Hello Everyone,
According to a Wall Street Journal article dated October 1, "U.S. stocks kicked off the fourth quarter on a positive note, rising modestly even as a string of economic reports, including key manufacturing data, yielded conflicting signals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 42 points, or 0.4%, at 10830. But the blue-chip index fell 0.3% for the week and snapped its four-week winning streak. " The article went on to state "Friday's gains came after the Dow surged 7.7% last month -- its best September performance since 1939".
Read the full article at http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101001-712081.html
More good news arrived in my inbox Friday in the form of an email from a colleague with an article by Forbes editor Robert Lenzner. The piece reported that billionaire hedge fund operator John Paulson recently "told a standing room only crowd at New York’s University Club that double-digit inflation is about to rear its ugly head by 2012, killing the bond market, and restoring strength to equities and gold." and stated that this was the best time in 50 years to buy homes. The article quoted Paulson as recommending "“If you don’t own a home buy one,” ” if you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home.”
Refreshing, upbeat real estate predictions from someone who has a pretty good track record---- in his league they keep score with dollars, and he is way ahead! Read the article at
http://blogs.forbes.com/robertlenzner/2010/09/27/john-paulson-sell-bonds-buy-stocks-double-digit-inflation-coming/
Monthly City-by-City Report out this week shows 7 of 13 Marin County cities and towns it follows showed a decline in percentage in contract and 6 showed an increase. Winners included Corte Madera at 49% in contract, followed by Greenbrae at 42.5%. Fairfax showing the best gain, going from 7.89% last month to 29% on October 2. Ross had the weakest showing with only 2 of 21 listed homes in contract, or 9.5%.
SFR's and Condo's showed slight gains in percentage in contract in all price ranges. Some encouraging increases in the upper end activity with SFR's above $3million going from 5% to 8.7% in contract and condo's in the $1million to $1.99 million category going from 5.5% to 11% in contract since the beginning of September. CB MarketQuest showing some very encouraging statistics with 268 accepted offers on Single Family Residences during the month compared to 146 in Sept of last year and 143 in the same period in 2008. This brought the ratio of accepted offers to inventory to 25.6% during the month compared to 11.6% and 12.7% in September for the previous two years. Condo's showed a similar trend with 77 accepted offers in September compared to 52 in Sept 2009 and 58 in the same period in 2008. This brought the ratio of accepted offers to inventory to 28.3% at the end of September compared to the year-ago figure of 16.5% and 15.5% in Sept., 2008. At the same time, though still ahead of 2009, the substantial YTD sales gains of the first part of the year continue to erode. SFR YTD units sold as of 9/28 were 1356 compared to 1130 at the same time last year. The 226 unit difference represents a 20% increase. Condo YTD unit sales of 354 narrowly squeak ahead of last year's 347 at the same time with a meager 2% increase. The question is, will the new sales activity be enough to reverse this downward trend?
More next time.
Until then, best wishes to all,
Fred
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment