Mortgage Rates Reverse Course,Tick Down
Mortgage rates ticked down this past week says Freddie Mac,dropping from 4.46% last week to 4.29% the week ending July 3. Rates rose in recent weeks and mortgage applications slumped 11.7% for the week ending July 3, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association. Talk of higher home financing rates has fueled concern over the housing recovery. With the 10-year note heading higher July 5, rates could be going back up quickly.
Visalia Home Permits Higher
But in Visalia the housing recovery rolls on with new home permits up 64% for the first half of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. In June the city permitted 34 new homes compared to 28 for June 2012.The increase puts the city on pace do more than 320 new homes this year, the best year since 2010,before the worst of the recession, when we permitted that exact number.It is still a long way from the overheated market of 2005 when 1450 homes were built here.
Bonadelle Builds In Visalia
Tulare County’s top home builders this year are familiar names, McMiilin Homes with 41 permits so far,Lennar with 46, local player Smee Builders with 33, Centex with 26 ,Woodside with 24 and West Star with 25. Absent the list is one the Valley’s largest builders – Fresno’s Bonadelle Homes who,as of this spring, entered the Visalia market offering new homes at Country Club Court – north of Goshen Ave at County Center. Homes start at $199,950.Sales counselor Steven Hensley says the first phase will build 62 houses on the way to a 226 home subdivision. The company is partnering with Granville Homes.