Ventura County Real Estate Doing’s for Week Ending September 6, 2008

September 7th, 2008 Categories: Weekly Real Estate Activity In Ventura County

An interesting week to say the least.

It appears that Uncle Sam is going into the financial mortgage business with the pending (street talk) of a take over of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

People are trimming down spending despite the small decrease in fuel prices. Retail sales have not accelerated with the stimulus package as expected.

Neither Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (quasi-business Congressional inventions) will be the same.

There will be a complete transformation of management and do not be surprise if the result is a transfer of these entities to a “private company” (dare I say maybe foreign. Now that would upset the status quo wouldn’t it).

Refresh your memory by reading the July article (noted below) regarding the development of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae institutions. The article is: http://www.venturacountyretalk.com/2008/07/20/ventura-county-real-estate-doing%e2%80%99s-for-week-ending-july-19-2008/ .

Add to the list the increase of unemployment and one starts to think that inflation is going to rear its’ ugly head and the economy is going into the tank.

Not so. Despite the negatives (which are pounded into our heads by the media) there was an increase in production, the dollar is starting to exert itself against other currencies and there is now more positive reporting on the bottoming of the real estate down turn.

Foreclosures are still high especially in California and Florida (and it looks like Ohio is getting hit as is Michigan). But other areas of the country are holding their own.

Forbes recently listed Albuquerque, New Mexico, Charlotte, North Carolina, San Antonio, Texas, Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas as areas with great growth possibilities.

I do not agree with Forbes. I do like parts of Texas but I still think that Oklahoma, Mississippi and Louisiana should not be left out of the equation.

The street talk is that the Federal Reserve will not change the interest rate structure at its next meeting. Of more interest is (at least per the gossip on the street) that it is expected (hold onto your chair) that banks will start to lower mortgage rates (with prodding from the Federal Reserve).

To be sure the decreases will be gradual but on can expect rates to start hovering around 5.75% instead of 6+% within the next few weeks.

Banks are cinching down lines of credit. So this haven that a number of people sought has been walled up and people, and businesses, will have to look elsewhere (hard money) for funds.

Ventura County.

Despite all the National woes, real estate in Ventura County is doing well.

Inventory is down; sales continue to increase; days on the market showed a down turn and the variance between average list to sales price showed a decrease.

Home prices have reached the range of December, 2003-June, 2004 prices which was $ 489,040 to $ 566,654. The average sales price of a property in August of 2008 was $ 517,106. When compared to the peak prices of the year 2006, Ventura County home values have decreased approximately 25%.

But (there is always a but) values of home properties in Ventura County since 1997 have increased approximately 167% or at an average of 14.5% each year since 1997.

So there has been a lost from the 2006 price peak but overall the County has continued to strengthened upward over a 14+ years.

Since the bottom has been set (fizzle portion of the above chart) one can now picture what the future (sizzle) is going to be and it is excellent for Ventura County.

Not many Counties in California can show this type of real estate growth and there are very few in the Country that can show this type of growth.

Yes we had a few bad years but overall we have had it very good.

Your comments are welcomed.