Layton Lakes - Spec. Sheet & Realtor Event 9/8/11

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Make sure to check out the Layton Lakes spec. sheet above.  We have been busy since my last post!  As you can see, things are changing...quickly!  Also, view the flyer below in regards to the Realtor event tomorrow at Layton Lakes.  All agents are invited to the unveiling of our NextGen series.  It is a new concept in the marketplace and we are very excited to be the first to introduce is this new level of function into a new home. I hope to see everyone at Layton Lakes between 9am - 11am on Thursday, September 8th!

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Buying Is Cheaper Than Renting In Most U.S. Cities

By Les Christie - CNNMoney.com

According to real estate web site Trulia, buying was cheaper than renting in 74% of the country's 50 largest cities in July.

Detroit, according to Trulia, is another metro area where buying is better. The median price for a condo or townhouse is about seven times annual rent. Home prices in Mesa, Ariz. and Fresno, Calif. also clock in at seven times rent.

Arlington, Texas, Sacramento, Calif., Phoenix and Jacksonville, Fla. all had buy-rent ratios of eight, Trulia said.

Top renter's markets

Even though rents average $2,980 a month in New York (the highest of any of the 50 markets), it's still the best city for renters, according to Trulia's survey.

Paying for the same kind of two-bedroom Manhattan apartment would cost 36 times as much, nearly $1.3 million.

One surprising place where renting is cheaper is Ft. Worth, Texas; buying exceeds renting costs by 32 times. Part of the reason is there are relatively few condos in the city and they tend to be upscale and costly. That, combined with low rents of about $9,500 a year, make renting cheaper.

Omaha, Neb., where buying is 27 times annual rents, Seattle and San Francisco, which both clock in with purchase prices that are 24 times rents, and Kansas City, at 22 times rents, are other places where renting makes financial sense.

Should you rent or buy?

The buy-rent calculation is just one part of the decision-making process. Other factors include:

How long you plan to stay. If you're not keeping the home for several years, transactional costs of buying and selling (e.g; commissions, closing costs) can wipe out any buying edge.

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Phoenix and Atlanta Will Be Best New-Home Markets in U.S., Barclays Says

By John Gittelsohn - Bloomberg

Phoenix, where foreclosures have surged and prices plummeted since the U.S. housing bubble burst, and Atlanta are the best potential markets for the sale of newly built homes, Barclays Capital said in a report today.

Atlanta has the potential for 47,317 new houses a year, followed by Phoenix with 46,485 and Dallas with 33,997, Jeff Meli, Vincent Foley, Cedric Morris and Robert Tayon, analysts with Barclays, wrote in the study. Phoenix leads 16 metro areas examined for potential revenue with $4.45 billion in new home sales. It’s followed by Washington with $3.94 billion and San Diego with $3.31 billion.

“The reality is that housing is a region-by-region story,” Foley said in a telephone interview from New York. “And most of the big public homebuilders are reasonably positioned to benefit from an upturn because they’re in the right markets.”

The projection for revived home construction in Phoenix, which the Barclays analysts called “surprising,” is based on the city’s growing population and speedy absorption of distressed real estate, according to the report. Barclays gave no time frame for its sales forecasts, which will occur after the cities “clear themselves of distressed inventory and excess supply,” it said.

“Regions that have pushed foreclosures through the pipeline quickly should see demand for new homes earlier than those that have allowed their backlog to grow,” Meli, Foley, Morris and Tayon wrote.

Second-Highest Foreclosures
Phoenix-area home prices are 56 percent below the June 2006 peak, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, compared with a 32 percent decline for the 20 cities tracked by the index. The Phoenix metropolitan area had the second-highest rate of foreclosure filings in the first six months of this year, behind Las Vegas, with one in 28 households receiving a notice compared with a national average of one per 111 homes, RealtyTrac Inc. reported July 28.

“After falling to a low of 1.1 percent in 2009, population is expected to grow 2.6 percent annually in Phoenix for the next five years,” according to the Barclays report. “Such renewed inflows should support demand for new homes, leading to a recovery in several of the top 15 largest builders that have a presence in the region.”

Meritage Homes Corp. (MTH), a Scottsdale, Arizona-based builder, has about 53 percent of its home sales in markets with the best outlook, the most of any company, Barclays reported. It’s followed by PulteGroup Inc. with 39 percent, D.R. Horton Inc. and MDC Holdings Inc. (MDC) with 32 percent each, and KB Home (KBH) with 31 percent.

Beazer, Ryland
Homebuilders with the smallest share in the best markets are M/I Homes Homes Inc. with 8 percent, Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH) with 18 percent, Ryland Group Inc. (RYL) and Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL) with 19 percent each, and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV) with 23 percent, according to Barclays.

The 12-member Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Homebuilding Index has fallen 26 percent this year.

“While improved operating performance may take several quarters to materialize, the recent selloff provides a potential entry point for some of the long risk recommendations that follow from our analysis,” the Barclays analysts said.

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Latest Cromford Report - MUST READ If You Are In The Market

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Key Observations

1.  Overall supply of homes is now lower than at any time since October 2005.

2.  Demand remains at a high level for price ranges below $200,000.

3.  Demand for luxury homes has weakened since the spring.

4.  Foreclosure activity is declining and now far below the peak levels of 2008-2010.

5.  Distressed inventory is in short supply compared with the demand.

Market Situation

We read many articles referring to a "glut of homes for sale" and a "large supply of foreclosed homes".  These may exist elsewhere in the country and such phrases were still valid observations for Phoenix as recently as November 2010, but the local market has changed dramatically in the nine months since then and these phrases are now wildly misleading when applied to today's Greater Phoenix market.

Derek's Opinion

The market has changed!  The Cromford Report is a neutral party whose sole objective is to report data and statistics.  This is how they draw their conclusions.  The media will continue to talk about certain negative aspects of the market (which still exist) however, their information is routinely 6-12 months behind reality.  This is seen time and again as new home and real estate news is released.  Often times the data itself is months behind, so that can cause a delay in the media's reporting to begin with.  According to many buyers and real estate agents that I work with on a daily basis, it is becoming harder to find and purchase homes in desirable areas.  

This is where Lennar's business model has been able to help a lot of buyers lately.  We routinely have spec./inventory homes available that are competitively priced.  This means we have brand new homes, starting in the $100's, available for move-in in time frames from 10 days to 6 months and everything in between.  Besides that, the best thing about a new home is that once you do the contract...it's yours!  No more getting out bid or waiting to hear back from the bank, seller, agent, etc...  So, it may be time to start seriously considering new homes as the bargain in today's market.  Great pricing, awesome financing incentives, and a never before lived in, brand new home!

Layton Lakes - Spec. Sheet

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