Santa Cruz Real Estate & Community News, September 2009

Walter Stauss • Cell 831.246.4663 • walter@831.com • Lifestyles Real Estate • DRE 01105052
SEPTEMBER 2009
Santa Cruz Real Estate and Community News
Highlights: Inventory declined in August, while pending sales continued to rise. Home sales up 3.2% year-over-year. Year-to-date, home sales up 16.6%. The median price for homes fell 7.5% from July, and was down 13.4% year-over-year.
Quick links ... Statistics, charts, graphs Search Listings Newsletter My Blog October Events Annual Monte Foundation Fireworks Open Studio Art Tour Dates Arboretum Fall Plant Sale More info. Feedback I welcome your comments about this issue and ideas for future ones. Send me email Referrals If you know anyone who is thinking about buying or selling real estate in Santa Cruz County, please let me know via email or call me at 831.246-4663 Thank you!	In this issue: Inventory Declines, While Pending Sales Continue to Rise | Mortgage Rate Outlook | 10 Most-Affordable, 10 Least-Affordable Areas in the Country To read the on-line version of this newsletter with chart and graphs, and the complete articles, go to my website (click on NEWSLETTER). Market News Inventory Declines, While Pending Sales Continue to Rise Inventory of single-family, re-sale homes fell for the thirteenth month in a row in August, and it is now down 43.1% year-over-year. [More] Mortgage Rate Outlook Mortgage rates ended summer on a softer note, drifting back to late-spring levels. A pause (at least) in stock markets after a strong summer run saw some investors shift cash from equities into less-risky investments to lock in gains, driving influential Treasury yields lower. [More] Pending Home Sales on a Record Roll Contract activity for pending home sales has risen for six straight months, a pattern not seen in the history of the index since it began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®. [More] Real Estate News Credit Market Makes Economists Nervous Interest rates are low and home prices are down, but banks continue to be stingy with loans. At the height of the housing boom, seven out of 10 mortgages were approved. At the end of 2008, only five out of 10 got the green light. During the boom years, homebuyers could qualify for the cheapest rates with a credit score of 660. Today, they need 740 or better. [More] 10 Most-Affordable Areas in the Country: 1. Kokomo, Ind. 2. Lansing-East Lansing, Mich. 3. Mansfield, Ohio 4. Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. 5. Lima, Ohio 6. Bay City, Mich. 7. Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind. 8. Saginaw-Saginaw Township North, Mich. 9. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. 10. Canton-Massillon, Ohio Not really a surprise there, but the least-affordable list is interesting. Find it [More]. Is Santa Cruz on the list?
Green Corner Say No to That Extra Phone Book 19 million trees are felled to produce over 500 million phone books printed in the United States each year. Not only is this a tremendous waste of resources, pitched phone books take up a huge amount of landfill space, 268,000 cubic yards, or the equivalent load of 6,700 large dumpsters. [More]