You’re a busy person, and with so many Trulia blogs filled with fun and useful information, it can be hard to keep up. To help out, we’ve taken the best from this week and put it all in one place for you. Have a great weekend!
Overall housing starts in September beat expectations by a wide margin, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday, the surge coming primarily from multi-unit structures.
Permits for new homes were down, however, which means the gains probably won’t last.
With demand for single-family homes still stagnant, many Americans are turning to rental properties, which prompted the increase in multi-unit dwellings. Because of that, as well as the decrease in permit structures, housing experts are skeptical that the September data represent a meaningful shift in direction for the battered sector.
“I’d love to see it as something concrete, but I just don’t see that happening,” said Steve Palm, president of Smart Numbers, an Atlanta-based real-estate data firm.
The report showed that new housing construction jumped 15% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 658,000 units, the biggest increase in 17 months. Analysts had predicted an increase of 590,000 new units.
The lion’s share of the September increase -- 51.3% -- came from construction of buildings with two or more units. Meanwhile, construction starts of single-family homes -- by far the larger segment of the market -- rose just 1.7%, according to the data.
Palm described starts on multi-family dwellings as a “moving target” because the data is compiled differently around the country and is often skewed or misleading. Data on single-family homes is more uniform and therefore more telling as an indicator of the health of the housing market.
“It’s an anomaly,” he said.
Adding to the muted reaction from housing analysts is that permits for new construction, which are viewed as more meaningful than actual groundbreakings, fell 5% to a 594,000 annual rate.
It was the lowest reading in five months as an inventory glut of existing homes caused by a rise in foreclosures over the summer appears to have curbed developers’ plans for building new homes.
IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport explained that permits are more relevant than starts because “they are much better measured, less affected by unusual weather, such as hurricanes, and are forward looking.”
“Added up, total permits were down -- indicating that housing starts are likely to drop in October or November,” said Newport.
“On balance, this was a mixed report. The increase in starts is good for GDP growth and jobs. The drop in permits indicates that September’s gains are not sustainable. The report does not change the current direction of the housing market -- a flat single-family market and a slowly improving multi-family market,” Newport concluded.
Palm was more blunt.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’re just plodding along. The economy definitely has to improve and housing isn’t going to lead us out of this,” he said.
Officials and big banks are working on a plan that would make refinancing available to some borrowers whose houses are worth less than their loans, so long as they are current on mortgage payments, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Such borrowers typically are not able to refinance because they lack equity in their homes. The plan would apply only to mortgages owned by the banks, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Federal officials have been trying to broker a settlement with the five largest mortgage servicers — Ally Financial Ally Financial Inc ALLY'B, Bank of America, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo— the Journal said.
It is not clear how many borrowers would qualify for help, the paper added.
Officials are pushing for a plan in a bid to break a legal impasse with big banks over alleged foreclosure abuses and ease problems in the housing market, the paper said.
Discussions are still fluid and any final outcome is uncertain. Talks between government officials and the banks are expected to continue this week, the newspaper said.
JPMorgan declined to comment to Reuters on the Journal report. Reuters could not immediately reach the other four lenders for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.
We’ve got several blogs bringing you the latest and greatest in real estate news and analysis. But what if you missed something? Don’t panic! We’ve got you covered. Check out what we’ve been up to this week right here:
Earnings reports, in particular from a handful of big banks, will draw investors’ attention next week.
Tech giant Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings are also due, the report arriving in the immediate aftermath of the untimely death of co-founder and long-time chief executive Steve Jobs.
Industry leaders Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) are all scheduled to report earnings.
Each bank has its own story, none more compelling perhaps than Bank of America, which is facing problems on a number of fronts, not least backlash from customers angry about the bank’s plan to apply a $5 monthly fee for using debit cards.
The rest, with the ever-dominant Goldman a likely exception, could be hampered by the difficult economy, which has dampened enthusiasm for the kind of big corporate deals for which these banks earn big fees.
Apple’s new chief executive, Tim Cook, if he participates in the company’s earnings conference call, could face questions on the direction he intends to take Apple as competition in the consumer gadgets sector gets ever more intense.
Earnings from bellwether companies IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) are also due.
Inflationary data comes out with the Producer Price Index released Tuesday and the Department of Labor's September Consumer Price Index out Wednesday. The Federal Reserve has said repeatedly that inflation is a potential concern in the near future, but is not currently a high priority. Gas and food prices have leveled off somewhat since rising sharply earlier this year primarily due to catastrophic events worldwide.
Data on September housing starts is due Wednesday. Many economists believe a broad and sustained economic recovery will begin with the housing sector. A glut of inventory and skittish buyers have hurt demand for months. Those dynamics aren’t likely to have changed in September. Existing home sales figures are due Thursday.
Also on tap for next week is a report from European fiscal leaders on how to deal with Greek’s overwhelming debt. Any news out of Europe regarding the Greek debt crisis has drawn an immediate response from Wall Street, with good news prompting rallies and bad news prompting sell-offs.
It’s been a big week for Trulia’s cofounders Pete Flint and Sami Inkinen, who both earned some amazing honors that we just had to brag about!
Cofounder and CEO Pete Flint has been recently awarded one of San Francisco Business Times’ 2011 “Most Admired CEOs” in the cateorgy of “Rising Star.” Pete’s hard work, leadership and business acumen has been recognized by one of SF’s distinguished local business publications and we’re happy to celebrate this major award alongside Pete when he’s honored at a gala on November 15 at Hilton Union Square.
This was also a week of amazing accomplishment for Sami Inkinen, Trulia’s cofounder and President. A dedicated and accomplished athlete, Sami had his best finish ever at his 5th consecutive Ironman in Kona, Hawaii. This time, he finished the Ironman course in under 9 hours, making him 37th in the world and a silver medalist in his age group.
Every week, Truliamazing things happen across our organization, and it’s usually Pete or Sami calling out the stellar work of an individual or group within the company. This week, we’re calling them out for their Truliamazing accomplishments. Trulia couldn’t be more proud of our guys Pete and Sami and all the hard work that they’ve put in to achieve these amazing feats. Thanks for inspiring us everyday to be the best Trulians we can be!
The home search experience on the desktop just got a whole lot better, with the launch of a large map and custom search. With these new map upgrades, a large map can now fit the entire size of your monitor so you can really visualize for-sale, rent or off-the-market homes. We show every home in the neighborhood, regardless of the home’s status.
We’re also excited to announce custom search. A whopping 73% of respondents in a recent survey said searching within custom map boundaries is the #1 most desired feature. You’ve asked, and we delivered.
By clicking on the custom draw tool in the top right-hand corner of the map, you can pick the area in which you search for homes.
Want to live in a certain neighborhood but want to stay away from a freeway or be close to a park? You can now set those parameters with custom search.
With custom search, we’ve built in two great features. The first is the ability to save that search and revisit it at a later date. We’ve also added in the ability to add an alert for that custom area. When a new home pops up for sale or rent within the parameters you defined, you’ll be the first to know!
So head on over to the new large map and start customizing your searches!
One of the most common complaints from consumers and real estate professionals about searching for homes online is that many online property listings have out-of-date or incorrect data. Most frequently, basic listing information like price and status are incorrect. This past March, Trulia launched Trulia Direct Reference to help solve this problem. After evaluating the data quality of more than 1.2M listings received from more than 250 data sources, we’ve identified the primary sources for erroneous online listing data.
The need for this analysis arose after we surveyed approximately 1000 consumers and real estate professionals about the online home search experience. Both groups agreed that their primary concern with online real estate is the quality of the listings. Most complaints about online listings revolved around the status of listings being outdated (e.g. pending) or the price often being incorrect.
Trulia compared more than 1.2 million listings received from various sources against MLS Data, and found more than 69 percent of the errors stemmed from 3rd party syndicators of non-MLS data. All other industry feeds when combined only accounted for 31% of the listing errors Trulia receives in its feeds.
Out of more than 120k listing inaccuracies, we found the following: 51 percent contained price errors, 41 percent contained status errors and 8% contained both. Through our Direct Reference program, Trulia has been able to identify these errors and notify brokers, agents and MLS’s about the data sources they should consider correcting. Trulia Direct Reference provides the ability to identify where the errors are originating and then the information to correct them at the source.
The results from this study show that MLS’s have the potential to significantly reduce the proliferation of erroneous listing data when they syndicate listings directly on behalf of all their members.
If you would like to learn more about how you can participate in Trulia Direct Reference and directly syndicate your listings to Trulia, please contact us at Truliadirect@trulia.com
(To download a PDF copy of this report, click here.)
We’re so proud of our new Android Tablet App that we think everyone should get the chance to try it out. That’s why we decided to give away a brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab to one lucky winner!
Entering is super simple and takes less than a minute. All you have to do is go to our Facebook Page and fill out a short form on our Sweepstakes tab before midnight, October 8th. If you win, we’ll send you a brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab with our new app pre-installed so you can start your house hunt right away. And while you’re at it, check out our page, whether it’s for fun, real estate tips, and or get the latest news that’s relevant to you as either a home buyer, owner, or renter.
We’re pumped to announce the addition of two new Android apps to our already exciting mobile line-up - the first dedicated real estate Android tablet app and an app just for renters.
The Android Tablet Market is Heating Up
The new Trulia Android tablet app delivers all the Trulia real estate information you know and love in a cool new format. With recent Android tablet announcements from Amazon and Sony, Trulia is extending our commitment to deliver innovative, top quality mobile real estate experiences on this exciting new mobile platform. Location based property search, large-screen mapview, and more info from Trulia is optimized for your Android tablet - and when you’re ready for more details you can easily contact a real estate professional from within the app.
Additionally, we’re delivering our huge property photos onto a beautiful full-screen tablet browsing experience so you can spend all day (and night) looking at the properties you find on Trulia.
Here are a few screenshots to get you started:
To celebrate launching the first real estate Android tablet app, we’re having a limited-time Facebook contest where you could win a new Android tablet – It’s as easy as being our friend on www.facebook.com/trulia.
Rentals Get Real with a Dedicated Android App
Renter Nation, get ready to find your next great place with the brand new dedicated rentals app from Trulia. Renters comprise a significant (and rapidly growing) portion of mobile visits, especially on our current Android app. We‘re now providing a dedicated “For Rent” app that caters to renters’ specific needs. Renters have to work on much tighter timeframes than house hunters, so we’ve packed our app with features that help you quickly organize and customize your searches, and keep all your notes and photos in one place!
We’ve given you the ability to instantly save or nix properties, which will allow you to re-visit the properties you love, and flag the properties that you’re not interested in.
To make your rental search truly your own, you can add your own private notes and photos to listings and share these via email with your roommates, significant other, or trusted advisors.
Get instant alerts via email when a new property is added to Trulia - simply click the star at the bottom of any search results page to “save your search,” and you’ll never miss out on another new home again:
Stay tuned for more mobile innovations from Trulia coming soon. We always appreciate your feedback on android@trulia.com.
Here at Trulia we love a challenge. When we’re not working to give you the upper hand in real estate, we’re finding other ways to improve our ourselves as individuals, to become more efficient and to find a balance between work and play. Striking that balance is key to delivering our best and defines who we are as Trulians.
A crucial element to achieving life balance is physical fitness. When you see the rows of bikes on the wall in our San Francisco head office, you’ll know what we’re talking about. Trulia has more than its fair share of athletes, who put as much effort into their fitness as they do into their work. Our Trulian cyclists already conquer the crazy topography of San Francisco on a daily basis, so yesterday our President slash Ironman world champion, Sami Inkinen, decided to crank it up a notch.
Yesterday, 8 cyclists from Trulia took part in a cycling challenge guranteed to test them to their limits: San Francisco’s infamous Velo|SF.
If you don’t know about Velo|SF, you should. Velo|SF is a group of renowned professional trainers in downtown San Francisco who pride themselves on the intensity and efficiency of their workouts; one hour of training with them is equal to three hours of training by yourself. The personal trainer/tormentor for the challenge was Meredith Kessler, a veteran cyclist who has competed in over 20 Ironman Triathalons and has the notable distinction of being undefeated for all of 2009, winning every race she participated in while setting some new course records in the process. Needless to say, the bar was high.
Over lunch, these eight Trulian’s spent 80 solid minutes cycling their butts off, equal to 4 hours of mere mortal cycling. Having completed the challenge, and regained sensation in their legs, they promptly got back on their bikes, cycled back to headquarters and continued in their day’s work.
We’d like to take time to recognize our hard working and hard playing Trulians for pushing themselves to find the balance in their lives. Congratulations to everyone who took part in the challenge and for overcoming the challenge of Velo|SF!
Investors next week will review housing data and its close ally, consumer confidence. Plummeting home prices have taken their toll on consumer confidence as homeowners have reined in spending in proportion to the shrinking value of their house.
Factory data is also on tap from three regional manufacturing surveys.
Sales of new single-family homes in August is out Monday. The number has been stagnant at about 300,000 for several months and a boost is needed if the battered construction sector is to regain its footing.
During the housing boom early last decade, a massive inventory glut of new homes was created in areas such as Las Vegas, Florida and areas of Southern California. Many of the homes were built on speculation, but no buyers ever materialized. The market is still trying to work through that glut and construction workers are suffering the consequences.
The influential S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for July is due Tuesday. The U.S. housing woes are well documented and a revival of that sector is key to the overall economic recovery.
But foreclosures are on the rise again, jumping 7% in August over July, according to housing research firm RealtyTrac, and default notices filed against delinquent homeowners rose 33% in August from the prior month.
With foreclosures back on the rise and inventories glutted, home prices are expected to fall. The Wall Street Journal this week, citing a recent survey of 100 economists, said home prices, already down nearly 32% from their 2005 highs, are expected to drop another 2.5% this year and rise just 1.1% annually through 2015.
All of these factors will weigh heavily on the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for September, also due Tuesday. Consumer spending makes up 70% of the U.S. economy, but most consumers are holding onto every dollar they can. The ripple effect has been devastating.
The final reading of the Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for September is due Friday. The index currently stands at 57.8, the same level at the worst of the recent financial crisis.
The Dallas Fed’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook is out Monday; the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey is due Tuesday; and the Kansas City Survey of Manufacturing on Thursday.
A second revision of second quarter U.S. GDP is due Thursday, and a report on August personal income and spending is out Friday.
When you love what you do, time just seems to fly by. Today is my last day as a Trulian. It’s been almost 4 years since I started bleeding green on the slopes of Lake Tahoe - my first official day at Trulia. Over that time, it’s been Truliamazing to be a part of such a great team. So may wonderful memories. So many awesome company accomplishments.
I’ve put my heart and soul into the company and our partners. I’ve proudly preached the gospel of Trulia to literally thousands upon thousands of real estate professionals nationwide. And I loved every minute of it. I will be forever thankful for the opportunity I was given to represent such a great company.
This was not an easy decision to make. It never is. But every once in a while, life presents us with an opportunity to really make a difference. To make an impact. The challenge is knowing when to pursue it. I loved my time at Trulia and am now looking forward to a new adventure
It feels good knowing that I had some small part of Trulia’s growth. That I was able to help so many people with their real estate needs. Make so many lifelong friends from around the world. Use and experiment with a ridiculous amount of new technology. Not too shabby.
So with that, I sincerely thank Pete, Sami and all the Trulians I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years. I’m honored to have been able to work with you.
I’ll always be available to each of you. So don’t be shy to ever reach out:
Trulia has been tracking consumer sentiment surrounding the American Dream of homeownership for the past four years, asking people across the country if homeownership is still part of their personal American Dream.When we asked this question again in August, 70% of Americans said “yes, it is.” This remained unchanged since January despite record-low home sales and ongoing instability in today’s financial markets. In fact, 80% of current homeowners said they plan to buy again while 59% of renters said they aspire to be homeowners. Given this strong intent to buy a home in the future, we are optimistic about long-term housing demand.
But before this can happen, prospective buyers must overcome many barriers to homeownership - from saving enough for a down payment to qualifying for a mortgage and fixing a poor credit history. At the same time, the American Dream of homeownership is in flux, shifting away from the “bigger is better” mentality that made McMansions and suburban living so popular during the boom.
Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week for the first time in a month as interest rates tumbled even further, an industry group said Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, rose 6.3% in the week ended Sept. 9 compared to the week before.
The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications gained 6.0%, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases climbed 7.0%.
The refinance share of mortgage activity rose to 77.3% of total applications from 77.1%.
Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.17% in the week, down from 4.23%.
