Over at money.cnn.com, there is an article about foreclosures, and the first sentence puts you on alert for some big numbers:

“There’s a three year inventory of homes in foreclosure for sale, and that’s devastating home prices.”

Here are the bullet points:
-Foreclosures represent 45% of sales in California and Arizona.
-Nationwide, foreclosures in the first quarter represented 28% of all existing home sales.
-The average REO is selling for about 35% less than comparabe non-REO properties.
-In New York State, the discount for REOs is more like 53%.
-In the first quarter, the REO discount was approaching 50% in Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
-Short sales were selling at an average 9% discount to comparables.

Recent media coverage of several rent-vs-buy ratios show that the tide is turning in many urban areas toward a more favorable climate for buying than renting. Historically low interest rates and prices down over 40% nationally makes the ratios turn toward buying vs renting.

One report states that 29 major urban areas are now showing that buying is a better choice than renting. Moody’s reports that it’s still cheaper to rent in the majority of urban areas. Since the financial crisis began, more than 3 million households have moved to renting. One report estimates that another 3 million or more are expected to do so by 2015. All told, nearly 38 million households are renters.

Found this article from Les Christie May 31, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Home prices hit another new low in the first quarter, down 5.1% from a year ago to levels not reached since 2002.

It was the third straight quarterly drop for the S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index, which was released Tuesday.

Prices are now down 32.7% from their peak set five years ago.

Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight," said David Blitzer, spokesman for Standard and Poor's.

The index covers 80% of the housing market, and this month's report confirmed "a double-dip in home prices across much of the nation," said Blitzer.

Many real estate investors are aware of the FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) and the Standard & Poors Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes. There’s another reporting company out there, Altos Research. Here’s how they describe their function and their monthly report product:

“This report identifies housing market trends across the country and it looks at statistics on over one million properties currently listed for-sale in 26 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, DC.”

A Harvard University study just released had some interesting statistics about renters. The number of renters who spend more than half their income on rent is at its highest level in 50 years.

10.1 million people, about 26% of renters, spent more than half their pre-tax income on rental housing in 2009. With most experts recommending that you not spend more than 30% of income, this is a significant number and it isn’t likely to drop in the near to intermediate future.

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