New digital cameras add to zoom and toughen up

Miami Florida Real Estate Is Picture Perfect !

Most point-and-shoot cameras have a midsize LCD preview screen and short zoom lens that brings you slightly closer to the action. That’s about to change. This year, the hottest compact cameras will have much larger zooms and preview screens and will be able to withstand abuse and shoot in low-light situations with better quality. They’ll cost more, but at an average of $350 to $450, you’ll pay a lot less than for an entry-level digital SLR, which starts at around $700.

The photo industry, hoping to reverse two years of declining sales, met here this week for the Photo Marketing Association convention, where new cameras for the spring get introduced.

Here’s a peek at what to look for:

• Samsung’s $449 TL500 has a much wider lens opening than normally found on compacts. The f/1.8 lens opening means that this camera can capture better images at sporting events and school plays, for instance, without having to use a flash. Most digital cameras have a slower, f/3.5 lens.

• Olympus’ new cameras have a built-in manual. The entire manual is stored in memory and can be accessed through the menu.

• Big zooms in small bodies are very popular. Nikon’s $350 Coolpix P100 has a 26x zoom; Fuji’s $249 FinePix S2550HD has an 18x zoom, and Sony’s new $250 Cyber-shot H55 has a smaller 10x zoom in a tinier body. The more powerful zoom is good for both a wider view (think group shots) and getting closer to the action. These cameras also have 720p high-definition video recording. (The cameras will all be out in March.)

• Many cameras have a feature called “face detection” that instructs the camera to expose and focus correctly for faces. Fuji’s new $299 FinePix F80EXR, out in April, adds a “pet-detection” feature along with a 10x zoom.

• Olympus pioneered the rugged compact category with its tough line of waterproof, shockproof and freeze-proof cameras. Now there are rugged compacts from Panasonic, Canon and Casio. Sony calls its new Cyber-shot TX5 the world’s “smallest and thinnest” tough-cam. “What we brought to the category was slimness and design,” says Kelly Davis, director of Sony’s digital camera division. “Normally the waterproof category is chunkier and a little more rugged looking.”

Olympus is fine-tuning its tough-cams. The new $399 Stylus Tough-8010 and $299 Stylus Tough-6020 have added high-def 720p video recording.

“So if you happen to fall or slip while you’re rock climbing, and plummeting down to the water below, you can film the whole thing in high-def on the way down, and continue to film as you go into the deep,” says Sally Smith Clemens, an Olympus product manager.

The next dimension

And if big zooms and cameras you can sit on don’t do the trick, how about a camera that taps into Hollywood’s latest craze: the third dimension? Jim Calverley, a Fuji product manager, thinks 3D could get consumers interested in adding another camera to their arsenal. “In the world of consumer electronics, new things sell,” he says. “People want to have the latest and greatest.”

Fuji’s $599 FinePix Real 3D W1 camera will begin showing up in stores in the spring, but it’s been available online since late 2009. The camera has two lenses and two image sensors. While you don’t need special glasses to view the pictures, you also don’t get the same dramatic 3D look of the movies. It’s more of a subtle look akin to the stereo viewers of yesteryear. For more enhanced 3D, Fuji sells a $500 digital viewer, with an 8-inch LCD, to view pictures. Viewed with 3D glasses, the images are more traditionally third-dimensional.

Chris Chute, an analyst at researcher IDC, doesn’t see camera sales improving. There are just too many homes with cameras. IDC projects industry revenue of $6.6 billion this year, down from $7.1 billion in 2009. But he does think the new features will get buyers to part with some cash.

“People are tired of being told they can’t have fun,” he says. “We’ll see a lot more people on vacation and going to social events. Cameras haven’t gone away at all. There’s a camera for everyone.”

South Florida Home Prices Decline Slowly

South Florida Real Estate

Miami, Florida – Data through December 2009, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, show that the U.S. National Home Price Index fell in the fourth quarter of 2009, but it has improved in its annual rate of return compared to third quarter reports.

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, recorded a 2.5 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2009 versus the fourth quarter of 2008. While down, it’s a significant improvement over the annual rates reported in the first, second and third quarters of the year, at -19.0 percent, -14.7 percent and -8.7 percent, respectively.

In December, the 10-City and 20-City Composites recorded annual declines of 2.4 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. These two indices, which are reported monthly, have seen improvements in their annual rates of return every month since the beginning of the year.

“As measured by prices, the housing market is definitely in better shape than it was this time last year, as the pace of deterioration has stabilized for now. However, the rate of improvement seen during the summer of 2009 has not been sustained,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.

“In the most recent months, we are seeing fewer and fewer MSAs reporting monthly gains in prices. Only four cities saw month-to-month improvements in December over November when you look at the raw data. We are in a seasonally slow period for home prices, however, so it is not surprising to see better statistics in the seasonally-adjusted data, where 14 of the markets and the two monthly composites all rose in December. Similarly, the National Composite fell by 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter, but rose by 1.6 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis.”

As of the 4th quarter of 2009, average home prices across the United States are at similar levels to what they were in the summer of 2003. The 4th quarter values fell when compared to the 3rd quarter; however, the decline in the annual rate of return has significantly improved.

The 10-City and 20-City Composites continue to show improvement in their annual rates of return. In fact, all 20 metro areas and the two Composites saw improvement in their annual returns compared to November’s data. Only three cities – Detroit, Las Vegas and Tampa – still showed double digit annual rates of decline as of the end of 2009. Miami, Phoenix and Seattle all moved above such rates with December’s report.

Looking at the monthly statistics, 15 of the 20 metro areas showed a decline in December over November, with Chicago posting the sharpest decline, down 1.6 percent. Las Vegas finally posted its first positive print in more than three years, with +0.2 percent. The Southwest continues to be a bright spot, with San Diego posting its eighth consecutive monthly increase, and Los Angeles and Phoenix both posting their seventh. Three of the markets – Charlotte, Seattle and Tampa – posted new low index levels as measured by the past four years.

In other words, any gains they might have seen in recent months have been erased and December is now considered their current trough value, according to the data.

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Rates on 30-year loans rise to 5.03 percent - Miami Real Estate 800-819-5466

Miami Beach - Rates for 30-year home loans climbed to 5.03 percent this week, the third consecutive weekly increase.

The average rate inched up from 5 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. The last time the average was higher was the week of September 24, when rates averaged 5.04 percent.

Rates had hovered below 5 percent for nearly a month until last week. They hit a record low of 4.78 percent in the spring, but are still attractive for people looking to buy a home or refinance.

The rates have advanced despite action by the government to prop up the housing market and stimulate the economy. The Federal Reserve has pumped $1.25 trillion on mortgage-backed securities in an effort to lower rates on mortgages and loosen credit.

Rates on 30-year mortgages traditionally track yields on long-term government debt.

Still, lenders have tightened their standards dramatically, so the best rates are available only to borrowers with solid credit and a 20 percent down payment.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, frequently in line with long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.46 percent from 4.43 percent recorded last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.42 percent, up from last week’s 4.4 percent. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 4.57 percent from 4.54 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 points for 30-year loans. The fee averaged 0.6 points for 15-year, five-year and one-year loans.

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You didn’t really lose in Miami's housing free fall / Miami Real Estate 305-929-DEAN

Miami, Florida – Stan Smith has some news for longtime homeowners having a pity party over falling house prices in South Florida: New research shows that current home values are just about where they would have been if the real-estate bubble had never inflated and burst.

A long-term view of the market reveals that, even though prices rose and fell dramatically in recent years, they appear to have settled back into historic patterns, according to an analysis by Smith, a University of Central Florida finance professor.

“Most homeowners are within 6 percent of where they would have been had there not been a bubble. The people who have been here since before 2005, they should not have been hurt,” Smith said, though he added: “... A lot of people did buy in 2005 and 2006, and obviously they have been hurt significantly.”

For about a quarter-century, starting in the late 1970s, home prices in Metropolitan Orlando increased 4.7 percent a year on average, according to Smith’s analysis of data from a federal housing-price index. Then the bubble emerged, with prices rising 20 percent in 2005 and 32 percent the following year. Homeowners were elated about their fast-growing equity – at least until the bubble burst in mid-2007.

The sharp drop in prices since then – 22 percent from the 2007 high – may have left the impression that the bursting bubble set back even long-term homeowners for many years to come. Yet prices now are about where you would have expected them to be had the dramatic rise and fall never occurred.

Steve Shapiro, who is trying to sell his Lake Mary home, hadn’t really thought about it before but said it makes sense that the price he is asking for his home of 10 years tracks the area’s long-term pricing trends.

“I think I’m about where it should be with the price,” said the retiree, who has listed his house for $269,000 with Exit Realty Central agent Julie Elrod-Boyd – the same agent who helped him buy it in 1999 for $161,000. He estimated the house would have sold for more than $300,000 about 18 months ago, so the price has retreated 10 percent since then.

“It was nice to think it was worth so much a year and a half ago, but I felt like it was a little inflated,” he said. “All the homes were.”

Volusia County Property Appraiser Morgan Gilreath has obtained results similar to Smith’s in his county.

Gilreath recently plotted home prices from 1996 to the present and concluded they are not far below where they would have been without the bubble. The mid-point, or median, for home prices in Volusia in May was $124,900 – down about $20,000 from where they would have been if they had continued on their long-range trajectory rather than inflating and deflating in recent years, he said.

A year ago, the median in Volusia was about $50,000 above the historic trend line, he said; two years ago, it was flying about $100,000 above that line.

Gilreath said his analysis was not as thorough as Smith’s research at UCF, but both indicate the residential market is not likely to decline much further.

“The point that the charts are telling us is that we’re close to where we think the bottom is going to be,” he said. “The question is: When is it going to turn around? I have evidence that it is turning around here [in Volusia].”

Smith said prices in the region may continue to fall but are less likely to do so now that they are so near the long-term trend line – a “positive indicator” for coming months.

Les Simmonds, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, said people generally measure their home’s current value against what it was worth a year ago – a short-term view of the market.” I feel strongly that, had we not had this bubble, that the median price of the properties would be a little better than they are now, because of the way they’ve been pushed down [in the post-bubble market] by ... [distressed] properties,” he said.

“I said to my wife last week that, when the market was really high, if we had sold then, we could have made four times what we paid for the house.” The problem, he added, is that most of the people who sold at the peak usually then bought near the top of the market. Shapiro said that, once he sells his Lake Mary house, he is ready to retire to a log cabin in north Georgia and forget about the whims of the real-estate market for a while.

The only thing that will rise and fall on his cabin, he said, will be the runners on his front-porch rocking chair.

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NAR: Pending home sales surged 7.4% in August

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WASHINGTON – Pending home sales activity surged as buyers took advantage of low home prices and affordable interest rates, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, jumped 7.4 percent to 93.4 from an upwardly revised reading of 87.0 in July, and is 8.8 percent higher than August 2007 when it stood at 85.8. The index is at the highest level since June 2007 when it stood at 101.4.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said home buyers were responding to improved affordability.

“What we’re seeing is the momentum of people taking advantage of low home prices, with pending home sales up strongly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island and the Washington, D.C., region,” Yun says. “It’s unclear how much contract activity may be impacted by the credit disruptions on Wall Street, but we’re hopeful most of the increase will translate into closed existing-home sales.”

The PHSI in the West surged 18.4 percent to 109.5 in August and remains 37.8 percent above a year ago. In the Northeast the index jumped 8.4 percent to 79.8 and is 2.0 percent higher than August 2007. The index in the Midwest rose 3.6 percent to 84.5 in August and is 6.6 percent above a year ago. In the South, the index increased 2.3 percent to 96.0 but is 2.1 percent below August 2007.

Yun notes the unusual timing of contract activity in August. “Home buyers in July were hampered by overly stringent lending criteria in the months before the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie,” he says. “August shows some unleashing of pent-up demand before the credit crisis accelerated in September.”

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He cautioned that the sampling size for pending home sales is smaller than the track on existing-home sales, so there is more volatility in the forward-looking series. “We need to see just how much of this gain holds up,” Yun says.

NAR President Richard F. Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., says despite all the turmoil in world financial markets, home mortgages are available. “Mortgages have been harder to find, and availability and terms vary depending on credit score and location, but Realtors can help buyers find reputable lenders while helping them navigate the transaction process,” he says. “The recently enacted economic stimulus package should help housing by gradually freeing the flow of credit.”

Yun now expects growth in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) to contract for two consecutive quarters, in the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2009, before expanding in latter part of 2009 as the housing market begins a steady improvement.

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Looking at middle-ground assumptions, existing-home sales are forecast at 5.04 million this year and 5.41 million in 2009. Following national declines of 5 to 8 percent in 2008, home prices are projected to increase 2 to 3 percent next year.

New-home sales should total around 503,000 this year and 471,000 in 2009. Housing starts, including multifamily units, are likely to fall 28.2 percent to 973,000 units this year, and come in around 843,000 in 2009 as builders continue to clear the accumulation in inventory.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will probably average 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter and rise gradually to 6.6 percent by the end of 2009. NAR’s housing affordability index is expected to average 18 percentage points higher this year than in 2007.

The unemployment rate is projected to average 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter and then average 6.6 percent in 2009. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is estimated at 4.0 percent for 2008 and 2.0 percent next year. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income is forecast to grow 1.7 percent this year and 1.0percent in 2009.

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NAR: Pending home sales indicate market stabilization - Miami Real Estate

Miami Real Estate / Miami Realtor

WASHINGTON – Pending home sales are hovering in a narrow range, another indication that a stabilization is occurring in the housing sector, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).


The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in October, slipped 1.7 percent to a reading of 107.2 and is 13.2 percent lower than October 2005. The index had trended up from a cyclical low of 105.6 in July, and a decline from year-ago levels is narrowing. In September, the index was 13.6 percent below a year earlier, while in August the decline was 14.0 percent.


David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, says a fairly steady pace of home sales can be expected for the next two months. “It’s important to focus on where the housing market is now – it appears to be stabilizing, and comparisons with an unsustainable boom mask the fact that home sales remain historically high – they’ll stay that way through 2007,” he says. “In addition, a temporary correction in prices distracts from the fact that it is primarily the number of home sales that affects the economy, and the number for this year will be the third highest on record.”


The index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed and the transaction has not closed, but the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

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An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be examined and the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales. There is a closer relationship between annual changes in the index and year-ago changes in sales performance than with month-to-month comparisons.


Regionally, the PHSI in the Midwest slipped 0.6 percent in October to 95.8 and was 15.4 percent below a year ago. The index in the South declined 1.7 percent to 122.9 and was 9.3 percent below October 2005. In the Northeast, the index eased 2.1 percent in October to 88.0 and was 13.5 percent lower than a year earlier. The index in the West fell 2.7 percent to 109.5 and was 17.4 percent below October 2005.

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