What if the 30-year mortgage rate fell below 4% and few people cared?

We may not have to wonder much longer. The average 30-year mortgage dropped to 3.94% for the week ending Wednesday, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly rate survey released on Thursday.

Reflecting both tight credit standards and anemic demand, applications for mortgages actually fell last week, according to a separate report from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday. The MBA said overall mortgage application volume was down by a seasonally adjusted 4.3% from the prior week.

Many borrowers can’t refinance today because they don’t have enough equity or they can’t qualify under lending standards that are far tougher than when they initially obtained their mortgages.

Rates also haven’t fallen as much as might be expected, given recent drops in banks’ borrowing costs, because banks are short-staffed. To manage volumes, they’ll sometimes raise the spreads between their borrowing costs and the rates that are offered to consumers.

Refinance applications were down by 5.2% from the prior week, while home-purchase apps were down by 0.8%, according to the MBA.

More troubling for the housing market is the fact that home-purchase applications were down 12% from one year ago—a signal that worries about the economy and potential home price declines are keeping borrowers on the fence, even though mortgage rates have probably never been this low.

Freddie Mac says the rates are the lowest since its survey began in 1971, and academic research suggests that rates for 30-year mortgages were as low as 4%—but not any lower—under a loan program for war veterans in the mid-1940s. Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, spoke to the problem facing policy makers’ inability to help consumers benefit from low rates in a speech last week in Sweden. Falling home prices “have disrupted the transmission of monetary policy,” he said, resulting in “a situation where the availability of credit is more important in many cases than the cost of credit.”

Low rates could give more urgency to a recent push by the White House to fix an administration effort that allows homeowners to refinance their mortgages if they owe more than their loans are worth. The program is open to borrowers with loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Clearly getting more money into the hands of homeowners who would spend it could help to fuel GDP growth,” said Mr. Rosengren.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/10/06/mortgage-rates-fall-below-4/?mod=wsj_like_facebook&fb_ref=article_top&fb_source=home_multiline

Miami’s first new condo high-rise since the housing bust is set to begin construction next spring, developer Newgard Development Group announced Monday.

Called Brickell House, the $170 million project is part of a new wave of condo towers planned for downtown Miami, which saw development grind to a halt after the building frenzy that lasted from 2003 to 2008.

“Almost all of the [outstanding] inventory that we had has been absorbed in the last 18 months,” said Harvey Hernandez, managing partner and chairman of Newgard Group. “It could not be a better moment for us to launch a project.”

The 46-story tower is slated to have 374 residences, ranging from one bedrooms to penthouses. Specs include a rooftop sky deck, pool on the 46th floor and an automated robotic parking garage.

Buyers in large part will be charged with paying for the construction of the glossy tower under a financing model that will require purchasers to pay 70 percent of the asking price before construction is completed. That financing model — which is also being used for new condos recently pitched by Related Group — is more common in Latin America, where Brickell House will be heavily marketed. Prices start around $200,000.

“Let’s be realistic. The majority of buyers in Miami come from outside of the country,” Hernandez said. “Our buyers here, nobody has 70 percent. Nobody can afford that.”

Hernandez said he believes the housing market will have substantially rebounded by the time the project opens, with strong international demand and a more vibrant downtown.

Peter Zalewski, of Bal Harbour-based CondoVultures, said he’s not so sure. He said sales of new downtown condos have begun to slow down, and supply is set to increase dramatically as a slew of new projects begins to come online.

“There are too many [projects] that are suddenly all popping up at the same time,” he said. “At least from a promotional perspective, it’s starting to look like 2005 and 2006 again.”

Additionally, a condo tower called Villa Magna is approved to open on a nearby plot with more direct water views than the land-locked Brickell House site, potentially providing stiff competition.

The Brickell House project, located off Brickell Avenue, is scheduled to open in 2014. A Meat Market restaurant has signed on to take up some of the project’s ground-floor retail space, Newgard announced.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/17/2459039/new-condos-slated-for-brickell.html#ixzz1bFQkqG5Q

 While the Miami real estate estate is nowhere near the levels of the boom years, some experts say Miami-Dade County home prices could rise. “You can see that our monthly closings and sales are inching up,” said Patrick O’Connell, a senior vice president of new business development at EWM, speaking at a real estate luncheon last week in Coral Gables. “All the numbers are going in the right direct now, and that’s what we want to see.” Jack Levine, chairman of the board of the Miami Association of Realtors, said the only real hangup was the continued struggle for financing. “The buyers are coming in here and they want to buy, and the pricing is great.”

Please visit the website for this beautiful listing located at 42208 Fisher Island Drive.

www.42208FisherIsland.com

Live the Fisher Island lifestyle in one of the chicest contemporary 2 bedroom units on Fisher Island. This sensational completely renovated corner unit offers stunning views of the Fisher Island marina. Features include a state of the art open plan kitchen with a central island table perfect for entertainment , stainless steel appliances, quartz counter tops, wood cabinetry marble floors throughout, renovated bathrooms, custom built-in closets, impact glass windows, surround sound system, plasma TV’s and much more… Visit this exceptional offering!   

 Fisher Island is one of the world’s most renowned private residential islands, accessible only via ferry or yacht. Located in Miami, Florida, this paradise sanctuary is composed of 216 acres of luxurious estates and condominiums all with 5-star resort amenities, including two deep sea marinas, a 9-hole golf course, tennis courts, a world class spa, numerous fine and casual dining restaurants, a private school, hotel white sand beaches.

Construction will begin on a $170 million, 46-story, 374-unit condominium in Miami come next spring, the Miami Herald reported, marking the first new high-rise condo since the housing bust.

Developed by Newgard Development Group at 1300 Brickell Bay Drive, the tower, called Brickell House, is slated to include a rooftop sky deck, a pool on the 46th floor and an automated parking garage. Newgard said it’s a good time to begin construction as much of the firm’s inventory has been absorbed over the last 18 months.

Newgard will depend on prospective buyers to finance construction. Purchasers will need to pay 70 percent of the asking price before construction is completed. It’s a model that is typical of Latin American construction, which is appropriate for the development that Newgard plans to market to foreign buers.

“Let’s be realistic. The majority of buyers in Miami come from outside of the country,” said Newgard Chairman Harvey Hernandez. “Our buyers here, nobody has 70 percent. Nobody can afford that.”

Source: http://therealdeal.com/miami/articles/newgard-development-group-set-to-begin-construction-on-brickell-house-at-1300-brickell-bay-drive-the-first-new-condo-since-the-bust

Prices are rising in Florida: Florida cities have had the largest year-over-year increases in average list prices, according to the latest real estate data from Realtor.com. Florida cities make up 9 of the top 10 places for highest year-over-year list price spikes, based off of August data of 2.2 million listings in 146 markets.

Nationwide, the average list price is $320,325, up 2.36 percent year-over-year.

Here are the top 15 cities boasting the highest percentage of year-over-year increases in average list prices. 

1. Miami
Average list price: $640,332
Year-over-year increase: 27.4%

2. Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Fla.
Average list price: $443,570
Year-over-year increase: 26.27%

3. Central-Fla.-RSA
Average list price: $405,809
Year-over-year increase: 19.41%

4. Punta Gorda, Fla.
Average list price: $267,066
Year-over-year increase: 16.37%

5. Macon, Ga. 
Average list price: $193,520
Year-over-year increase: 15.98%

6. Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.
Average list price: $466,785
Year-over-year increase: 15.86%

7. Naples, Fla.
Average list price: $713,087
Year-over-year increase: 15.13%

8. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla.
Average list price: $591,895
Year-over-year increase: 14.68%

9. Ocala, Fla.
Average list price: $193,360
Year-over-year increase: 12.07%

10. Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.
Average list price: $181,409
Year-over-year increase: 11.48%

11. Oralndo, Fla.
Average list price: $319,419
Year-over-year increase: 10.56%

12. Portland-Vancouver, Ore.-Wash.
Average list price: $314,537
Year-over-year increase: 10.52%

13. Boise City, Idaho
Average list price: $212,588
Year-over-year increase: 10.43%

14. Springfield, Illinois
Average list price: $174,537
Year-over-year increase: 9.12%

15. Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
Average list price: $211,414
Year-over-year increase: 8.34%

Unfortunately, due to a power outage affecting the Vanderbilt Mansion, the Garwood Lounge and City View Cafe in Fisher Island will be CLOSED tonight.  FPL crews are currently working to restore power, but the work is expected to take several hours. 
 
If you wish to dine on the island, La Trattoria will be serving all of your favorite dishes until 10:30pm tonight.
 
We apologize for any inconvenience.

Survey shows that South Florida tops real-estate sales early 2009 among other states in the US with a staggering $512 million in acquisition.

The status of the real estate market all throughout the US have been in a major downtrend since the economy entered recession due to several companies in Wall Street declaring total bankruptcy. Figures show that among the counties in South Florida, the three that marked the highest sales includes Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward.

Analytics compiled by real estate experts list down properties, such as apartments, hotels, industrial space, office, and retail. Residential properties have yet to reach their full potential in sales since the real estate boom a few years back before the economic decline. Commercial properties, on the other hand, are seeing high numbers in sales as the economy slowly recovers.

The highlight of total sales belongs to Miami-Dade as its retail sales closed at $10.9 million and the hotel sales at $35 million—four times the amount compared to the figures gathered during the first quarter of 2009. Broward County, conversely, is seeing a major downward spiral in the sales of the industrial sector, closing at $6.7 million during the last few months of 2009 compared to the $21.2 million from the first quarter of the same year.

Despite prices being cheaper than property values from last year, many experts believe that the steady rise of acquisition will continue to improve this 2010. However, this prediction is overshadowed by a high probability of prices going further down owing to the distressed properties still amounting to a majority in the Florida state.

William W. Teho, Jr.