barrier island cities of Surfside and Bay Harbor Islands in Northeast Miami-Dade County.

Inspired by an average new condo sales price of nearly $1,450 per square foot at the St. Regis Bal Harbour at 9701 Collins Ave. since November 2011, developers are rushing forward with proposals for more than 10 new condo towers with nearly 800 units — and counting — on a series of sites within walking distance of the major intersection of Collins Avenue and 96th Street, which passes through the cities of Bal Harbour, Surfside and Bay Harbor Islands.

Developers of the newly proposed projects are attempting to capture some of the sales success being realized at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, where buyers have purchased more than 200 units — a combination of condos and condo-hotels — out of a pool of nearly 500 units at prices ranging from $1.35 million to $13.5 million, according to Miami-Dade County records.
    
The developers — a combination of local and international firms coming from countries including Argentina and Turkey — are independently proceeding with the permit process in hopes of building a series of condo projects, ranging from the proposed 20-unit Harbor Park condo tower on the Intracoastal Waterway to more than 260 units on the oceanfront site of the Bal Harbour Beach Club.
The proposed condo projects in the Bal Harbour-Surfside-Bay Harbor Islands area are at various stages of obtaining governmental approval. Many of the proposed condo towers are anticipated to launch presales in 2013, begin construction in 2014, and be completed in or before 2015.

The surge in new condo projects in the Bal Harbour-Surfside-Bay Harbor Islands area comes as South Florida is experiencing the makings of another building boom.
Nearly 100 new condo towers with more than 14,200 units have been announced for the coastal region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties as of Dec. 15. Of the proposed condo projects, one tower has already been completed and 14 additional towers are under construction with the most recent groundbreaking occurring on Dec. 6 for the proposed 35-story Chateau Beach just north of Bal Harbour in the city of Sunny Isles Beach.

As condo construction financing remains a challenge for developers to obtain in South Florida, most of the newly proposed condo towers are being sold to international buyers who commit to make a series of deposits — based on construction milestones being reached — that account for as much as 80 percent of the contracted purchase prices prior to the completion of the units. Typically, only a portion of the deposits cannot be used by the developers for construction.

The current pay-along-the-way funding model for preconstruction condo buyers varies dramatically from South Florida’s last condo boom — and subsequent bust — when speculators were typically only required to deposit 20 percent of the contracted purchase price.
Early in this newest South Florida condo construction cycle, the speculators are reportedly limited given the rich buyer-deposit requirements.

In addition to limiting the potential of a similar speculator-driven condo crash, the current deposit requirements for preconstruction projects is arguably firming up resales of existing condo units in the Bal Harbour-Surfside-Bay Harbor Island area. In the first 11 months of 2012, buyers acquired nearly 270 condo units — many in older projects — at a median price of $260 per square foot compared to 285 units at a median price of about $243 per square foot during the same January through November period of 2011, according to the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

A year earlier in 2010, buyers acquired less than 260 condo unit resales in the Bal Harbour-Surfside-Bay Harbor Islands area at a median price of about $226 per square.
By comparison in the last year of the South Florida condo boom in 2006, buyers acquired less than 140 condo unit resales in the Bal Harbour-Surfside-Bay Harbor Islands area at a median price of nearly $345 per square foot between January and November.
Going forward, the Bal Harbour-Surfside-Bay Harbor Islands area appears poised for a condo construction boom based on the number of new projects being proposed. The unknown is whether buyers will buy preconstruction condo units under a pay-along-the-way model in projects that do not bear the St. Regis moniker. By Peter Zalewski

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/23/3151932/st-regis-bal-harbour-condo-sales.html#storylink=cpy

財政懸崖對房地產的影響 "Fiscal Cliff": Effect on the economy

By CBS, Jill Schlesinger, January 1st, 2013



吉爾·施萊辛格在2013年1月1日報導: “ 財政懸崖對經濟的影響, 對於相同收入的家庭, 他們的資本收益和股息收入會從目前的15％提高到20％, 但不包括房地產!”

"Fiscal cliff": Effect on the economy ... Capital gains and dividends will rise to 20 percent from the current 15 percent for the same income thresholds. ... to a wide variety of property and equipment, excluding real estate.

(MoneyWatch) The Senate passed a deal to address the so-called "fiscal cliff" 90 minutes after the midnight deadline by a vote of 89 to 8. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where a rare New Year's Day vote could occur, according to House aides.

In addition to the tax changes, the Senate agreed to a two-month delay in addressing $110 billion in government spending cuts (aka the "sequester"), which were due to go into effect Jan. 2. Some government agencies have already made arrangements to comply with the cuts, not knowing whether or not a deal would occur.

Although the scaled-back deal could still founder and or be changed when it goes to the House, the Senate plan would raise roughly $600 billion in taxes over 10 years, far less than the more than $2 trillion in revenue initially discussed by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

According to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, the Congressional Budget Office scoring of the bill projects a $329 billion increase in deficit in 2013; $3.9 trillion over 10 years.
 

"Fiscal cliff": Effect on the economy

Whose taxes are going up?

 All wage-earners: For the past two tax years, 160 million American employees' contributions to the Social Security program was 4.2 percent, down from 6.2 percent (this comes on the FICA line item of a paystub) on earnings up to $110,100 in 2012 and on earnings up to $113,700 in 2013. Despite legislative back-slapping about "preventing tax increases for the middle class", the average U.S. household that earns $50,000, will pay an extra $1,000 in taxes in 2013. For an individual earning the maximum 2013 cap of $113,700 or more, the increase would be $2,274, or nearly $200 per month.

Just before midnight, the Internal Revenue Service issued new withholding tables for 2013 reflecting the expiration of the 2001-3 tax cuts and the two-percentage point Social Security tax cut, but the IRS noted that the tables might change given pending legislation.

• Annual income up to $113,700
• Cost to individuals: 2 percent of income to a maximum of $2,274
• Average HH cost (50K/yr): $1,000
• When will impact be felt?: Up to 4 weeks after bill is passed

"Fiscal cliff": Who is a "wealthy taxpayer?"

Wealthy earners: Individuals who earn more than $400,000 and couples who make more than $450,000 will see tax rates increase from 35 to 39.6 percent. Those income levels are up from Mr. Obama's levels of $200,000 and $250,000 and down from Boehner's $1,000,000 proposed threshold. Capital gains and dividends will rise to 20 percent from the current 15 percent for the same income thresholds. In addition to the capital gain and dividend rates, health care reform will levy a new surtax of 3.8 percent on capital gains for wealthy Americans, pushing up the top capital gains rate to 23.8 percent.

The Personal Exemption Phaseout (PEP) and the itemized deduction limit are set at $250,000 for singles and $300,000 for joint filers. These rules are meant to reduce or eliminate the value of personal exemptions for taxpayers earning more than the income threshold. The effect of the reinstatement of the limits amounts would increase taxes by just over 1 percent to the top tax rate as well as on capital gains rates.

• What's wealthy? The bill does not say whether the $400K/$450,000 threshold refers to adjusted gross income (AGI) or taxable income. AGI doesn't include subtractions for itemized deductions, while taxable income does.
• Marginal tax bracket: Rises to 39.6% from 35%
• Capital gains rate and dividend tax rate: Rises to 20% from 15%
• Total capital gains and dividend rate for 2013, including ACA sur-tax: 23.8%
• PEP/Itemized deduction limits: $250,000 for singles and $300,000 for joint filers

What's extended?



Long-term unemployment benefits: At the beginning of the Great Recession, Congress enacted a temporary supplement to state-based unemployment insurance programs, which usually pay benefits for 6 months. The measure will be extended for one year, preserving benefits for 2 million Americans who were at risk for losing benefits at year-end.



Tax credits for low to middle wage earners: Among these provisions are the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Obama Opportunity Tax Credit (college tuition credits), deductions for $250 of teachers' classroom expenses; allowance of taxpayers to choose paying state sales taxes in lieu of state income taxes; a conservation donation benefit; and the direct charitable contribution of up to $100,000 of IRA assets for people 70 1/2 and older will all be extended for five more years.



Of these credits, the following are seen as the most valuable to low to middle wage earners:

-- The Child Tax Credit is up to $1,000 for each qualifying child who was under the age of 17 at the end of 2012. This credit can be claimed in addition to the credit for child and dependent care expenses, but phases out for married couples who earn over $110,000 and single filers who earn more than $75,000. (Details are in IRS Publication 972.)

-- The Child and Dependent Care Credit is available if you pay someone to care for your dependent who is under age 13, so that you can work or look for a job. The credit is 20 to 35 percent of your child-care expenses up to $6,000 -- the size of your credit depends on your income. This credit will be reduced significantly next year. (Details are in IRS Publication 503.)

-- The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable credit for married couples filing jointly with 2012 earned income under $50,270 and singles who made less than $45,060. The more children you have, the more money you receive. Your income and family size determine the amount of the credit, but the maximum credit is $5,891 this year. The income thresholds for this credit have increased over the past decade, and the maximum credit has increased since the recession. Next year, both phaseout limits and credit amounts will revert back to lower levels. (Details are in IRS Publication 596.)

-- The American Opportunity Tax Credit was set to expire at the end of 2010, but was then extended for an additional two years through December 2012 by the Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2010. The new credit makes the Hope Credit for higher education expenses available to a broader range of taxpayers, including many with higher incomes and those who owe no tax. It also adds required course materials to the list of qualifying expenses and allows the credit to be claimed for four post-secondary education years instead of two. The full maximum annual credit of $2,500 per student is available to individuals, whose modified adjusted gross income is $80,000 or less, or $160,000 or less for married couples filing a joint return. The credit is phased out for taxpayers with incomes above these levels.


Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT): AMT was created in 1969 to ensure that wealthy taxpayers pay at least some minimum amount of federal income tax, regardless of deductions, credits or exemptions. In essence, it is a flat tax with two brackets, 26 percent and 28 percent. Under the new deal, Congress has finally created a permanent inflation "patch" that would allow millions to escape AMT. Without the patch, the AMT would have hit 31 million taxpayers this year, reaching deeply into the middle class.



Certain business tax credits: There would be a one year extension of Research and Experimentation Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit and an extension of the 50 percent bonus depreciation rules, applicable to a wide variety of property and equipment, excluding real estate.



Medicare payments to doctors: Congress agreed to a one year extension of current Medicare reimbursement rates, shielding participating doctors from a potential 27 percent cut in reimbursements.



Even with deal in place to avoid the cliff, however, the political debate over deficit-reduction is certain to continue. The U.S. Treasury Department notified Congress that the country hit its legal borrowing limit of $16.39 trillion -- the so-called "debt ceiling" -- on the last day of 2012. That could set the stage for a replay of the 2011 political brouhaha over government borrowing that, in putting off the toughest decisions on fiscal policy, led the U.S. to the edge of the fiscal cliff.

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