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54 | TH E M R EP O RT O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G A NA LY T I C S S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T ANALYTICS THE LATEST Appraisal Values Lag Owners' Opinions Although the disparity is decreasing, homeowners still place a higher value on their dwellings than appraisers do. A ppraisers and home- owners just cannot seem to find common ground in valuing their home, but they are getting closer to seeing eye to eye. Quicken Loans' national Home Price Perception Index found that the average appraisal in December 2015 was 1.8 percent lower than homeowners' opinion, marking the 11th consecutive month that homeowners valued their homes for more than appraisers. For the fourth consecutive month in December, the gap be - tween homeowner and appraisal values has gotten smaller. In November, the difference between the values was slightly higher at 1.87 percent. "The narrowing of the per - ceived vs. appraisal value gap is an excellent way to end the year," said Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters. "The more homeowners are in line with appraisers, and understand the equity in their home, the easier it will be to refinance their mortgage. In the same vein, if homebuyers understand how the local market is performing, they will be better equipped to come in with a strong offer on the home of their dreams." In every region, appraisal values were lower than homeowner opinions, the report showed. In the Western region, appraiser val - ues were 1.42 percent lower than homeowners, 1.76 percent in the South, 1.99 percent in the Midwest, and 2.10 percent in the Northeast. Quicken Loans reported that San Jose, California; Denver, Colorado; and San Francisco, California, were the top three cit - ies where appraiser opinions were higher than homeowners' values in December at 4.99 percent, 4.26 percent, and 3.94 percent. The data also found that home values increased in December by 0.18 percent since November and were up 5.81 percent year over year, according to Quicken Loans' national Home Value Index. The West leads home price gains among the regions, rising 8.61 percent since December 2014, while the Northeast falls short of all the other regions with a 1.87 percent increase. "2015 bookends with the same story we have heard throughout the year: a housing supply that trails the demand, continuing to push values higher," Walters said. "The market could benefit from homeowners taking advantage of the equity they are building and make their home available to the many eager buyers. This could give buyers a chance to find the home they have been waiting for." All-Cash Sales Waning After making up nearly half of residential home sales, the percentage has plummeted below one-third. T he share of residential home sales that are all-cash transactions has been on the steady decline for nearly five years. At their peak, all-cash sales accounted for nearly half of all home sales; now that percentage is down below one- third, according to data released by CoreLogic. Despite the persistent declines, the cash sales share remains elevated above pre-crisis levels more than seven years later. In September 2015, the cash sales share declined by another 3.4 percentage points year over year down to 32.5 percent, meaning all-cash transactions accounted for less than one-third of all residential home sales. At their peak in January 2011, all-cash transactions accounted for close to half of all home sales at 46.6 percent. CoreLogic estimates that if the cash sales share continues to decline at the rate it did in September, it will reach pre-crisis levels by the middle of 2017. About 58.3 percent of cash sales were REO properties in September, making it the category with the largest cash sales share. Even though the percentage of cash transactions that were REO remained high, REO properties accounted for a small percentage of cash transactions overall at 6.4 percent as sales of REO proper - ties continued to decline. At their peak in January 2011, REO sales