Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jan 30, 2013 12:48:27 GMT -6
from Ventura County Star via Patrick.net
Big Investment Firm
Continues Home Buying Spree in Ventura County
by Timm Herdt
"After a record month in December for investor activity in Southern California's housing market, the biggest player among institutional investors in Ventura County is maintaining its rapid pace of acquisitions in 2013, county real estate records show.
Invitation Homes, an arm of the international private equity giant the Blackstone Group, has purchased 23 homes in Ventura County through Wednesday, bringing its total number of purchases to 139 since it began snapping up distressed homes and converting them to rentals late last summer. (See a map of the purchased homes in Ventura County and graphics about THR investments.)
As The Star reported last month, Invitation Homes has targeted Ventura County as one of 10 markets nationwide in which it has purchased more than 12,500 homes as part of business plan to become the nation's first large-scale, brand-name company in the single-family home rental market.
Documents filed with the County Recorder's Office show that Invitation Homes, through an affiliated corporation called THR California, purchased 41 homes in Ventura County in December, most of them in Oxnard and Simi Valley. Those 41 purchases accounted for nearly 5 percent of all December home sales in the county.
That activity was part of a surge of real estate investment in Southern California that produced what analysts say was a record level of cash purchases last month.
DataQuick, a San Diego real estate analytic firm, reported last week that cash buyers accounted for 33.8 percent of all Southern California home purchases in December, tying a record that had been established the previous month.
Absentee buyers, which DataQuick reports were mostly investors, accounted for 29.1 percent of home sales in December — up from 26.8 percent a year earlier and well above the monthly average of 17.7 percent since 2000.
CSU Channel Islands economist Sung Won Sohn said investor activity in the real estate market is likely to continue into this year and will subside only once housing prices rise significantly.
"This is really the first stage in the housing recovery," he said. "In the second stage, after there are more jobs, people will be able to buy more houses. It's a very typical phenomenon. Once prices go up enough, I think investors will begin to pull out."
Sohn said investors have played a major role in contributing to a rebound in housing prices in 2012.
"Without the investor activity, we would not see the kind of price increases we're seeing right now," he said.
DataQuick reports that housing prices in the county rose to a median sales price of $370,000 in December, up 13.8 percent year over year. The market last year peaked in September at $374,750. The median is the midpoint, where half the homes sold for more and half for less.
While some smaller investors who sought to take advantage of bargain-basement housing prices might begin to cash out, Invitation Homes executives say the company intends to stay in the rental market for the long haul. They expect that demand for home rentals and rental rates will remain high well into the future.
"This is not a short-term play for us," Mark Beisswanger, chief operating officer for Invitation Homes, told The Star last month....
Invitation Homes officials would not discuss how long they intend to keep up their rapid pace of home acquisitions, saying only that the company will continue to acquire properties as long as good investment opportunities remain.
"The Blackstone people are smart," Sohn said. "They know exactly what they are doing. I don't expect them to cash out and leave."..... "
Big Investment Firm
Continues Home Buying Spree in Ventura County
by Timm Herdt
"After a record month in December for investor activity in Southern California's housing market, the biggest player among institutional investors in Ventura County is maintaining its rapid pace of acquisitions in 2013, county real estate records show.
Invitation Homes, an arm of the international private equity giant the Blackstone Group, has purchased 23 homes in Ventura County through Wednesday, bringing its total number of purchases to 139 since it began snapping up distressed homes and converting them to rentals late last summer. (See a map of the purchased homes in Ventura County and graphics about THR investments.)
As The Star reported last month, Invitation Homes has targeted Ventura County as one of 10 markets nationwide in which it has purchased more than 12,500 homes as part of business plan to become the nation's first large-scale, brand-name company in the single-family home rental market.
Documents filed with the County Recorder's Office show that Invitation Homes, through an affiliated corporation called THR California, purchased 41 homes in Ventura County in December, most of them in Oxnard and Simi Valley. Those 41 purchases accounted for nearly 5 percent of all December home sales in the county.
That activity was part of a surge of real estate investment in Southern California that produced what analysts say was a record level of cash purchases last month.
DataQuick, a San Diego real estate analytic firm, reported last week that cash buyers accounted for 33.8 percent of all Southern California home purchases in December, tying a record that had been established the previous month.
Absentee buyers, which DataQuick reports were mostly investors, accounted for 29.1 percent of home sales in December — up from 26.8 percent a year earlier and well above the monthly average of 17.7 percent since 2000.
CSU Channel Islands economist Sung Won Sohn said investor activity in the real estate market is likely to continue into this year and will subside only once housing prices rise significantly.
"This is really the first stage in the housing recovery," he said. "In the second stage, after there are more jobs, people will be able to buy more houses. It's a very typical phenomenon. Once prices go up enough, I think investors will begin to pull out."
Sohn said investors have played a major role in contributing to a rebound in housing prices in 2012.
"Without the investor activity, we would not see the kind of price increases we're seeing right now," he said.
DataQuick reports that housing prices in the county rose to a median sales price of $370,000 in December, up 13.8 percent year over year. The market last year peaked in September at $374,750. The median is the midpoint, where half the homes sold for more and half for less.
While some smaller investors who sought to take advantage of bargain-basement housing prices might begin to cash out, Invitation Homes executives say the company intends to stay in the rental market for the long haul. They expect that demand for home rentals and rental rates will remain high well into the future.
"This is not a short-term play for us," Mark Beisswanger, chief operating officer for Invitation Homes, told The Star last month....
Invitation Homes officials would not discuss how long they intend to keep up their rapid pace of home acquisitions, saying only that the company will continue to acquire properties as long as good investment opportunities remain.
"The Blackstone people are smart," Sohn said. "They know exactly what they are doing. I don't expect them to cash out and leave."..... "