According to a study commissioned by the National Association of Realtors about American Attitudes about Homeownership, more people believe that buying a home is a good idea.

Contrasting previous years’ perceptions about home ownership, the study conducted in January, surveyed the opinions of some 4,000 people among homeowners and renters, showed that the overall perception is possitive towards the market.

Indeed, the vast majority of the surveyed people thinks that owning is a good idea: 95% of the homeowners and 72% of the renters, to be more precise, said that it was a smart investment on the good term, considering of course that a real estate -whether you buy it as an investment or not-, is always an investment.

But the benefits of buying a propery goes beyond financial advantages. It is also related to quality of life. 56% of the homeowners said that owning a home made them “very” or “extremely happy” with their quality of life and surrounding circle, while only 36% of the renters said to feel the same way.

The results from this survey come in as very good news for the real estate market in Miami as well. We can expect to see an increase in the participation of local demand in the already spectacular sales levels we’ve seen from previous months.

Consider that buying a home in Miami is not only a good idea because of the amenities that you will have available when living in places like the financial district of Brickell or the Downtown Miami, but also because you will have the certainty that your home is also an investment that can pay revenues for you and your family in long and even in the middle term. Consider that renting fees are growing in these areas, and that being an owner is more affordable than renting!

Mortgage rates are showing a tendency to grow in the last month, which has set the alarms about the possibilities to invest in the market today, or to wait until lower prices.

Such has been the debate in the media, and seems there is a consensus that buying under current conditions is the best possible decision, considering that 30-year-fixed mortgage rates have climbed up to 4.61% from 4.46% a week ago. 15-year-fixed rates are around 3.96%.

Mortgage rates are linked to 10-year Treasury bonds yields and its rates of interest, that have been pressured up as investors tend to sell them, expecting for stocks to be a more affordable investment in upcoming weeks as a result of the growing tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

Given that banks are being more strict about downpayments and the market is flooded with foreclosures, prices are expected to drop. However, as many expect for prices to decline, they are loosing the opportunity to get the lowest monthly fees possible. Rates aren’t getting any lower, at least in the middle term, so don’t lose the opportunity to make the best investment decision possible!

Buy a real estate in today’s Miami real estate market. Brickell and Downtown Miami are very affordable submarkets, and investing in them gives very high revenues in the short and middle terms, not to mention the expected gains over the long terms.

Contact us for further information on how to take advantage on this situation, and don’t miss the chance to become an investor, or to widen your investments, in one of the world’s most appealing submarkets!

September hit the lowest average mortgage rates since 1953, according to Freddie Mac, that’s been keeping the count. Still today in December, rates continue to be below 4,5 percent, incentivating home buying. 15-year-fixed rates are even lower, below 4 percent.

These rates are an average, which points that some lenders may be offering even lower mortgage rates, depending on how creditworthy borrowers are. Borrowers with credit scores above 720 and at least 20 percent equity in their homes can get rates a quarter of a percentage point lower than standards, according to CNNMoney.

Now, this information is useful if you are planning to buy a home, but not only for this. If you want to shorten your mortgage term, add to your real estate holdings and free up cash, to spend it, for example, during the holidays.

Despite constant low levels in the past months, mortgage rates are slightly growing. So, if you plan to take advantage on them, you may want to start moving quick.

As of October 30, residential resale inventory fell in South Florida, with bank repossessions falling by 23 percent, to complete the fourht straight week with diminishing resale inventory. The reason? People won’t come out to sell their properties in the middle of the foreclosure scandals.

As of October 25, resales in the tri-County region of South Florida -Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade- had fallen 7 percent. For Miami-Dade in particular, resales have fallen 3.5 percent, to leave the county with a total of 24,801 properties for resale.

REOs, bank repossessions, have fallen 23.8 percent. This is, obviously, another result of the foreclosure halt, as banks have stopped filling foreclosure paperwork, and less properties are entering banks’ control. The foreclosure halt, however, is announced to stop for several banks, like the JPMorgan & Chase, that has already started filling some new foreclosure paperwork about a week ago, and is expected to resume the proceedings in about another week.

This time, news aren’t about the role international buyers play in the recovery of South Florida economy, but about nationwide numbers about their impact, which is equally relevant if we want to understand market trends and take advantage of the opportunities others perceive from current market conditions.

Prices are seriously attracting investments. The National Association of Realtors has published pertinent information about how international buyers have spent already a total of $66 billion, only during 2009. They have taken a great share of the available units, mostly thru bulk deals. But not only big investors have taken advantage of deeply discounted properties. Single investors have made their part as well, coming from mixed origins mostly from Latin America.

As we have previously pointed out, Venezuela is a major buyer right now, obviously from private pockets. Political and economical turmoil in the country has incentivated an increasing demand for a home in the US. In South Florida, demand is mostly concentrated over Miami condos, mostly Downtown Miami and Brickell waterfront condos. Some others also buy in other locations, such as El Doral, so popular among Venezuelan and Colombian buyers, and other Miami Beach areas. They mostly want a second home to occupy quickly if the political situation enworsens.

Venezuela stood for 76 percent of the demand during last year. Other Latin American countries also made it to the top 5, among them, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. From Europe, only France made it to the top 10, though with a shy percentage. Of course, we have to bear in mind that the $66 billion is a 2009 figure, and we will have to wait and see what are the numbers for 2010, a year with big bulk deals with Italian, Israeli and French firms as well.

Real Estate news have been crowded with foreclosure news. New foreclosure roundups have caught the attention of analysts, academics and industry watchers, who have joined into a single claim for intervention and surveillance of banks, who seem to be putting properties under foreclosure with little regulation and under doubtful conditions.

Such was the claim of the National Association of Realtors to the Department of Treasury, the Department of Housing and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, thru a letter written on behalf of the 1.1 million members of the NAR. The letter is basically a way to call for action from Washington to push for a bigger surveillance over banks, who seem to be letting aside some of the State laws to procede with the foreclosures.

In the meantime, banks have stopped foreclosures to investigate improper procedures. Foreclosures are greatly hurting the market recovery, preventing potential buyers from making their offers, because foreclosure keep on oversaturating the market and pushing prices down. Although prices in some Miami submarkets have not suffered so greatly because of foreclosures, the spilled effects of other affected communities ends up affecting the whole economy.

We will be closely watching over this developing news, to see what happens finally with the increasing pressure over banks to stop repossessing properties, and instead increase their refinancing options to help homeowners keep their properties, instead of pushing the weakened market.

Sales did not report spectacular levels in August. Although there was no increase of sales activity, August new homes sales nationwide remained steady in comparison with July, which on its hand reported sales growth in comparison with June, as a result of the tax credit.

The tax credit affected June sales, but July reported new home sales increase. The annual rate of new homes sales rose from 276,000 units to 288,000 units in July, which kept that way during August. According to the Department of Commerce, this sales activity could impact current new homes inventory nationwide, that is already calculated to be enough to cover demand over the next 8.6 months, down from 8.7 months of demand coverage calculated in June.

This fact could as well have an impact in construction, that is starting to reactivate, although quite carefully, in some cities across the US. Currently, there are 206,000 new homes available for sale across the country, as a result of increasing sales activity.

August has not shown increments of home sales nationwide. However, keeping sales’ pace steady has meant a slowly contraction of current inventory, which has reached a 42-year low, according to The Commerce Department.

The Department published concluding information about August sales. In total, August confirms an annual sales rate of 288,000 unit that has kept constant for the past two months. In June, in contrast, annual sales rate had been slower, of 276,000 units, as a collateral effect of April’s tax credit expiration.

Stabilization after the popular tax credit is beginning to show thru official data publications, says Reuters.com: “Data this week showed home construction rose last month and sales of previously owned homes crawled off 13-year lows.” Under current conditions, the actual inventory would make it to satisfy demand for only 8.6 more months; only 206,000 new homes are available for sale today, which helps pushing prices up while supply shrinks constantly.

Industry watchers are worried that good moments for the real estate market may be again inflating prices above the real value of the estate. This is a concern that made its way to public debate last week, when analysts started talking about the dicotomy to have growing prices without growing demand.

The stability of the market is in stake. Nationwide, sales haven’t been growing fast, but there seems to be enough confidence and money around in the market, that some prices have started climbing in some areas. Inflating prices is negative to keep on attracting demand to the stagnate condos and homes inventory, specially when foreclosure roundups are not over.

However, Dowtown Miami and Brickell condos are a little far from this national worry. As the “bright spot” they have prooven to be, these aras have had a remarkable sales activity during 2010, because of its concentration of the most wanted product in the market: new waterfront luxury condos.

Downtown Miami condo sales grew 110 percent in the first semester 2010, quite a spectacular figure, in comparison with sales level in the first six months 2009. In raw numbers, the result is of 1,933 units sold at an average price of $356,100. Answering the national concern, although prices are 16 percent higher than a year ago, this is related to a heavy demand on a product that is already scarsing.

The demand is going to overcome supply soon, and developers are already starting to move around this idea. Today, a listed condo for sale in Miami has a faster rotation, which means the product stays less time in the market; 114 days, or 11 percent less than 2009, is the time that a condo remains unsold, a fact that contributes to the diminishing inventories, already 11.4 percent less than a year ago.

Million dollar condos in Miami, on their hand, have so far sold almost double the amount of units sold in 2009. It is expected, thus, that luxury condos in Brickell and Downtown Miami continue to displace single-family homes sales in the upcoming months and all along 2011. Therefore, they will continue to be the most pursuited type of asset in the real estate market, and Miami hot deals are still available for those who want to participate from the revenues of investing with today’s conditions.

30-year-fixed-rate mortgages continue to make history. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year mortgage rate fell to 4.42 percent yesterday, after setling in another record-low at 4.44 percent the week before.

On its hand, the 15-year-fixed-rate mortgages also went down from 3.92 to 3.90 percent. This is the ninth straight week that mortgage rates fall steadily, said Reuters today. These rates help rise housing loan demand; in some cases, demand for home financing have been reported to rise 50 percent, and refinancing activites also flowrish, as practically everyone that has a mortgage right now could benefit from negotiating refinancing under present conditions.

However, there are always considerations about optimistic prospects of seeing more and more people refinancing. “Underwater” mortgages cannot be refinanced, that is, those housing loans in which the amount of debt has topped the value of the mortgaged asset. Although this is the heaviest concern for the government, good expectations for refinancers are on their way, since lowering their monthly payments amount can help rise consumption and reactivate economy in many ways.

This mortgage rates are ideal to attract homebuyers into the already largely desired markets of South Florida. South Beach, for example, is a real estate luxury submarket that can benefit from low mortgage rates, as US buyers decide to invest in its affordable condos, with convenient monthly payments and the possibility to gain high middle and long term revenues out of a smart investment.

Consult our financing options, or contact us for more detailed information on investing in the Miami real estate market.