Let's look at what's happening locally and around the nation -- the things that would have an impact on housing market.
* Countrywide Financial to Cut 2,500 Jobs [USA Today]
Countrywide Financial (CFC),
the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said Tuesday it will cut its
workforce by more than 2,500, or about 5%, even as growth in its loan
servicing portfolio pushed its third-quarter profit up 2%. Earnings increased to $647.5 million, or $1.03 per share, from $634 million, or $1.03 per share, in the prior-year period. Analysts, on average, were expecting third-quarter net income of $1.08 per share, according to a Thomson Financial survey.The company's loan fundings slipped 22% to $115
million from $147 million, but its loan portfolio grew 18% to $1.24
billion from $1.05 billion.
* Economists Expect Rate Cut Next Year [USA Today]
A slowing economy and declining inflation mean
Federal Reserve policymakers' next interest rate move will be a cut,
not an increase, economists polled by USA TODAY say. But such a cut won't come when the Fed meets
this week, they say. And they don't expect a sharp decline in
short-term interest rates, which influence borrowing costs across the
economy, anytime soon. More than half of the economists say the Fed
will cut interest rates in the first half of 2007.
* FBI Fairfax Agents Pack for Prince William [Washington Post]
The FBI is joining the exodus to the outer suburbs, moving its
Northern Virginia-based agents from a cramped Tysons Corner complex
adjacent to the Capital Beltway to 15 acres on a former horse farm in
rural Prince William County. It's the first major government
office to relocate to Prince William. Construction began there this
month on a $32 million building, nicknamed "the Taj Mahal" by some FBI
officials, that will feature highly finished terrazzo floors at the
entrance, a soaring atrium and a giant fingerprint etched into the
elevator doors.
* On Loudoun's Horizon, a Taste of Opulence [Washington Post]
Think cathedral ceilings, marble countertops and a back door that
opens to a golf course represent the ultimate in luxury living? How
about a personal concierge who can pick up your kids from school and
drop them off at band practice, organize a birthday party for your
twins or have roast duck on the table by dinnertime?That's the indulgent promise of Creighton Farms, a 180-house luxury
gated community being developed in western Loudoun County, its
upper-crusty reputation sealed by an affiliation with the swanky
Ritz-Carlton hotel chain.
* Home Sellers Should Remember that They and Their Homes are Not National Statistics [MND]
If you follow network or cable news you probably believe that the real estate
market has gone from unbridled insanity where buyers apparently losing all perspective,
bid wantonly against dozens of other equally crazed buyers for the same house,
stretched way above their means to purchase increasingly unaffordable houses which
seemingly increased exponentially in value every hour to a market today where...
...nothing is selling! And it made this dramatic shift in intensity and direction without ever pausing,
for even a second, at equilibrium.
* Rents are High All Over [Planetizen]
With rapid population growth and lopsided housing development
favoring large single family homes, lower-income households in one
corner of Middle America are facing housing challenges similar to those
in New York and Los Angeles. "New
census data shows that people are paying more of their income for
housing in almost every part of the country. And it is hardly
surprising that places like Southern California and Manhattan are high
on the list.
* Suburbs Without the Sprawl [Planetizen]
Joel Kotkin looks to Reston, Virginia, and other suburban villages
as the new way for America to handle an increasing population without
succumbing to the negative aspects of traditional sprawl. "Despite
their unrelenting march to the peripheries, Americans remain deeply
uneasy about its social and environmental impacts. The New Urbanists
are correct in one important aspect: many suburbanites express a real
yearning for the type of social cohesion created by authentic places."
* New Mortgages to Slide Through 2007 [CNN/Money]
The production of U.S. home loans will slide 19 percent this year to
$2.46 trillion, the fifth-highest year on record, then drop another 14
percent in 2007 before stabilizing the next year, the Mortgage Bankers
Association said on Tuesday. The U.S. housing market is
"normalizing" after a record five-year home sales and price surge that
was unsustainable, MBA chief economist Doug Duncan told reporters at
the MBA's 93rd annual convention.
* Builders to Buyers: Take this House Please [CNN/Money]
How would you like a $10,000 gift certificate for Pottery Barn? A
$30,000 in-ground swimming pool - installed? The chance to toss back a
few drinks with rocker John Legend? These and many other fabulous
prizes can be yours if...you buy a house! That's right, Bob
Barker. After years of soaring prices, in the past few months the real
estate market has dropped faster than most people thought it would,
even in markets where most people thought it wouldn't. Home builders,
mortgage lenders and even some enterprising individual sellers have
been racking their brains to come up with tantalizing incentives to get
potential buyers to the closing table and to convince top brokers to
work with them.
* Zoning Ordinance Updated [Fairfax Times]
Supervisors signed off on the latest in a series of changes in response
to a 2004 Virginia Supreme Court ruling that essentially halted the
former variance process.The latest revisions give the Board of Zoning Appeals the power to
grant permits that allow fences to exceed the standard height limits
due to topography or an unusual lot, such as a corner lot that, under
zoning rules, is seen as having two front yards. The board
also increased the amount of parking developers are required to provide
for new developments of townhouses and single-family homes. Another change will require developers to conduct archaeological
surveys when building in or adjacent to historic districts, and it
implements stricter guidelines for those surveys. The fourth change
gives new authority to condominium associations, in compliance with a
new state law.
* Future is Now at Dulles Airport [Fairfax Times]
Washington Dulles International Airport is
growing and is a driving force of Northern Virginia's economy, leaders
of the Washington Airports Task Force said Friday. But for the airport
to continue to be a success, it needs some nurturing. Leo Schefer, president of the
task force, urged the area business leaders who make up the task force
membership to help advocate for a new route from Dulles to Beijing,
China, and for the proposed loosening of restrictions on flights
between the United States and member countries of the European Union.
Conclusion: At the local level, we're still have a (rather) strong job market and economy. And we're in a buyer's market -- confirmed! Nationally, might not be as good. Prince William county housing still going strong. With the moving of FBI office to PW, more housing will be needed for the area. The housing market cooling off starts to have an impact on mortgage industry. If things stay the same, we will see more layoffs affecting layers of real estate industries. Contrary to resale and new home sales,rental rates climb higher in some major cities. Locally -- there aren't too many rental properties on the market.
Just out of curiosity, I wanted to check what's going on with the local market. I wanted to see market activities as of October 30, 2006. We're talking about listing of condos on the market vs. number of properties "under contract" in various neighborhoods near or around metro stations. So, here it is -- a snapshot of market activities for Northern Virginia. 
