On the rise: U.S. home prices rose at a faster pace in February than the previous month, driven by higher sales and a limited supply of available houses. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index—which covers about half of all U.S. homes—rose 5% in February from 12 months earlier, S&P announced today. The Associated Press reports that’s up from a 4.5% pace in January. Faster sales likely drove the price gain. Signed contracts to buy homes jumped in February, yet the number of Americans listing their homes for sale remains low. That has led to bidding wars in some cities. February’s annual price increase was the largest in six months. Read the full story.
Making a comeback: A growing number of U.S. homeowners are cashing out some of their home equity by refinancing their mortgage, according to new data from some major lenders. As The Los Angeles Times reports, in a cash-out refinancing, you convert part of your home equity into money, adding to your mortgage balance. You end up with more debt through the process, but you also walk away with roughly the cash you need. Cash-outs were the rage during the housing boom years of 2004-07. At their peak, in the third quarter of 2006, nearly nine out of 10 owners who refinanced pulled out money from their homes, according to mortgage investor Freddie Mac. But by late 2008, the bubble had imploded, equity holdings plunged and cash-out refis virtually disappeared. Now, with home equity higher in many markets, they’re making a comeback. Read the full story.
The down low: Strong demand for low-cost housing is proving a boon for one of the real-estate industry’s least glamorous sectors: companies that operate mobile-home parks. The Wall Street Journal reports that while few new mobile-home communities are being built, larger companies in the sector are actively buying up the smaller players, reducing competition. At the same time, rising demand from families seeking space in the parks has allowed mobile-home landlords to raise rents, producing strong growth. “I’ve been at this for about 10 years, and I would say the demand right now for manufactured housing communities is at an all-time high,” says Jonathon McClellan, senior director of the national manufactured home communities group at Marcus & Millichap. Read the full story.
