Freddie Mac CEO: Housing Is Near Bottom
The inventory of foreclosed houses still hampers the recovery of the housing sector, but overall, the U.S. housing market appears to be at or near bottom, Freddie Mac CEO Charles Haldeman told the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday.

He predicted that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate would remain between 5 percent and 6 percent through 2010.

“The big downside risk to all this is a large wave of homes now in foreclosure potentially hitting the market at prices that are destructive,” Haldeman said.

Source: Reuters News, Soyoung Kim (01/26/2010)

The 10 Most Undervalued Housing Markets
Nationwide, only 87 markets are in the overvalued category, according to a newly released 2010 report compiled by IHS Global Insight and PNC Financial Services.

That means 242 of the 299 largest U.S. housing markets are selling for prices that even bankers think are less than fair market value. The judgment is based on a comparison of median home prices, local interest rates, population densities and income, plus historic premiums or discounts.

Here are the 10 most undervalued areas, according to the study:
Las Vegas, -41.4 percent
Vero Beach, Fla., -39.8 percent
Merced, Calif., -37.7 percent
Cape Coral, Fla., -36.8 percent
Houma, La., -34.6 percent
Port St. Lucie, Fla., -33.3 percent
Warren, Mich., -32.3 percent
Vallejo, Calif., -31.9 percent
Modesto, Calif. -31.8 percent
Stockton, Calif., -31.8 percent

Source: CNNMoney, Les Christie (01/27/2010)

New home sales plunged to a 9-month low in December, according to a government report issued Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales dropped 7.6% to 342,000 last month, compared with a revised rate of 370,000 in November, the Census Bureau said.

Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had expected December sales of new homes to hit an annual rate of 366,000.

“This is not a very encouraging number,” said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research. “You’ve got aggressive competition from banks and lenders trying to unload foreclosures, and many people are going to the existing home market because that’s where the bargains are.”

Full Story Money.com

Prescott (Yavapai: Wiikwasa Kasikita) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. Local inhabitants prefer to pronounce the name PRES-kit in a way that rhymes with “biscuit.”

According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 41,528.[2] The city is the county seat of Yavapai County.[3] In 1864 Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, replacing the temporary capital at Fort Whipple.[4] The Territorial Capital was moved to Tucson in 1867. Prescott again became the Territorial Capital in 1877, until Phoenix became the capital in 1889.

The towns of Prescott Valley (7 miles east) and Chino Valley (16 miles north), and Prescott, together comprise what is locally known as the “Tri-City” area. This also sometimes refers to in general central Yavapai County, which would include the towns of: Dewey-Humboldt, Mayer, Paulden, Wilhoit, and WIlliamson. Combined with these smaller communities the Tri-City area as of 2007 has a population of 103,260. Prescott is the center of the Prescott Metropolitan Area, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as all of Yavapai County. In 2007, Yavapai County was estimated to have 212,635 residents by the U.S. Census Bureau, making Prescott the third-largest metropolitan area in Arizona, after Phoenix (4.2 million) and Tucson (1 million).

Metro Prescott’s four-season climate is generally mild, owing to the altitude of 5,354 ft (1,632 m), being significantly cooler than the lower southern areas of the state and yet without the harsher winters found at higher altitudes.

The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe reservation is located next to, and partially within, the borders of Prescott.

Source: Prescott Arizona on Wikipedia

The following info for Prescott Arizona was obtained from Trulia.com.

Prescott Zip Codes: 86301, 86302, 86303, 86304, 86305, 86306, 86313, 86330

Average Listing Price: $431,704

Median Sales Price: $243,750

Avg. Price sq/ft: $134

PRESCOTT VALLEY - This past week’s storm triggered the spill of 1.25 million gallons of untreated sewage from the town’s sewer plant Thursday and Friday into the nearby Agua Fria River, Utilities Director Neil Wadsworth said.

A power spike tripped the outside generators at the sewer plant and shut the plant down, Wadsworth said.

The power failure lasted from 7 p.m. Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday, and recurred from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday.

Full Story - The Daily Courier