Zandy points to San Diego as a prime example, where just 921 new free standing homes are for sale or under construction as of March 2011.  In a market where the normalized demand is 9,000+, the current number represents only 10% of what a market should provide.  Estimated at approximately 5 months inventory today, the 921 new homes represents less than 2 months supply in a normal year.  And, when taking into consideration the lack of new construction over the past 4 years, Zandi predicts that prices will increase in line with the recent increases in rental rates.

Karl Case looks at housing as “the little engine that could.”  It keeps chugging along, keeping the boiler warm.  Builders know when the confidence returns, buyers will be looking to get into new homes quickly before the prices go up.  That’s when the engine will need to fire up and production will start again.  For San Diego, that time is now.

Mike Castleman declares, “I’m a dirt-road economist who sees what’s happening on the ground, and in 35 years I’ve never seen a shortage of new construction like the one I’m seeing today.  The talking heads who are down on real estate will hate to hear this, but America needs to build a lot more houses.  And, in most markets the price of new homes is fixin’ to rise, not fall.”

The numbers just don’t lie.  Production is at an all-time low and the ability of builders to “ramp up” is limited by entitlement and development processing regulations that are getting more difficult and more time consuming. 

Interest rates for 30 year fixed mortgages are still below 5%.

The California Department of Finance also estimates that San Diego added over 30,000 people as residents last year.  And, estimates that San Diego has grown by an average of over 40,000 per year since 2000!

Job growth is back, nationally and specifically here in San Diego.  The California Employment Development Department reports that San Diego new jobs grew by 4,700 in the month of February and over 19,000 new jobs have been added since February of 2010.  These are good paying jobs, primarily in the Professional and Business Service sector.

The average price of a home is up, year over year and for the last three year straight!  When you look into the detail of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, only two markets in the country can make this claim, San Diego and Washington DC.  Many experts point to San Diego as one of the first metropolitan areas to experience the recent recession.  Pricing and absorptions peaked in the Summer of 2005.  It is also evident that San Diego is one of the first markets to show signs of recovery.

So, low prices, low mortgage interest rates, good job growth, strong population growth and a lack of new home inventory … the only thing missing in San Diego today is you, as a new home buyer!

In the category of the Best Single Family Home in the 3,000 to4,000 sf range, the Residence 3 at Rockrose is presented the Gold Award and the Residence 2 at Rockrose is presented the Silver Award.

“For more than 25 years, the Best in American Living Awards, also commonly known as BALA, have raised the bar for design excellence in the building industry and highlighted those builders, architects, interior designers, remodelers, developers and land planners who have achieved superior levels of creativity and innovation,” according to NAHB.

Nice praise for an Eco-Savvy home.  Who says you can’t have superior design and sustainable construction in the same home?  Certainly not the happy homeowners at Rockrose, nor the judges from the Best in American Living Awards program.

Congrats to all the team members that made Rockrose the best of the best!

The award was presented to Brookfield for its work in sustainable development and energy efficiency in home construction.  Our new Foothills community, Rockrose, is being constructed in Carlsbad.  The Eco-Savvy Rockrose is 35% more energy efficient than required by Title 24, the California Energy Efficiency Regulations for Residential Construction.  Rockrose is also focuses on water conservation, indoor air quality, recycling of construction materials and renewable resource use.  For all these Eco-Savvy factors, the Chamber of Commerce selected Rockrose and Brookfield Homes for their Environmental Spirit award.

Rockrose has been collecting other awards as well.  Home buyers and business professionals alike are recognizing Eco-Savvy design as the preferred way to provide high quality design, high quality construction and environmental sensitivity at an economic price.  Stop by and see for yourself why Eco-Savvy s the way to go!

Recently, FHA issued a new Mortgagee Letter (ML 2011-03) that clarifies and extends some of the most challenging changes to the Temporary Condominium Guidelines published November 6, 2009 (ML 2009-46A).  These modifications are due in part to the continued stress on the home building industry and the impact to potential home buyers created by the financial markets meltdown.

ML 2011-03 extends the earlier Guidelines for all FHA case numbers assigned through June 30, 2011.  Specifically, the Presale requirement will be maintained at 30%, not increased to 50%.  The Concentration requirement will be preserved at 50% for new projects and not reduced to 30%.  And, the Concentration requirement will remain at 100% for previously approved projects.

These are key developments for home builders and home buyers.  For more specifics, please refer to the identified Mortgagee Letters or contact your FHA approved mortgage lender.

The Demographia Residential Land & Regulation Cost Index: 2010, estimates that the cost of a new, 2150 sf, single family detached home in San Diego County included $221,000 of more restrictive land use regulation than a similar new home in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Raleigh or Saint Lewis.  They also found that the price a  new 1,500sf, attached home was $125,900 more expensive than the norm.

Demographia found that some of the more restrictive land use regulation factors contributed to the increase in costs through higher underlying land costs; increasing costs for planning and development; higher financing costs; the encouragement to build more expensive homes; increased construction costs; the encouragement of land banking; and, the encouragement of land and housing speculation.  They also point out that “as California’s strong new land use regulation act (SB 375) (is implemented), house price increases could accelerate even more in San Diego …”.

As San Diego and California struggle with the path of future residential development, there is only one clear factor to consider … more land use regulation means higher cost housing.  Affordability is impacted the most by land use regulation.  And, where affordability is impacted, then jobs housing balance is impacted.  And, where jobs housing balance is impacted then facility costs, transportation infrastructure costs and housing costs all increase.  Over regulation of land use is a downward spiral.

The conference is free and all you need is an email address to sign up.  There are many other features in the conference.  Four additional presentations are offered showcasing projects from around the country.  And, four other programs offer insights into the state of home building from a national perspective.

We hope you enjoy the Rockrose presentation and the balance of the 2010 Virtual Big Builder Conference.  Let us know what you think.

Home prices in San Diego are recovering from their lows–and it is now one of the healthier markets in the U.S. Could improved news for other real estate markets be far behind?

(PRWEB) October 1, 2010 — The San Diego real estate market is likely years away from the lofty home price levels of 2005-2006. But 15 months of steady increases and a 9.3 percent spike in year-over-year prices puts San Diego in second place for the Case-Shiller July Housing Index. That puts San Diego second only to San Francisco, which had an 11.2 percent increase for the same period.

Why is San Diego faring so much better than other parts of the country–especially with an unemployment rate of over 10 percent?

There are several possibilities, said Mike Murphy a Realtor and Certified Distressed Property Expert with San Diego Previews Real Estate. He cites:   

“Shadow inventory, short sales and pending foreclosures in San Diego remain a concern for many, but those real estate bargains are often met with multiple offers and frustrated buyers who move from one property to the next,” said Murphy. “There may be dips in the market,” he said, ” but the San Diego housing market is likely to fare better than most and may a bellwether for the rest of the country.” San Diego Previews Real Estate was selected by readers of the San Diego Union Tribune as one of the Top Ten Real Estate Brokerages in San Diego for 2010.

# # #

San Diego New Homes and Real Estate Information | Source for this article: DailyFinance.com

The turn around for home pricing in San Diego County began in May of 2009, according to the Case-Shiller index.  And while price recover has been aggressive in lower priced homes, all value classifications for homes continue to see price appreciation.

Some analysts are predicting a price reduction for the Case-Shiller index for San Diego in August. My personal opinion is the pricing index will remain in a positive growth direction.  I believe the amount of the growth will be less than 0.5% month over month.

No matter how you look at it, with inventories falling, mortgage rates at all time historic lows and prices increasing, now is the time to make that home buying decision.

5,800 requests for a reservation of the tax credit and 9,940 requests for an application of the tax credit have been sent to the FTB. To date, only 687 of those requests have been granted. According to the FTB website, “The numbers are overstated as there are duplicate, revised, and invalid applications included. In addition, some purchases may be included twice if we have received both a reservation request and an application for the purchase.”

“However, because many of the submitted applications are duplicates, FTB said it plans to accept at least 24,000 applications from qualified buyers of new homes to ensure that the full $100 million is exhausted,” according to Mark Glover of the Sacramento Bee.

At the current rate and mix of requests, the FTB will likely continue to accept applications until the end of November. The FTB will provide a week’s notice on their expected closure date on the Tax Credit web site.

Therefore, if you are in the market for a new home in California, you have about 10 weeks to get your request for a tax credit submitted to the FTB. Details of the submittal process are on the web site. You can request a reservation of the Tax Credit with an executed and binding contract to purchase. Or, you may request an application of the Tax Credit with the closing of escrow for your new home. In either case, time is running out.

This past week we have seen headlines scream at us that the sky is falling and the world is coming to an end. The National Association of Realtors announced that sales of existing homes plummeted nationally 27.2% in July. Buried deep in that press release the San Diego Association of Realtors reported existing home sales were down 13% in San Diego County.

Yes, 13% is a large drop, but in a County where the Federal Tax Credit for buying a home ended in May and the State Tax Credit for buying your first home ended in June, a drop of 13% was not unexpected. The fact is many home buyers accelerated their purchases this year to take advantage of those tax credit offerings!

Another national press release announced that the average price for the sale of an existing home was up 0.7% over the last 12 months. Claiming that the momentum from earlier this year was dead and that home prices had topped out.

Again, buried in that press release, RealtyTrac said San Diego County experienced a 4.6% increase in home prices during the past year. While fewer people may be buying homes (see discussion above regarding the tax credit incentive), they are paying more for their homes. And, those homes are increasing in value better than the rate of inflation or the rate on your savings account from any bank today!

And, finally, another national press release did highlight some positive news. This press release found that the home loan failure rate (including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) had decreased by 10%. While the press release did not editorialize the benefits of this drop in the home loan failure rate, it did acknowledge that the reduction was a good sign.

Again, buried in the back of this press release, the numbers for San Diego County were a bit more improved. Home loan failure rates in San Diego County were found to be down 37% from July of 2009! That is an amazing factor and shows a very strong move by the home loan holders in San Diego County back towards stability and confidence in their home ownership financially.

So, let’s review the only rule that truly applies to real estate investment anywhere in the world … LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Can you guess where the smart buyers are putting their money in real estate today? Do you think it is on a national basis or right here, in San Diego County?

Well, you are right, But, I also would guess that you would not have come to that conclusion if you only read the headlines. Dig deeper, be a smart consumer!