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Home Values Have Held Up
TULSA, OK (September 23, 2008) – The Tulsa housing market has calmed down a little and is pretty much back to normal. Listing inventory processed for the month of July 2008 decreased from a year ago 7%, and is down year-to-date -.9%. The number of homes for sale on the last day of the month increased 6.4% from the same time last year. We are seeing now exactly what we expected and predicted stated Doug Horton, President of the Northeast Oklahoma Real Estate Services. Residential closings for the month continued to trail 2007 by only -4.5%.
Its very important for Oklahomans to understand that our home values have held up, and even increased, over the past year. We are now one of the best real estate markets in the country, and are consistently in the top 10 in home value appreciation. Horton predicts that our worst time is over.
The average sales price increased from a year ago 3.6% and 2.8% year-to-date from this time last year. About this same time last year we began to hear the horror stories of the real estate market across the county; this put a lot of fear into potential buyers. The sub-prime markets dried up, practically overnight, in August of 2007. Then, the Alternate-A (stated income loans) followed suit in September, basically just disappearing. By October, we had no 100% loans of any kind available (except for VA). So, many people who could have bought homes before these financing options disappeared can no longer qualify for a home mortgage. Fortunately for home buyers, the Government has greatly enhanced the Government Insured FHA loans during 2008. FHA loans are gathering steam, and are available to many of the buyers who were shut out by the elimination of the Alternate-A conventional loans and the 100% conventional loans.
A recent report from Global Insight and National City Corp shows the historical values of the City of Tulsa since 1985 (see attachment). The Q1 of 1985 the median price of a home was $59,300.00 and the market was considered to be overvalued by 50.4% at that time. In 2008 Q1, the median home price was $102,900, undervalued by 23.2%. The report shows the Tulsa market has been undervalued since Q1 1992, and has gradually increased in undervalue to its current peak today. (The valuations are based on the median values for single-family dwelling units and are based on the 2000 Census of Housing. That point-in time Census estimate is then extrapolated, based on price indices published by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). Because OFHEO has acknowledged that these price indices overstate increases when refinance activity is strong, the valuations are further adjusted to correct for this influence.)
Tulsa Real Estate Statistics
Median House Price in 2nd quarter 2007 and 2nd 2008 in the top 10 Tulsa real estate and surrounding markets as defined by total number of sales in 2nd quarter 2008.
Total number of sales in 2nd quarter 2007 and 2nd 2008 in the top 10 Tulsa real estate and surrounding markets as defined by total number of sales in 2nd quarter 2008.
Total dollar volume sales in 2nd quarter 2007 and 2nd 2008 in the top 10 Tulsa real estate and surrounding markets as defined by total number of sales in 2nd quarter 2008.
April Housing Stats Show Market is Still on Track for a Great 2008
TULSA, OK (May 30, 2008) – According to Northeast Oklahoma Real Estate Services (NORES), over the past three years, statistically 2006 had more closings than any other year, followed by 2005 and 2007 respectively. Oddly enough however, April 2007 had more closings than April 2006, which was a record-breaking year for sales. According to 2008 NORES President Doug Horton, “March and April of 2007 were basically ‘make-up months’— a natural process which was a result of the big ice storm in early 2007. So, it's not too surprising that we could not match the number of sales produced in either of those two months in 2008. I expected both of those months to be down from 2007 (particularly March)...and they were.”
April median prices have increased 3.3 percent since 2006, the number of pending listings (which represents contracts that have been accepted by both a buyer and seller but have not closed) were slightly more than the number of pending contracts in 2006 (1,247). The average price for April increased 1.8 percent over April 2007 and 5.6 percent since April 2006.
“It appears that we will soon finally be at a point where we are comparing ‘apples to apples.’ We no longer have sales from buyers using sub-prime loans. We have also have lost virtually all sources of ‘stated income’ loans; both of which we had in 2007, until early August. So, those two categories of buyers are no longer available to us. But, if you look closely ‘inside’ our numbers, we're still on track to have a great year in 2008!” Horton said.
The Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS® is a real estate organization whose Northeast Oklahoma members are united to provide services; to promote education, professionalism, and ethical standards in order to assist members in better serving the public and protecting the free enterprise system and private property rights. NORES President, Doug Horton 693-9998 or GTAR President, Steve Baker at 918-665-3830.
TulsaRealtors.com Public Website Enhanced
TULSA, OK (July 1, 2008) – The Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS®’ (GTAR) public website, tulsarealtors.com has just been updated with significant new changes. The new version includes:
According to the NAR 2007 survey on home buyers and sellers, 91% of home buyers between the ages of 25 and 44 used the Internet in their home search; 80% of all buyers started their home search online. Internet buyers spent 2.2 weeks looking for the home they purchased, compared to 7.1 weeks for the traditional buyer who did not go online. “With today’s gas prices, that is a significant amount of savings for home buyers,” commented NORES President Doug Horton. Typical buyers spend time driving around looking for “For Sale” signs in neighborhoods; now they can go online to tulsarealtors.com and view homes based on their criteria, which includes, price range, subdivision, school district, ZIP code, and more. The website uses the same database as the MLS system the REALTORS® use to search for homes, so each listing’s details on the website are the most up-to-date in the market. Other websites, such as realtor.com, are only updated once a day. The problem with websites such as realtor.com is that not all of the properties show all of the details or photos – agents must pay for enhanced listings in order to have all the photos viewable, which can be very costly. At tulsarealtors.com, all properties that are available in the MLS system are listed in real-time; currently, there are around 6,632 single family homes for sale on the website.
The tulsarealtors.com website averages 1.5 million total hits, 37,000 total visitors, and over 60,000 property searches per month. The Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS® has leveraged its technical expertise and embraced technology in order to meet the demands of today’s tech-savvy consumers.
MSN ranks Tulsa as the 9th best bargain real estate market. According to the report, Tulsa ranks 9th as the most affordable housing market among the 100 largest U.S. metro areas. Bert Sperling of Sperling’s Best Places, evaluated the markets based on unemployment, commute times, and there’s enough interesting entertainment or recreation to keep most people busy. They defined affordability by the ration of median income to median home price.
The average price of homes in the Tulsa MSA has increased 3.8% year-to-date compared to this same time last year. The average price in May 2008 compared to May 2007 decreased 2%. The median price for May 2008 increased 3.6% compared to May 2007. Consumers can find more statistics by going to tulsarealtors.com and selecting the “Good Thing You’re in Tulsa” logo in the upper right hand side of the page. The Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS® is a real estate organization whose members are united to provide services; to promote education, professionalism, and ethical standards in order to assist members in better serving the public and protecting the free enterprise system and private property rights.
Tulsa Area Home Prices Up in Fourth Quarter 2007
TULSA, OK (March 3, 2008) – The Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS® (GTAR) reports that Tulsa MSA counties median home prices were up in the fourth quarter 2007 compared to fourth quarter 2006. The Q4 2006 median price was $120,750 compared to Q4 2007 $126,000 – a difference of $5,250, or 4.35 percent, despite the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) purchase-only report that U.S. home prices fell 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. The purchase-only report is based on data from more than 5 million repeat-sales transactions. The median sales price from each of the Tulsa MSA counties is listed below.
Oklahoma ranked ninth in percent change in house prices nationally for the period 1/1/2007-12/31/2007, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) all-transactions Housings Price Index, (HPI), which also reported that U.S. home prices fell 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The Tulsa MSA ranked 41 out of 291 cities in home price appreciation with a one year appreciation rate of 4.97%, and Oklahoma City ranked 51 with a 4.59% appreciation rate. According the report, the prices of non-housing goods and services increased 4.3% over the latest four quarters. The real price of homes thus increased .67 percent in the Tulsa MSA.
The OFHEO’s all-transactions HPI tracks average house price changes in repeat sales or refinancing of the same singe-family properties. The all-transactions index includes more than 34 million repeat transactions. The index is based on data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages originated over the past 32 years. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac form the nation’s largest database of conventional, conforming mortgage transactions.
The mission of the OFHEO is to promote housing and a strong national housing finance system by ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to the OFHEO, it was announced today that as of March 1, 2008, Fannie and Freddie will no longer be subject to portfolio caps which were implemented by OFHEO because of their respective operational and control weaknesses that led to multi-year periods when neither company released timely, audited financial statements. Read the full story here: http://www.ofheo.gov/newsroom.aspx?ID=416&q1=0&q2=0
Tulsa MSA Housing Stats
More about GTAR
The Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS® has partnered with its subsidiary corporation, Northeast Oklahoma Real Estate Services, Inc. (NORES) to create a public awareness campaign – “Good Thing You’re in Tulsa” – to educate the people of northeastern Oklahoma about the region’s stable real estate market. The campaign began February 4. The campaign includes four Tulsa Transit bus sponsorships and a television advertising campaign which started on February 17, 2008.
Tulsa Real EstateRanks 6th in the 10 Most Affordable Housing Markets Nationwide
TULSA, OK (March 11, 2008) – According to a recent BusinessWeek report, Tulsa ranks sixth in the 10 most affordable U.S. markets, with the 2007 average home sale price of $153,750, while Oklahoma City ranks among the most expensive with a 2007 average home sales price of $193,750—a $40,000 variance.
The information is based on an annual Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index (HPCI), which is an apples-to-apples comparison of homes across the country. The survey evaluates average selling prices in 317 U.S. markets for single-family houses of about 2,220 square feet with four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, a family room, and a two-car garage. The cumulative average sales price of these subject homes is $422,343 (higher than the National Association of REALTORS®’ median home price of $218,200 for all existing homes sold in the U.S.).
Read the full BusinessWeek story at http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/sep2007/db20070925_163905.htm