Lake Tahoe Real Estate - Donner Lake

CALIFORNIA HAS LEAST AFFORDABLE RENTS IN NATION Residents of the Golden State must earn at least $44,000, or $21.24 an hour, in order to afford the Fair Market Rent of a two-bedroom apartment, according to a study released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The report, "Out of Reach 2004," compares the Fair Market Rent, the amount the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development estimates a household should expect to pay for modest rental housing in a particular market, to the rent households earning the area's median income can actually afford. California tops the list as the least affordable state for renters hoping to spend no more than 30 percent of their wages on housing costs. Nine of the 10 least affordable counties in the nation are located in the state, led by San Mateo, Marin and San Francisco counties. Renters must earn $61,000, or $29.60 an hour, in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment in those markets, according to the report.

NEW-HOME SALES DROP IN NOVEMBER Sales of new single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.125 million units in November 2004, according to estimates recently released by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. While November's rate represents a 12 percent decline from October's revised sales pace of 1.278 units, the November rate was 3.6 percent above the sales pace compared to the same period one year earlier. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 418,000, representing a 4.5-month supply at the current sales pace. Regionally, sales in the Northeast, Midwest and West all declined In November. The Midwest posted the largest decrease at 39.4 percent, while sales fell 27.9 percent in the West and 7.1 percent in the Northeast. Sales in the South increased 13.6 percent for the month

PERSONAL INCOMES GROW, CONSUMER SPENDING LEVELS OFF Personal income, the total income received by individuals before taxes and not adjusted for inflation, continued to grow in November 2004, increasing $30.4 billion, or 0.3 percent, according to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Wages and salaries, the largest component of personal income, increased approximately $12 billion in November. After-tax income also rose in November, increasing 0.2 percent. Consumer spending, however, leveled off after a 0.4 percent increase in October. Since November 2003, real disposable income has increased 2.2 percent, while real consumer spending has increased 3.4 percent.

CALIFORNIA HOMESELLERS RELY ON INTERNET The percentage of sellers using the Internet as a significant part of the homeselling process has increased dramatically, according to C.A.R.'s 2004 Survey of California Home Sellers. In 2004, 47 percent of homesellers relied on the Internet to obtain a variety of information, including comparable prices and information about the housing market, neighborhoods and REALTORS®. This is nearly four times the percentage of Californians who used the Internet during the homeselling process in 2003. Even as usage of the Internet increased, many sellers felt the information they received from their REALTORS® was more useful. The survey revealed that telephone and face-to-face communication gained importance, as client satisfaction among sellers largely depended on effective communication with their agent.

Informatin provided by - C.A.R. Newsline is published by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, a trade association representing more than 155,000 REALTORS® statewide