This is exciting news. More low- to middle income families will be able to purchase new homes under new legislation approved by the U.S. Senate friday.  The bill lowers the down-payment requirement for a Federal Housing Administration or FHA mortgage from 3 to 1.5 percent, and increases the mortgage limit from $362,000 to $417,000. What this means for the general public is that there is less needed to close in the purchase of a new home!!

This exciting legislation comes at a time when rising home prices have pushed home ownership out of the reach of tooa whole lot of lower and  middle-income families. Everyone appreciates the work Sen. Patty Murray has invested in this important policy because we understand what a huge impact it will have on all families in their strive to purchase a home.

Inflation Rate: 2.69%(June) even with last month.

Unemployment: 4.6

 http://peninsulahomeresource.com

The softening of the housing market doesn’t mean home values will plummet. In fact we aren’t seeing that in the Belfair Washington Real Estate market. And the National Association of Realtors president, Thomas M. Stevens, predicts housing values will keep at a high plateau because of consumers’ demands for housing.

“The children of the baby boom generation, often called the ‘echo-boomers,’ are the second largest generation in U.S. history and are just entering the period in which people typically buy their first home. Along with a strong immigrant impact, and the boomers themselves who remain in peak earnings years, this means the need for housing will stay strong over the next decade and long-term prices will continue to rise,” Stevens says.

The national median existing single-family home price hit $213,000 in the fourth quarter of this year , compared to $187,500 in the same quarter 2004. A record 72 of the 145 metropolitan areas surveyed by NAR showed a double-digit percentage rise in home prices. Only six areas posted modest declines. The previous record for areas showing double-digit price growth was 69 regions in the third quarter of 2004. The median is the point at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

Leading the nation in price increases once again is the arid desert region of Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. The median price in the fourth quarter hit $268,400, an increase of 48.9 percent from the same quarter last year. People like it hot apparently.

The more-humid Florida boasts the second- and third-hottest growth markets during the fourth quarter of this year. The median price for a home in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., market came in at $293,100. This is up 48 %  from the fourth quarter of 2004. The Orlando, Fla., metro hit $261,800, a 42 percent jump over the same quarter 2004.

Regionally, the West saw the highest bump up in home values. Yeah for Washington State!!  Existing home prices rose 18.2 percent to a median price of $328,500 in the West. Homes in the Midwest rose by 11 percent to $167,600; home values in the South climbed 9.2 percent to $185,300, and the Northeast’s home values grew 8 percent to a median home price of $240,300.

The most expensive homes in the nation are still in California. Big surprise. They also have the best weather historically speaking. Residents of the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., metro shop a housing market where the median price for an existing home is $747,000, and in San Francisco the price is $718,700.

Shopping for a bargain? Resale prices were lowest in Danville, Ill., where the median price is $63,800. But who really wants to live there??

 And then there are the New addition: Condos

Beginning with this report, the National Association of Realtors  is reporting the pricing changes on condos and cooperatives in 51 markets. Co-ops are included in the condo numbers. The national median condo price was $228,200, during the fourth quarter, which is 12.3 percent higher than a year ago. The national condo price is higher than the median single-family home because of the high concentration of condos in the most expensive metropolitan regions, says Lereah.

The best growth rate for condos was in the same region as the No. 1 growth for single-family homes — the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area — where condo prices jumped 50.9 percent from 2004 to $175,600. The most expensive condos are in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif., metro with the median prices at $616,800.

Ken Stinnett

Cascade Residential Mortgage, LLC

Office 503-892-0011

Fax 503-892-0055

Cell 503-519-4045

eFax 503-914-1594

email ken@cascade-rm.com