Home prices set new highs in April (but not us)

From the Record:

Home prices in N.Y. metro area continue gradual increases

Home prices in the region are rising, but at only half the rate of the national averages, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index reported Tuesday.

As the nation continues to recover from the worst housing downturn in decades, single-family values rose 2.6 percent in the New York metropolitan area in the 12 months ending in April, compared with 5 percent nationwide, Case-Shiller reported. Prices in the region are at about the same levels they reached in September 2004, while national prices are at the levels of October 2005. And values are still below their peaks of mid-2006 — about 10 percent nationwide and 16.5 percent below in the region.

Home values haven’t rebounded as smartly in the area as in the nation as a whole, in part because they didn’t crater as far during the housing crash. In addition, foreclosures continue to weigh on the New Jersey market, which was slower to deal with the crisis than the nation as a whole. According to the New Jersey Realtors, single-family home prices rose 1 percent in Bergen County in April, to a median $465,000, and 7 percent in Passaic, to a median $300,000.

April’s price gains were especially strong in the West, led by Dallas, Denver, Portland and Seattle. Northeastern and Midwestern cities, including Washington, New York and Chicago, had gains of 3 percent or less.

David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said the national numbers reflect “a strong price performance” over the past six months. “The home price increases reflect the low unemployment rate, low mortgage interest rates, and consumers’ generally positive outlook,” Blitzer said. “One result is that an increasing number of cities have surpassed the high prices seen before the Great Recession. Currently, seven cities – Denver, Dallas, Portland OR, San Francisco, Seattle, Charlotte, and Boston – are setting new highs.”

This entry was posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

70 Responses to Home prices set new highs in April (but not us)

  1. grim says:

    Although will Brexit light a fire under the NYC metro?

    From the Observer:

    This Is How the Brexit Could Impact New York City Real Estate

    The United Kingdom’s historic decision to leave the European Union this morning had immediate and rather drastic results. The value of the British pound dropped to lows not seen since 1985, the Dow fell more than 500 points, and Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would resign.

    The unprecedented referendum has inserted worldwide uncertainty into the global economy, including luxury residential real estate in New York City. Some are claiming that the Brexit might actually have a positive impact on the real estate economy of the city, which is seen as a relatively stable place to store wealth.

    “For the next two years, the European Union and Britain are going to be sorting out what this means,” noted attorney Marc Landis, managing partner and chair of the Real Estate Department at Phillips Nizer, LLP. “There is continued economic uncertainty and cultural uncertainty, and while all those things are happening, the United States in general, and New York City in particular, look like an even better place to invest your money than before.”

    There is one outcome of the Brexit that will almost undoubtedly benefit New York’s economy—at least ego-wise, in coming out on top over London as the unofficial financial capital.

    “This will help New York City in its sort of battle with London as the world’s financial capital, which has the potential for remote potential for more jobs in the securities industry, and just a general advantage, especially over the next few years as Great Britain figures this out in extracting itself from the European Union,” Miller acknowledged.

    “Personally, I didn’t believe this would happen—this is an event we will be talking about for generations,” he declared.

  2. grim says:

    From CNBC:

    How the UK’s exit benefits US REITs

    The continued flight to the safe harbor of American properties in gateway markets like New York and San Francisco reflects persistent economic and political instability in other parts of the world,” said Sam Chandan, founder and chief economist of Chandan Economics. “The U.K.’s decision to exit the European Union underscores the U.S. investment thesis and could trigger a new wave of foreign capital inflows to high-quality, well-located assets.”

    New York City office space is already a favorite among foreign investors. Witness the high-profile sale of Manhattan’s former Sony Building to Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Group. The “Chippendale” tower reportedly sold for more than $1.4 billion, netting seller Joseph Chetrit a $300 million profit. New York hotels are also favored in foreign deals.

    “Large institutional investors pay for New York, as they look at it more as a store of value. Growth is gravy,” said Goldfarb. “They’re looking to park capital. Foreigners, high net worth, really look to New York. If any sector is going to be the biggest beneficiary, it’s that.”

  3. grim says:

    From the Record:

    N.J. Assembly, Christie gas tax bill surprises state Senate leadership

    A hastily written tax overhaul — introduced in the Assembly close to midnight Tuesday and passed an hour later with no feedback from the public — would be a financial shock to a $34 billion state budget already beset with rising costs and sluggish economic growth.

    The surprise proposal from Governor Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-Hudson, would raise New Jersey’s gas tax by 23 cents, to 37.5 cents per gallon, and use the proceeds to fund transit projects across New Jersey. At the same time, the sales tax would decline from 7 percent to 6 percent over two years, and taxes on retirement income would be pared over four years.

    The price tag for the Christie-Prieto plan: Nearly $2 billion a year in lost revenue after full implementation, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services released Tuesday.

    The Senate is scheduled to consider the Christie-Prieto plan Thursday. Democratic and Republican senators said it could lead to a revenue crisis and further downgrades of New Jersey’s weak bond rating.

    “We’re not going to blow that big a hole in the budget,” said Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck. “It is extremely irresponsible.”

    The Assembly passed the tax overhaul hours after a separate ballot initiative that – if approved by voters in November – would mandate a roughly $2.4 billion pension payment next year, and larger contributions in subsequent years.

    As a result, the state could wind up with a dearth of much-needed cash. How New Jersey could afford a revenue drain of $4.4 billion or more – at a time of credit-rating downgrades, rising costs and funding shortages everywhere from schools to hospitals to the pension system – was an open question Tuesday.

    “Trying to take all these policy initiatives simultaneously in the waning hours of the Legislature, frankly, it’s a little stunning and the math doesn’t work,” said Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth.

  4. grim says:

    For the Gen Xers – Tony Hawk pulls off another 900.

    https://youtu.be/TnvPt_a7iOQ

    There is still hope at 48.

  5. D-FENS says:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fbi-found-no-evidence-orlando-shooter-omar-mateen-gay-article-1.2686681

    grim says:
    June 28, 2016 at 9:25 pm
    Weren’t all the public comments about the shooter being gay, being on hookup sites (Grindr, etc) – all proven incorrect, unsubstantiated, etc.

  6. Juice Box says:

    Re #4 CGI?

  7. Juice Box says:

    He was just your average shooter no ties to ISIL or radical Islam right?

  8. D-FENS says:

    http://www.nj.gov/governor/taxrelief/

    has a calculator that shows the average property tax savings (or increase) under Chris Christie’s fairness formula.

  9. grim says:

    I just find it surprising that the media was all over the gay narrative, and then when shown that it wasn’t at all true, and he was just a plain old gay hating radical islamic terrorist, nobody says anything about it. Suppose most of that is due to the fact that the liberal media and liberals in general were politicizing this event to push for additional gun control. When really, the guy could have walked in with a bunch of pressure cooker bombs like the Boston terrorists that he admired so much.

  10. grim says:

    To the extent that even the christians and the catholic church, which historically has been a MAJOR FACTOR in bigotry against homosexuality came out with a statement on it. If you don’t think Pope Francis’ statement was absolutely motivated by the underlying premise that anti-gay sentiment that is rampant among strict islamic cultures is in play, you are blind.

    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/26/world/pope-apologize-gays/

    Aboard the Papal Plane (CNN)Pope Francis said Sunday that Christians owe apologies to gays and others who have been offended or exploited by the church, remarks that some Catholics hailed as a breakthrough in the church’s tone toward homosexuality.

    “I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally,” Francis said at a press conference aboard the papal plane returning from Armenia.

    “The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times — when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!”

    As he often does during unscripted moments — particularly papal news conferences — the Pope spoke expansively, saying the church should seek forgiveness for a number of historical slights committed in its name.

  11. D-FENS says:

    Don’t be surprised…it’s a formula that worked well when they had more control over what news we received (pre-internet days). Now anybody can start a blog like yours and question the narrative.

    They have to strike while emotions are high and people are not thinking irrationally…because when people sit down and research and think rationally…they see the truth.

  12. grim says:

    I’ll shut up now, because I have no authority or insight to thoughtfully comment on this topic. Back to real estate.

  13. D-FENS says:

    Christians want to save the gays…Muslims want them dead.

  14. Comrade Nom Deplume. Citizen, 2nd Class. says:

    [9] grim

    We have a winner. This was absolutely a hijacked event. I know some SJWs who were part of the effort to hijack it.

  15. GOP's broken (the good one) says:

    tax dodging is a very serious crime

    Comrade Nom Deplume, screwing around at work says:
    June 28, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    “Tax all dividends same rate as Income”

    Hee, hee, that brought a smile to my face.

    Make it so, Number One. We tax lawyers can use the business.

  16. GOP's broken (the good one) says:

    chifis the expert here – all his nypost stories involve a peni$

    grim says:
    June 29, 2016 at 7:41 am
    I’ll shut up now, because I have no authority or insight to thoughtfully comment on this topic. Back to real estate.

  17. GOP's broken (the good one) says:

    @nytimes

    The Brexit vote is not the end of the world

    — but it does show us how we can get there

    via @nytopinion

  18. Comrade Nom Deplume. Citizen, 2nd Class. says:

    [16] twitiot

    Like your hero, Comrade Fabian, your conception of the law fits your warped worldview: if you avoid taxes, it’s evasion but if I do it, it’s fairness.

  19. Comrade Nom Deplume. Citizen, 2nd Class. says:

    [16] twitiot

    “chifis the expert here – all his nypost stories involve a peni$”

    And virtually every one of yours involves a c*nt.

  20. nwnj3 says:

    Any minute now Shrillary will be explaining how we should be speeding up the importing of refugees from terrorist countries. That way the terrorists will want to blow us up slightly less.

  21. 1987 Condo says:

    Is that gas tax a fixed 23 cents? I saw an earlier report that it was actually a percentage? And I keep seeing “about” 23 cents?

    How about they phase that in , 12 cents this year, 11 next instead of all at once.

    And stop this need to reduce one tax for another increase….if that is the “game” just dedicate a percentage of the sales tax to the roads……

  22. grim says:

    They are setting a trap, it’s essentially a poison pill to force spending cuts.

    But cutting tax revenues and constitutionally dedicating sales tax revenue to TTF – they will tear open a gaping hole in the budget. The next administration will need to capitulate to either CUT SPENDING, or RAISE TAXES.

    How Christie got Prieto to sign off on this, is mind boggling. Unless, Christie promised to bring him to Washington, which is the only thing I can imagine.

  23. D-FENS says:

    Prieto is in need of allies…he is on the bad side of political boss Norcross and his puppet Sweeney.

  24. 3b says:

    Relatives I have spoken to in England all voted leave and have no remorse. And to quote we are not soccer hooligans! They are all professionals. And one of them is married to a guy whose parents were born in India. He voted leave too.

  25. Mike says:

    8- Nice Thank You

  26. chi says:

    They do hard hitting news….pun intended….

    GOP’s broken (the good one) says:
    June 29, 2016 at 8:01 am
    chifis the expert here – all his nypost stories involve a peni$

    grim says:
    June 29, 2016 at 7:41 am
    I’ll shut up now, because I have no authority or insight to thoughtfully comment on this topic. Back to real estate.

  27. chi says:

    Crass, but extremely witty…..

    Comrade Nom Deplume. Citizen, 2nd Class. says:
    June 29, 2016 at 8:10 am
    [16] twitiot

    “chifis the expert here – all his nypost stories involve a peni$”

    And virtually every one of yours involves a c*nt.

  28. Comrade Nom Deplume. Citizen, 2nd Class. says:

    Thank you. I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.

  29. Fast Eddie says:

    Well, they came last night to look at my house for the tax revaluation. The last one was two years ago from what I’m told and it’s beyond me why they’re doing another one now. Anyway, it was a young guy (looked like a college student) that came and he was in and out in about 5 minutes. He basically checked to see if his floor plan matched my floor plan. That was it. I don’t know what it means and I’m hoping that my taxes stay relatively the same.

  30. 3b says:

    Gary: you are in Bergen co nj and all the towns even the haughty ones are struggling for cash. You may be ok short term but ultimately your taxes will rise.

  31. D-FENS says:

    I’ve had two revaluations in ten years. Once my tax bill was relatively unchanged…the second it actually went down a little.

    The only thing that changed significantly was the assessed value in their little database.

  32. chicagofinance says:

    Assuming the year over year town budget is constant (don’t say it) the reval is just reapportioning a finite pie…….I sense people don’t think clearly about it……if someone’s assessment goes up 10%, they think city hall collects 10% more….not true….

  33. Anon E. Moose says:

    D-FENS [8];

    http://www.nj.gov/governor/taxrelief/

    has a calculator that shows the average property tax savings (or increase) under Chris Christie’s fairness formula.

    I got a $2087 reduction. I’ll be looking for that right after the $2,500/yr. I’m supposed to save on health insurance from Obamacare comes in.

  34. Fast Eddie says:

    3b,

    If so, then let them do it gradually so I can absorb it. Is that asking too? If nothing changed on my house and the assessed value is relatively the same as two years ago, you would think the taxes would be the same. No?

  35. Fast Eddie says:

    D-FENS,

    Thanks for the info, I would hope it’s the same for me.

  36. 1987 Condo says:

    #1…it is pretty expensive to do a full reval….something must be up…..I know Little Falls and Montclair did “adjustment” revals since the assessments were so widely protested and they did it in the midst of the housing bubble.

    Call the Town Assessor, they will tell you straight out or check your town website.

  37. 1987 Condo says:

    meant #31 above

  38. Fast Eddie says:

    1987 Condo,

    I did read that the reval was mostly due to offset the cost of so many protests. What does that mean?

  39. 30 year realtor says:

    Gary, Your house represents a certain percentage of the overall value of all real estate in your town. This equates to your share of the tax burden based on the municipal budget. This is how municipal taxes are determined in NJ.

  40. 30 year realtor says:

    #40 Protests equal tax appeals

  41. Fast Eddie says:

    30 year, thanks. I figured protests were appeals.

  42. D-FENS says:

    Anthony Bradley
    ‏@drantbradley
    The number of poor in the suburbs surpassed the number of poor in the cities in the 2000s. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0815723903/

  43. Fast Eddie says:

    The number of poor in the suburbs surpassed the number of poor in the cities in the 2000s.

    The Abbott districts need to pay their fair share. It’s discr1mination.

  44. 1987 Condo says:

    #40…as I understand, instead of handling a slew of tax appeals, the town get the appraiser back in to make the “appropriate” adjustments…most folks in Little Falls saw the assessments drop…but, now since the town still needs to bring in the same amount of money, it may not really change the actual tax dollars you eventually pay. But you will have to wait and see.

  45. Anon E. Moose says:

    Condo [46];

    the town get the appraiser back in to make the “appropriate” adjustments…most folks in Little Falls saw the assessments drop…

    Meaning that the appraiser (AS, Inc.?) has built negotiating room into every assessment. And if the sheeple accept theirs without argument, who is the town to argue?

  46. Captain Nom Deplume, Besotted Rummy says:

    They can’t find enough hate out there so they have to fake it?

    https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/youtube-star-faked-own-assault-police-135339245.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

    Whether its fake rape allegations, faked racist incidents or fake hate crimes, it seems like every time someone posts or tweets a story and purports to show injury or some racist note, they are found later to have been a fraud. I wonder if they appreciate how much damage they do to their own movements?

  47. Fast Eddie says:

    Moose [47],

    Care to expand a little? :)

  48. Anon E. Moose says:

    Eddie [49];

    If the town’s contract with the appraiser obligates the appraiser to defend their assessments against the first round of appeals, and as Condo said “most folks saw the assessments drop”, then clearly and also from a business standpoint, it behooves the appraiser to build a negotiating cushion into each assessment. Just like a town traffic court, they can’t afford to litigate each and every case; they rely on 50% of the people paying without argument, and settling with 95% of those who argue.

  49. jcer says:

    45, here is the twisted thing about abbott districts. For the most part they have diversified tax revenue. The so called rich and middle class towns here in NJ are often so small they have little other than housing which you guessed it, means children, which at 20k a pop for education means the tax bills need to be pretty high. When education is 60-65% of a towns budget, having all housing is very expensive. Newark and Jersey city based on the commercial properties should have enough of a tax base to support their schools, most Bergen or Essex county towns are lucky if they have some light retail and maybe an office building. I don’t know what Steve Fulop does with the tax revenue in Jersey City, even with the Pilots he has got massive revenue from people who consume no services(High rise buildings tend to have private security, handle their own trash, and don’t send their kids to the public schools). If anything the cities should be supporting the smaller suburbs who don’t have a diversified tax base.

  50. 1987 Condo says:

    #51..that whole PILOT deal…should be reviewed in light of being an Abbott district, seems a bit unfair….they show low school revenues as the “City” becomes flush with cash…

  51. Fast Eddie says:

    Thanks Moose.

  52. Africa in Transition » Africa’s Youth Bulge a Big Burden

  53. nwnj3 says:

    #51

    I said the other day, the Abbott payout system creates a nasty feedback loop. The cities become flush with cash beyond their wildest dreams with next to no accountability.

    They divert the money they should be spending on schools toward building a political machine(no show jobs, kickbacks, patronage, nepostism, etc), which in turn makes them essentially “bastions”.

    In turn, they’ve become beyond reproach in the legislature due to their organization, and have massive resources to lobby for continuation of a broken system and other handouts.

    It’s time to starve these beasts.

  54. joyce says:

    Moose,
    Your comment is 100% accurate, but I would think the percentages are more like this:

    They rely on 80% of the people paying without argument, and settling with 99.999% of those who argue.

    Anon E. Moose says:
    June 29, 2016 at 1:39 pm
    Eddie [49];

    If the town’s contract with the appraiser obligates the appraiser to defend their assessments against the first round of appeals, and as Condo said “most folks saw the assessments drop”, then clearly and also from a business standpoint, it behooves the appraiser to build a negotiating cushion into each assessment. Just like a town traffic court, they can’t afford to litigate each and every case; they rely on 50% of the people paying without argument, and settling with 95% of those who argue.

  55. joyce says:

    Imagine if 1% of the people at traffic court refused to pay the fine or settle without an actual trial (bench or jury, doesn’t matter… yes, I know they’re only bench trials in traffic court).

  56. Ben says:

    They can’t even handle one person not paying in traffic court. When I lived down the road from the courthouse in New Brunswick, I had no problem fighting a fine. They deferred me three times. Finally, they gave up trying to get me to plead guilty and dropped the charge when I asked to go to trial. Even the cop got sick of showing up and collecting overtime.

  57. Ben says:

    The saddest thing about the Abbotts is that none of that money makes it into the classroom. It goes to roofing projects, big atriums, and consultants. Those Newark hacks burned through Zuckerberg’s 100 million dollar donation so fast it was insane. If districts were able to fund their own schools exclusively, they could up teacher pay 20% and still reduce their tax bill by 35%. You’d attract top tier talent and pay less.

  58. jcer says:

    61, it’s all part of the machine. They don’t get results, they don’t even necessarily get good school buildings out of it, the money is diverted to a bunch of people in no show jobs or the typing teacher who makes 100k teaching one class who is a cousin of one of the city council hacks. It’s not even a joke that Newark squandered a 100 million dollar gift from Zuckerberg and the other 100 million dollar match and no one knows where this money went? My point is poor or not the abbott districts have a wider revenue base and if they weren’t run by crooks they should be able to make education work with only a $6500 contribution from the state and their own tax revenue.

  59. [4] Meh. I knew that minus 8 years ago. What about now?

    There is still hope at 48.

  60. BTW, not too much mainstream media coverage of Ataturk terrorist attack, right? That’s because it fits no Dem agenda to report, like say, journalists are supposed to do? 6 or 7 years ago it was debatable that media was in the tank with the left, but now it’s so freaking flagrant, right? I was watching Trump’s speech on MSNBC yesterday and, no lie, the *instant*, the very **instant**, the speech ended they cut to an anchor interviewing a “fact checker” with clips already queued! Have you ever seen anything like that following a Clinton or Obama (or even Sanders) speech?

  61. [12] A mea culpa like that could have saved the gourd…just about every day around 9AM.

    I’ll shut up now, because I have no authority or insight to thoughtfully comment on this topic.

  62. [31]Gary – I think you should be cool. They have bigger fish to fry (so long as your additions were permitted by the previous owner(s))

    Well, they came last night to look at my house for the tax revaluation. The last one was two years ago from what I’m told and it’s beyond me why they’re doing another one now. Anyway, it was a young guy (looked like a college student) that came and he was in and out in about 5 minutes. He basically checked to see if his floor plan matched my floor plan. That was it. I don’t know what it means and I’m hoping that my taxes stay relatively the same.

  63. Essex says:

    Hooray Miami!

    The Florida showplace landed at the top of the roster.

    “No city in the United States is worse to live in than Miami. The city’s median home value of $245,000 is well above the national median of $181,200. However, with a median household income of only $31,917 a year, well below the national median of $53,657, most of these homes are either out of reach or a financial burden on most Miami residents,” the authors noted in their rationale. “Like most of the worst cities to live in, more than one in every four people in Miami live in poverty.”

    They also cited “citywide violence” along with rates of incarceration, unstable employment, lower cognitive functioning among children, and “anxiety.”

  64. Juice Box digging his own grave ( joys of home ownership) says:

    It started 0ff with a new washer and dryer over Memorial Day weekend and has evolved into a full blown renovation of the laundry room and a half bath. New 1′ x 2′ tile is now in installed, now painting the rooms again tonight. It is amazing how much wear and tear walls and molding can take in less than three years after being painted. I am close to using the miter box and saw own my own arm to claim disability.

    New cabinets will be shopped for this weekend the old ones were well “too yellow and distressed” and are now sitting in my garage. I may take a sledge hammer to them just to get some stress relief.

    Why the heck did I not stay in my rental in Hoboken? Oh wait the American Dream of Home Ownership with a 30 year mortgage, where is my damn miter saw?

  65. much cents says:

    Today’s Stock Market News and Analysis – Nasdaq.com

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