Stability spreads

We have been fortunate to provide you with good reports about the improvement and apparent stability of local real estate for months. In fact our market has improved steadily during the past two years and although price increases appear to be slowing some, we still see appreciation consistent with a healthy market.

Last week, Freddie Mac issued its newest multi-indicator market index that shows stabilization in the seventy markets it tracks. We are not one of those metropolitan areas tracked. The Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Service tracks your market and reports those results here but we are encouraged to hear about stabilization on a grander scale.

From their website www.freddiemac.com we learn; "Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 with a public mission to stabilize the nation's residential mortgage markets and expand opportunities for homeownership and affordable rental housing. Our statutory mission is to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the U.S. housing market.

"We participate in the secondary mortgage market by purchasing mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities for investment and by issuing guaranteed mortgage-related securities, principally those we call PCs. The secondary mortgage market consists of institutions engaged in buying and selling mortgages in the form of whole loans (i.e., mortgages that have not been securitized) and mortgage-related securities. We do not lend money directly to homeowners."

According to their index, after peaking in June of 2006 housing reached its lowest point in September of 2011. Since then the market in those measured areas has improved by 23.5 percent. By state, the most improved according to the index were; Colorado, Kentucky, Idaho, Maryland and North Carolina. It should come as no surprise to regular readers that we are one of the states showing most improvement even though the panhandle represents only a small portion. Local improvement cannot be argued.

As for the rest of the country, Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said, "When we look at the stability of the housing market we've seen a modest 0.5 percent improvement since the beginning of the year in the national index. Housing markets continue to heal across the country with those hardest hit showing the biggest improvement. Low mortgage rates have helped, but we also need better household income growth. The employment picture needs to improve more to strengthen wage growth. The good news is we're slowly starting to see this happen in areas like Denver, San Jose, Nashville and Pittsburgh to name a few, where we're also seeing better purchase application activity on a monthly basis."

Of course employment is key to continued improvement in the housing market as in the economy as a whole. A Dec. 20 article in this paper showed our employment market remains much improved even with a slight drop in hiring in November. Said Alivia Metts, regional economist for the Idaho Department of Labor, "Kootenai County is 25.5 percent ahead of 2013 in terms of number of job openings. The job market is anticipated to continue to bode well for job seekers through 2015."

So based on two consecutive years of improvement in real estate, near the lowest unemployment in seven years and mortgage interest rates anticipated to remain below five percent throughout, we wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.

Trust an expert ... call a Realtor. Call your Realtor or visit www.cdarealtors.com to search properties on the Multiple Listing Service or to find a Realtor member who will represent your best interests.

Kim Cooper is a real estate Broker and the spokesman for the Coeur d'Alene Association of REALTORS. Kim and the Association invite your feedback and input for this column. You may contact them by writing to the Coeur d'Alene Association of REALTORS, 409 W. Neider, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815 or by calling 208-667-0664