Lake Tahoe Real Estate - Single Family - Gardner Mountain
Lake
Tahoe Real Estate - Condo/Townhouse - Gardner Mountain
Lake
Tahoe Real Estate - Multi Family - Gardner Mountain
Lake
Tahoe Real Estate - Land - Gardner Mountain
Lake
Tahoe Real Estate - Commercial - Gardner Mountain
2004 RECORD YEAR FOR CALIFORNIA HOUSING MARKET
The California residential real estate market in 2004 was
one for the record books, according to C.A.R. Home sales for
2004 are projected to increase 3 percent over 2003's record
sales figure of 601,800 existing detached homes, even with
December's housing market statistics unavailable until later
this month. The annual median sales price of an existing single-family
home will exceed $450,000, 22 percent higher than the 2003
annual median of $372,700. Additionally, C.A.R.'s Housing
Affordability Index (HAI) fell to 19 percent in May, the first
time the index has hit the teens since December 1989. Since
that time, rapid price appreciation and marginally lower interest
rates have generally offset each other, keeping the HAI in
the 18- to 19-percent range throughout the summer and fall
of this year. If not for unexpectedly low interest rates throughout
much of the year, price appreciation might have driven the
HAI to historically low levels that were last seen in May/June
1989 (14 percent).
REAL ESTATE CONSTRUCTION SPENDING TOPS $1 TRILLION
Construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual
rate of $1,013.3 billion in November 2004, 0.4 percent below
the revised October estimate of $1,016.9 billion, according
to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday.
November was the fifth consecutive month where the projected
rate of construction spending topped $1 trillion.
HUD RAISES REAL ESTATE LOAN LIMITS The Federal
Housing Administration (FHA) has increased its single-family
home mortgage limits by more than 7 percent from last year,
the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced
earlier this week. Effective Jan. 1, 2005, FHA will insure
single-family home mortgages up to $172,632 in low-cost areas
and up to $312,895 in high-cost areas. The new loan limits
are a part of an annual adjustment HUD makes to account for
rising home prices. The loan limits in 2004 were $160,176
in low cost-areas and $290,319 in high-cost areas. "These
higher loan limits will help the FHA mortgage insurance program
keep pace with the strong housing market while contributing
to the Bush Administration's commitment to create 5.5 million
new minority homeowners by the end of the decade," said Alphonso
Jackson, secretary of HUD. "The new limits will help create
more construction, more jobs, and more economic growth, while
increasing homeownership." Total spending on private residential
construction was estimated at $554.7 billion, down 0.4 percent
from October and up 10 percent from one year earlier. Spending
on total private construction was estimated at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of $777.1 billion.
Information provided by - C.A.R. Newsline is published by
the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, a trade association
representing more than 155,000 REALTORS® statewide.
