Manhattan Beach Walkstreet
North and South Redondo did better then the other beach cities in sales. They were close to June numbers. Inventory is also holding steady in both cities. Manhattan Beach had a surge in sales and closings toward the end of the month....however most of the sales were in the under $2 million range. Pendings since August 4, 2007 are definitely down in all cities but especially in Manhattan Beach. There were 44 properties that went into escrow since August 1, 2007 in all of the beach cities... 22 homes and 22 townhomes. El Segundo ..3 Manhattan Beach...7 Hermosa Beach.....3 North Redondo...... 14 and South Redondo...17
What a difference a week can make. Had I posted Beach Cities: Sold July 2007 figures the first week in August I would have said that rates were low and the market was chugging along although at a slow rate. That was before August 4 and the collapse of American Home Mortgage and a number of other lenders.
Who would have thought Countrywide would possibly be on the verge of bankruptcy or that the FED might seriously be considering bailing them out. While I think Angelo Mozilo is a bit smarmy I also realize it would be a disaster if they went into bankruptcy at this time. They make 1 out of every 6 loans in the country so you can see what their demise would do to the fragile credit market. Brian Brady wrote an excellent post on The Bloodhound Blog about the problems with Countrywide going down in this market. It's worth a read.
At this time jumbo loans are hovering around 7%-8% depending on the lender and the amount of points. Lenders are dropping like flies as they succumb to the woes of the subprime market. It will be a few weeks before the dust clears and rates settle down after much hand wringing and blame tossed around by the major players.
Buyers with FICO scores over 720 with money for a downpayment who have jobs where they can document their incomes will be in high demand. While I suspect there will still be stated income loans the regulations on them will be significantly tighter. Sellers will need to pay a lot more attention to a buyer's qualifications when choosing the best offer to accept for their property.
North and South Redondo did better then the other beach cities in sales. They were close to June numbers. Inventory is also holding steady in both cities. Manhattan Beach had a surge in sales and closings toward the end of the month....however most of the sales were in the under $2 million range. Pendings since August 4, 2007 are definitely down in all cities but especially in Manhattan Beach. There were 44 properties that went into escrow since August 1, 2007 in all of the beach cities... 22 homes and 22 townhomes. El Segundo ..3 Manhattan Beach...7 Hermosa Beach.....3 North Redondo...... 14 and South Redondo...17
Beach Cities: Sold July 2007 (click on graph to enlarge)
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold July 2006
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold June 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold May 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold April 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold March 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold February 2007
SouthBay-Beach Cities: Sold January 2007
2 comments:
It's interesting that you mentioned American Home Mortgage. Looking back it appears that they were the spark that ignited the rapid changes we've seen this month in the industry. The website www.ml-implode.com tracks the other numbers of lenders that have gone belly-up at this point.
Friday ended pretty well. It was a nice move that the Fed made on the Discount Rate bringing it down to 5.75%. If you saw the market it rallied quite well. Now to what extent we'll see such positive signs? Time will tell. (To note there's a clear distinction between the Fed Funds Rate and the Fed Discount Rate).
I suppose now the question is, will there be a rate cut on the Fed Funds Rate at the scheduled meeting in September?
The CAMB convention was this week over in Long Beach. Several lenders mentioned positive signs of regrouping on their lending portfolios. Though we'll see some products like equity lines and stated loans come back, to what extend will their lending standards be lenient? Not very. I'm still betting on tight lending standards.
Best,
Ricardo Bueno
My Blog: www.industry-report.com
Ricardo,
Thanks for the updates.. nothing better then getting information directly from a highly regarded full service lender..
I think we can count on the FED lowering the funds rate in September.. not sure they have a choice at this point.. but they may well hold steady after that..
They would be smart to take things slow and see what happens rather then make a bunch of moves without really checking the effects on the market. I think making money too cheap now would be a bad move..
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