Inman News

The average price rose 28 percent for all New York City homes, according to a market report released today, while the sales volume dropped 22 percent.

Produced by the Real Estate Board of New York trade association, the ResidentialNYC.com report revealed that the average price of Manhattan residential property jumped 41 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $1.6 million and Manhattan sales dropped 6 percent. REBNY has about 12,000 members that work in a wide range of real estate-related fields.

This report follows the release earlier this month of real estate broker-sponsored first-quarter Manhattan market reports that detailed price gains and sales drops in the first quarter.

Inman News has reported that despite the continued Manhattan market price gains, some real estate professionals say the sales slowdown and other market trends indicate that the tide may be turning on the area’s red-hot real estate run-up.

The average price of homes throughout New York City was $853,000 in the first quarter, up from $669,000 in first-quarter 2007, REBNY reported. Report data is based on sales of all residential property, including private homes with one to three dwellings, condominiums and cooperatives.

“The significant increases in home prices in Manhattan clearly boosted the citywide average,” said Steven Spinola, REBNY president.

Average home prices rose 3 percent in Brooklyn year-over-year in the first quarter, to $582,000.

Average home prices in Queens and Staten Island sank 5 percent year-over-year in the first quarter. The average price of homes in Queens was $458,000 in the first quarter, while the average price was $427,000 for homes in Staten Island.

In the Bronx, the average home price fell 1 percent to $396,000 in the first quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

The average sales price for all New York City apartments (co-ops and condos) rose 34 percent to $994,000 in the first quarter compared to first-quarter 2007.

Manhattan apartment prices jumped 40 percent to $1.55 million year-over-year in the first quarter.

Citywide condo prices rose 41 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $1.29 million, climbing 43 percent in Manhattan to $1.83 million, 7 percent in Queens to $404,000, and 4 percent in Brooklyn to $589,000.

New York City apartment co-op prices rose 15 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $695,000, REBNY reported, and gained 26 percent in Manhattan to $1.19 million and 6 percent in Brooklyn to $343,000.

The average price of a one- to three-unit family dwelling in New York City rose 7 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $638,000, growing 6 percent in Brooklyn to $681,000 and rising slightly in Queens, to $582,000.

The REBNY report also includes some neighborhood-specific data for Manhattan.

Average co-op and condo prices in the Upper West Side rose 96 percent to $2.1 million year-over-year in the first quarter, REBNY reported, with prices up 92 percent to $1.07 million in Murray Hill; up 50 percent to $1.99 million in Midtown West; up 41.1 percent to $1.93 million in the Upper East Side; up 33.4 percent to $1.34 million in Midtown East; up 22.4 percent to $1.36 million in Greenwich Village; and up 13.2 percent to $452,000 in Washington Heights.

The highest average sales price for all housing types was in Soho, at $2.3 million, followed by Tribeca, at $2.22 million.

Earlier this month, New York City appraisal company Miller Samuel reported, in a report prepared for the Prudential Douglas Elliman brokerage company, that Manhattan condo and co-op prices dropped 34.3 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, with for-sale inventory rising 4.6 percent, days on market rising 11.7 percent, and the median sales price rising 13.2 percent to $945,276.

Miller Samuel and Prudential Douglas Elliman this week released a first-quarter report on the Long Island-Queens market.

The average sales price in the Long Island-Queens market was $514,135 in the first quarter, up 3.6 percent compared to first-quarter 2007. And the median sales price was $435,000, down 0.6 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

There were 6,015 total sales in the Long Island-Queens market in the first quarter, down 14.1 percent from the same quarter last year, Miller Samuel reported. The days on market rose 8.3 percent to 117 days and the listing inventory increased 10.2 percent to 35,209 units.

“The level of sales activity continues to slip as the demand for housing is weaker than seen in the past several years due to difficulties with access to credit,” the Miller Samuel report states.

“The expansion of the days-on-market indicator and rising inventory levels are the result of reduced demand,” though sales price growth “was relatively stable as compared to the same period last year,” and activity typically picks up in the current quarter, which tends to be the most active quarter of the year in sales activity and price appreciation, the report states.

Inman News

The parent company of Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. lost $34.4 million in the first quarter, but investors were cheered that revenues grew 14.7 percent from a year ago, to $423.9 million, and that the company is raising capital to restore the financial strength rating it needs to continue writing new insurance.

New insurance written in the first quarter by MGIC totaled $19.1 billion, up 50.4 percent from $12.7 billion a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Persistency — the percentage of insurance remaining in force from a year ago — also increased to 77.5 percent as of March 31, compared with 70.3 percent at the same time last year.

Although parent company MGIC Investment Corp. posted a loss of 41 cents per share for the quarter — compared with earnings of $1.12 per share in the first quarter of 2007 — investors welcomed the better-than-projected increase in revenue, sending the company’s share price up more than 15 percent in midday trading.

MGIC Investment Corp. reported a $1.67 billion loss for all of 2007 as it was forced to pay claims and bad loans and boost reserves for future losses. MGIC officials said at the time they expected the company to remain in the red in 2008, but would remain adequately capitalized to pay claims.

Last week analysts at Standard & Poor’s downgraded the financial strength ratings of MGIC, Radian Group Inc. and PMI Group Inc., saying that worsening housing market conditions could increase future claims and that the companies no longer meet the criteria for AA- ratings Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require of “top tier” insurers.

MGIC officials said today that the company has taken “numerous actions designed to bolster its financial strength” including increasing capital resources by $840 million through the sale of securities. The company has also tightened underwriting guidelines, discontinued writing Wall Street bulk transactions, increased pricing, and is pursuing reinsurance options.

Those moves, and similar actions by competitors, have added to the credit crunch by making it harder for home buyers to obtain private mortgage insurance, which is usually required when borrowers make down payments of less than 20 percent.

MGIC, Radian and PMI now require down payments of at least 3 percent in all markets — the same requirement for Federal Housing Administration loan guarantee programs.

In eliminating “Above 97″ loan-to-value ratio loans, PMI said the default rate on such loans had risen to 9.1 percent at the end of 2007. PMI won’t insure loans with down payments of less than 10 percent in “distressed markets” where prices have been falling, and requires a minimum FICO score of 620 or better in those areas.

In March, MGIC stopped insuring loans with down payments of less than 5 percent in 30 restricted markets. The restricted markets include four entire states — California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada — and 26 markets in 18 other states where home prices are falling.

Radian will no longer insure “alt-A” stated-income, stated-asset loans after April 30, and the company has also identified declining markets where tighter underwriting standards are in force, such as 90 percent maximum loan-to-value ratio for condominiums or co-ops.

Inman News

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued higher Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 3.68 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average climbed to 5.81 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate gained to 5.39 percent. Meanwhile, the 1-year adjustable rate rose to 5.74 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was up at 4.49 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.

In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 256.8 points, or 2.08 percent, finishing at 12,619.27. The Nasdaq climbed 64.07 points, or 2.8 percent, closing at 2,350.11.

Stock figures are current as of 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Inman News

Long-term mortgage rates barely budged this week, mirroring last week’s activity, Freddie Mac reported today.

The average rate on 30-year fixed loans held steady at 5.88 percent, while the average rate on 15-year fixed loans dipped to 5.4 percent from last week’s 5.42 percent. A year ago the 30-year fixed averaged 6.17 percent and the 15-year averaged 5.89 percent.

To qualify for these rates, borrowers must pay points, or fees that lenders charge for loan processing expressed as a percent of the loan, which this week averaged 0.4 and 0.5, respectively, on the 30- and 15-year loans.

“Interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages held relatively steady for a second week, while ARM rates continued to decline amid market speculation that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may cut rates again at its upcoming Committee meeting,” Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. “March’s housing starts were the lowest since March 1991 and consumer sentiment in April fell to a 26-year low, while home-builder confidence remains near record lows. Currently, the federal funds future contracts suggest nearly a 100 percent probability that the Fed will cut rates at the end of this month.

“In its current regional review released on April 16th the Fed noted ‘reports on real estate and construction were generally anemic for the residential sector’ and ‘economic conditions have weakened since its last report.’ In addition, San Francisco Fed Bank President Janet Yellen suggested, ‘the economy has all but stalled and could even contract over the first half of the year’ in a speech the same day and that the downside risks to growth are significant.”

Average rates on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) fell this week, with the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARM rate dropping from 5.56 percent to 5.48 percent and the average rate on one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs sinking from 5.18 percent to 5.1 percent. Points on these loans averaged 0.6.