Tarrant Business

Wells Fargo giving $200,000 to Tarrant housing agency

Tarrant County Housing Partnership on Thursday will receive a grant for $200,000 from Wells Fargo Housing Foundation to support the agency’s work providing affordable housing. The grant is part of Wells Fargo’s national effort to increase affordable housing while stabilizing and rebuilding distressed neighborhoods. It's the foundation's second grant to the agency and one of 59 Priority Market grants nationally totaling $6 million. Wells Fargo executives, leaders of the Tarrant County Housing Partnership, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Tarrant County Development Director Patricia Ward will participate in the ceremony and formal check presentation Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods, 818 Missouri Ave. in Fort Worth.

“Our Dallas-Fort Worth team members are really pleased that we can continue to support the Tarrant County Housing Partnership and the great work it does for affordable housing and neighborhood stabilization in Tarrant County,” said John Gavin, Wells Fargo’s regional president for community banking. Gavin and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Regional Sales Manager Michelle Eldridge will represent Wells Fargo at the ceremony. “It’s hard to express in words our appreciation for the continued support of Wells Fargo,” said Donna VanNess, president of Tarrant County Housing Partnership. “Their generosity has been an important factor in our success.”

-- Jim Fuquay

 

Fort Worth housing market among nation's top 10

Fort Worth is one of four Texas markets that are among the nation's "healthiest" housing markets, according to Jed Kolko, chief economist for real estate information site Trulia. By healthiest, Kolko explains, he doesn't just mean that home prices are rising -- "because many of the markets with the largest price gains in 2012 were rebounding from huge price declines during the bust, but they still have weak fundamentals," he says. Here are his fundamentals: strong job growth (supporting housing demand); low vacancy rates; and low foreclosure inventory.

Those are his markers, and here are his picks: 1. Houston; 2. San Francisco; 3. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md.; 4. San Antonio; 5. Austin; 6. Seattle; 7. Omaha; 8. Peabody, Mass. (Boston suburban); 9. Fort Worth; 10. Louisville.

Some of the markets that didn't make his list and the reasons why, are:  "Las Vegas and Phoenix -- both have high vacancy rates and large foreclosure inventories going into 2013, despite having year-over-year asking-price increases of 14 percent  and 27 percent, respectively, according to the November Trulia Price Monitor. And Detroit has a sky-high vacancy rate and is suffering job losses, even though asking prices in Detroit rose 10 percent year-over-year." Trulia says asking prices in the Fort Worth market were up 5.3 percent from a year ago and rents were up 7 percent

-- Jim Fuquay

 

DFW home starts surged in third quarter

New home construction jumped 34.5 percent in the year's third quarter compared to a year ago, the fifth straight quarter of gains and the best since the second quarter of 2010, Residential Strategies said Thursday. There were 5,173 new home starts in the quarter, and for the first time since 2007, starts outpaced sales, the Dallas real estate research firm said. "The confluence of solid area job growth, ultra-low mortgage rates, tight existing home inventory and improving buyer confidence is propelling the DFW housing market forward with a solid recovery," said partner Ted Wilson. On an annual basis, the third-quarter starts equated to 16,431 starts for the year, which is just short of the rate seen during 2010's second quarter, when the government's homebuyer incentive program was in effect. That  tax-driven activity was not sustainable, Wilson said, and "meeting that previous interim high with organic growth represents a milestone in the recovery process."

Builders ended the quarter with 8,921 homes for sale or under construction, with 2,759 in the Tarrant area and 6,162 in the Dallas area. Both are up from a year earlier, although only narrowly in Tarrant. Builders are also whittling down the supply of vacant lots, the company said, ending the quarter with 57,787, or a 42-month supply. That's still much higher than the 24-month supply that's considered healthy, but about 15,000 of those lots are considered unusable by builders, Residential Strategies said.

-- Jim Fuquay

Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas says state's housing recovery to continue this year

 If job growth stays strong in Texas through the rest of the year, the recovery of the state’s housing market should continue this year as well, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas says in a report issued today.

"Home sales and construction have bounced back from recessionary levels, and apartment leasing remains robust thanks to solid employment and population gains," the Dallas Fed said.

Texas homeownership rate has inched up to 64.7 percent, one percentage point higher since the housing market bottomed out in the first quarter of 2011, the report said. The gain indicates a willingness of residents to buy a house. Sales began improving in the second half of 2011, the report said.

In North Texas, sales were flat in 2011 when compared to 2010, when sales were buoyed by a federal tax credit to homebuyers.

Through July, existing home sales rose nearly 20 percent from the same period of 2011, the report said.

"This activity is consistent with 2003-04 levels, before the national housing boom," the report said.

Lack of inventory is the factor most impacting sales and prices, the Dallas Fed said.

"Texas inventories of existing single-family homes are a 5.5 months of supply at the current sales pace. Inventories below about 6.5 months of supply are historically consistent with rising home prices," the report said.

Fewer Fort Worth-Arlington borrowers underwater on mortgages, CoreLogic says

Fort Worth-Arlington homeowners are among the declining numbers of those falling into underwater on their mortgages, CoreLogic said today.

Locally, 8.2 percent, or 30,927, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter in June, compared to 11.3 percent, or 43,626 properties, at the end of the first quarter in March. An additional 5.3 percent, or 20,015 residential properties, were in near negative equity for second quarter compared to 6.5 percent, or 25,170, in first quarter.

Negative equity, often referred to as underwater or upside down, means that borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Near negative equity is when borrowers have less than 5 percent equity in their home.

Nationwide, 10.8 million, or 22.3 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter, which is down from 11.4 million properties, or 23.7 percent, at the end of the first quarter.

An additional 2.3 million borrowers had near-negative equity, at the end of the second quarter. About 600,000 borrowers, though, reached positive equity at the end of the second quarter of 2012, bringing the total to 1.3 million for the first half of the year, CoreLogic said.

In Texas, 8.8 percent of borrowers were underwater and another 4.5 percent were in near negative equity, CoreLogic said.

Rising home prices, lower levels of inventory, and declining REO sale shares contributed to the decline in the number of borrowers underwater, said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist.

If home prices rise another 5 percent, an additional 2 million borrowers nationwide would be above water, said Anand Nallathambi, CoreLogic’s CEO.

_ Sandra Baker

September home foreclosure postings plunge in North Texas

Residential foreclosure postings plunged to a four-year low in North Texas this month and postings for Tarrant County were down 20 percent this month from a year ago, according to Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.

"Year-to-date residential foreclosure posting activity has dropped to just 38,311 notices filed on Dallas-Fort Worth area homes for the first nine foreclosure auctions of this year," said George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service, in a statement. "This is the lowest level for this nine-month period since 2008, when 37,572 postings had been filed by this time."

In Tarrant County, 12,842 postings have been filed so far this year.

For the September auction, being held today, postings totaled 1,288, down 20 percent from 1,611 postings in September of 2011.

"September's residential foreclosure posting activity has dropped 22 percent in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro with only 3,724 homes, condominiums, and town homes posted for foreclosure," Roddy said. "This was down from September 2011 when 4,786 postings were filed."

The record high for September was set in 2010 with 5,094 postings in Tarrant, Dallas, Denton and Collin counties.

_ Sandra Baker

North Texas existing home sales up 23 percent in July

Existing homes sales in North Texas continued to rebound in July with sales figures showing another double-digit increase from a year ago, according to the latest monthly housing activity report.

Real estate agents sold 7,487 homes in the 29-county North Texas area, a 23 percent jump from July of 2012, according to the report compiled by sales numbers through the multiple listing service by the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.

And through July, 43,420 homes were sold, a 16 percent increase from year-to-date totals of 2012, the report said.

Pending sales in July totaled 6,634 homes, up 20 percent from a year ago. The median sales price was also up 10 percent, to $166,700.

Home sales are up in many areas because low mortgage interest rates are drawing out buyers who have sitting on the sidelines waiting for improvements in the economy, housing economists have said.

In Tarrant County, several Arlington neighborhoods, including northeast, central east and southeast Arlington, and Mansfield saw huge gains, as did the Northeast Tarrant County communities of Grapevine, Southlake, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, and Trophy Club.

_ Sandra Baker

Fewer Fort Worth-Arlington homeowner underwater on mortgages

Fewer mortgage holders in Fort Worth-Arlington are underwater on their loans thanks to a rebounding housing market.

At the end of the first quarter, 11.3 percent, or 43,626, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity, said CoreLogic.

That compares to 13.1 percent, or 50,663 properties, at the end of the fourth quarter 2011 that were upside down, or owed more than the property is worth, CoreLogic said.

An additional 6.5 percent, or 25,170 residential properties, were in near negative equity for first quarter 2012 compared to 7.0 percent, or 27,027, in fourth quarter 2011, CoreLogic said.

Nationally, 11.4 million, or 23.7 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of March. The numbers are down from 12.1 million properties, or 25.2 percent, at the end of 2011.

An additional 2.3 million borrowers had less than 5 percent equity, referred to as near-negative equity, in the first quarter.

"In the first quarter of 2012, rebounding home prices, a healthier balance of real estate supply and demand, and a slowing share of distressed sales activity helped to reduce the negative equity share," said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist. "This is a meaningful improvement that is driven by quickly improving outlooks in some of the hardest hit markets. While the overall stagnating economic recovery will likely slow housing market recovery in the second half of this year, reducing the number of underwater households is an important step toward reducing future mortgage default risk."

 _ Sandra Baker

 

 

 

 

Protestors want more help to homeowners

About 20 demonstrators in downtown Fort Worth today called for the federal government to take more action to help struggling homeowners, such as reducing mortgages when a home’s value has fallen below the loan balance. The noontime event, at Burnett Park along Seventh Street, lasted less than an hour.

Kit Jones, an organizer for the Fort Worth office of the national MoveOn political group, said “it’s far past time that government-controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide some needed relief. Those two organizations, which were taken over by the federal government in 2008 during the financial crisis, purchase a majority of the new U.S. home loans.

Jones said her group also is calling for the replacement of Edward DeMarco as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Democrats have called for the Obama administration to appoint a director who will accept the government’s incentives aimed at encouraging lenders to reduce loan balances for some homeowners. DeMarco, whose agency regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has resisted, noting recently that three out of four borrowers whose loans are held by the organizations are making payments on time. He has suggested that lowering monthly payments could be more effective.

-- Jim Fuquay

 

Fort Worth area home sales fall in fourth quarter, sales statewide remain flat

Sales of single-family homes throughout Tarrant County were up in the fourth quarter, but the median prices slipped, according to Wednesday's Texas Quarterly Housing Report of the Texas Association of Realtors.

In Arlington, 845 homes were sold between October and December, a 2.4 percent increase from the same three-month period in 2010. But, the median price fell 0.15 percent to $128,000 from $128,200, the report said.

Sales were down nearly 24 percent in the quarter from the third quarter of 2011.

The numbers were much the same in Fort Worth. According to the report, 1,823 homes were sold in the fourth quarter, a 2.5 percent increase from 1,778 homes sold in the same quarter a year ago. The median price in Fort Worth dropped 3.6 percent to $109,700, from $113,800 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sales were down 18 percent in the quarter from the third quarter of 2011.

Sales climbed 12 percent in Northeast Tarrant County to 1,466 homes sold, up from 1,309 homes in the fourth quarter of 2010. The median price in the fourth quarter was $169,900, up 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sales were down 22.5 percent in the quarter from the third quarter of 2011.

Statewide, for the period of October through December, 46,764 homes were sold, 6 percent more than the same quarter in 2010. The median price for Texas homes during the quarter was $148,100, which was unchanged.

"It’s encouraging to see continued stability in the Texas real estate market heading into 2012," said Joe Stewart, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors. "With increasing sales, stable prices and low mortgage interest rates, this report is more evidence that, in Texas, things are different and better."

Jim Gaines, an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said sales and median price were flat when compared to 2010.

"Texans should know that ‘flat’ is the new ‘up’ because our state still outpaces national averages by 8 to 10 percent in both sales volume and median price."

 _ Sandra Baker