Columbia SC real estate finally saw a turnaround in 2012. The good news is for home buyers and investors. If you’re considering buying Columbia SC real estate to live in or use as an investment, 2013 is shaping up to be another terrific year.
A Look Back at Columbia SC Real Estate in 2012
–>Roughly 23 percent of homeowners are underwater or are nearly underwater with their mortgages, according to third quarter 2012 data from CoreLogic.
–>Zillow estimates that U.S. homes gained $1.3 trillion in value during 2012, the first year of cumulative gains since 2006. The Case/Shiller Housing Index showed that home prices rose about 2 percent in much of the country. Anything in positive territory is a big gain for homeowners.
–>New home sales remain low, with only an estimated 368,000 sold in 2012, according to projections from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Still, that’s up about 17 percent from a year earlier. The median sales price of new homes was $237,700 in October, due to the supply of new homes being very low. At the current rate of sale, the 147,000 new homes on the market would sell in 4.8 months, a historic low rate.
–>Existing home sales reached an adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in November, up 14.4 percent from a year ago, according to the latest figures from the NAR. While NAR concurs that home values are rising, about 22 percent of home sales were foreclosures and short sales, which sold for deep discounts. Still, even the percentage of distressed sales is down from 24 percent a year ago. And the number of homes on the market is now as low as it was back in 2001.
–>Mortgage interest rates fell to historic lows in 2012. You can get a 30-year loan for around 3.35 percent, a 15-year loan at less than 3 percent and a 10-year loan for around 2.85 percent. All of this assumes you have excellent credit and at least 20 percent equity in the property you’re buying or refinancing.
The good news is that HARP 2.0 has kicked into gear, and as lenders get used to working with borrowers on its terms, more homeowners are qualifying for a refinance.
When we look back over 2012, it’s clear that the Columbia SC real estate ship has turned. However, if the country falls back into recession, the small amount of progress made could easily reverse. The real number to watch is employment: Without a good paying job that allows homeowners to afford their mortgage, it’ll be tough to generate the kind of strong housing market that Americans have come to rely on.
Stay tuned to our site for more updates on Columbia SC real estate as we progress through 2013. Good or bad, we’ll keep you informed on anything and everything that affects Columbia SC real estate values.
Columbia SC home prices are expected to rise a modest one to two percent in 2013 from the fourth quarter of 2012. Gains in some areas of Columbia SC will be stronger than others, but overall, Columbia SC home prices have finally turned the corner, and we see no reason to be fearful of further large price declines.
This creates a new playing field for homeowners, who are finally able to sell, as well as would-be buyers who’ve been delaying a purchase in anticipation that prices would keep falling.
The Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts that more and more house hunters will start coming off the sidelines, with new-home loans for purchases expected to jump 55%, based in dollars, in 2013.
Are Columbia SC Home Prices Set to Skyrocket Again?
With these things being said, don’t expect Columbia SC home prices to be off to the races again in a year or two. We just don’t see that happening.
Homes in many markets are selling in a matter of weeks, often attracting multiple bids — but only the ones that are properly priced.
With competition heating up, casual house shopping isn’t going to cut it anymore. If you are serious about making a move, be prepared to make an offer. If a house has been on the market for three months or longer, you can afford to be more aggressive, but if it’s a new listing, a low-ball bid will get you ignored.
If tight lending standards return to historical norms, the real estate market could see an additional 500,000 to 700,000 home sales in 2013.
Since jobs are the engine of the housing market, a pickup in hiring later in the year, which economists are predicting, could accelerate a real estate rebound in the second half of 2013, meaning even higher Columbia SC home prices the longer you wait to purchase.
Nearly three quarters of potential Columbia SC home buyers believe home prices will increase in their neighborhood in the next twelve months, twice as many as in the first quarter.
Despite forecasts that prices will increase less in 2013 than this year, buyers are more concerned by rising prices than the overall economy. Thirty-three percent of buyers listed rising prices as a major concern in the fourth quarter, up from just 23 percent in the third quarter. Meanwhile, 22 percent said they were concerned with a weak economy, down from 27 percent in the third quarter, according to the Redfin Real-Time Homebuyer Survey.
More Than 70 percent of Columbia SC home buyers believe prices will rise next year. The number of buyers who believe prices are rising shot up even higher in the fourth quarter, although most still expect gains to be modest. Ten percent expect home prices in their area to “rise a lot” over the next twelve months, the same as last quarter; 61 percent expect prices to “rise a little” an increase of ten percentage points over last quarter. Twenty-one percent expect prices to “stay the same,” 6 percent expect prices to “drop a little,” and less than 1 percent expect prices to “drop a lot.”
Growing Number of Columbia SC Home Buyers Planning to Buy
A growing number of Columbia SC home buyers are planning to buy in order to get out in front of rising prices. Thirty-three percent of respondents indicated rising prices as a motivation for buying now, up from 29 percent in the third quarter and just 19 percent in the first quarter.
Most Columbia SC home buyers are not very concerned about the Fiscal Cliff and possible changes to the mortgage interest deduction. Although the possible consequences of some of the proposed changes may be large for certain people, only about 5 percent of buyers are seriously concerned and only 23 percent are being more cautious in their home search while they wait to see how things pan out.
What about you? Are you in that group of potential Columbia SC home buyers worried about home prices continuing to increase? We’d love to hear from you.
There’s been a lot of news coming out over the past few months about the Columbia SC housing revival, as well as the upward trends taking place nationally. But is the revival real, or are things like a reduced number of foreclosures and lower inventory of housing causing the numbers to be skewed?
Ali Velshi of CNN summarizes the housing revival in this report, along with some areas of concern for making sure the revival is real, and not just numbers that are out of focus with reality.
Bookmark our site and check back often. We’ll keep you abreast of the Columbia SC housing revival, and tell you when things are for real, and when you might look past the numbers.
More good news in the housing sector – home prices are the strongest they’ve been in 9 years. It was the summer of 2003 the last time we saw housing prices as high as they are now.
For more Columbia SC real estate news updates, check our Columbia SC Real Estate News category to your right.