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» IN THE NEWS Freddie Mac Says Multifamily Market Still a Good Investment Even as the single-family housing market recovers, apartment properties should still be a solid investment in most markets going forward, according to Freddie Mac's analysts. In its mid-year multifamily outlook for 2013, the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage financier notes that multifamily market fundamentals such as rents and vacancies continue to improve, with New York, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, and Los Angeles all seeing marked growth. According to Freddie Mac's new Multifamily Investment Index—a measure of investment attractiveness in apartment properties—the environment has turned down somewhat since peaking in the third quarter of 2012. However, it still sits above the average index value. "As markets move it is important to have an objective measure of current conditions," said Victor Pa, VP of multifamily investments and advisory for Freddie Mac. "Although the multifamily market has slowed, it remains an attractive investment across the majority of the metro areas for equity and debt investors." At the same time, supply presents a problem, the analysts said. While starts have seen growth over the last several years, completions are still lagging, and the gap between the two measures continues to grow wider. Meanwhile, permits have slowed down in the last several months, indicating that "investors' appetite for multifamily properties might be cooling and that future construction levels may remain at or below pre-recession levels." Freddie Mac also recently celebrated 20 years of providing multifamily financing to support affordability. During the 20-year period, the GSE backed the multifamily market through $300 billion in apartment funding for 60,000 properties. The efforts led to affordable housing for six million renters. "Freddie Mac's consistent support for the multifamily rental housing market provides confidence to private apartment developers and construction lenders, and facilitates a strong constant flow of capital to the apartment sector. This helps ensure a strong and stable pipeline of new apartment communities to accommodate the growing demand for affordable rental housing," said David Brickman, Freddie Mac's SVP of multifamily. The GSE's multifamily mortgage purchases have increased significantly over the years, reaching $28.8 billion in 2012 compared to $900 million in 1993. Additionally, Freddie Mac stated it has brought more than $60 billion in capital to the market through the sale of multifamily securities. The total includes $9 billion in unguaranteed first loss bonds bought by private investors. The GSE has also achieved a low multifamily delinquency rate of .09 percent as of the end of June. VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM Washington Marliss Gruver The Marliss Gruver Group RE/MAX Four Seasons 24 Hour Occupancy Checks, Cash for Keys, Property Preservation, Maintenance and Repairs, BPO's, Full Marketing Campaigns ABR, GRI, CRS, CDPE Direct: 360.790.6900 Office: 360.357.3336 marliss@marlissgruver.com 2010 #2 WA RE/MAX Agent, (closed transactions) 2011 #3 WA RE/MAX Agent, (closed transactions) IN THE NEWS STAT INSIGHT 12,916 Foreclosures completed in Virginia during the 12 months ending June 2013. Source: CoreLogic Washington rank: 23 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate June 2013 2.8% Unemployment Rate 2.4% 6.8% year ago 4.4% 2.6% 8.4% year-over-year change -37.6% -7.5% -19.0% Top County 90+ Day Delinquency Rate PierCe CounTy Foreclosure Rate June 2013 4.1% 3.6% year ago 6.3% 3.8% year-over-year change -34.9% -4.9% Top Core-Based Statistical Area ABerdeen, WA 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate June 2013 3.3% 3.6% year ago 5.2% 3.5% year-over-year change -36.6% 2.5% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the June 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary June 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Applied Analytics. Housing Demand Continues to Cool As summer headed into its dog days, a report from Seattle-based Redfin found housing demand still cooling. According to Redfin's Real-Time Demand Pulse for August (using July data), the brokerage's agents continued to report declines in both the number of customers touring homes and the number of signed offers. Both metrics have been on a downward slope since peaking in April. "Although there are finally more homes for sale to satisfy pent-up demand after months of historically low inventory, buyers are not responding," said data analyst Tommy Unger. "This is probably due to higher interest rates and home prices, which together are pricing some buyers out of the market. Buyer fatigue after the cut-throat competition of spring and early summer is also a likely factor." The number of customers requesting home tours dropped 3.5 percent from late June to late July—a complete 180-degree turn from the 3.1 percent increase recorded the same month last year. A sizable portion of that drop was seen in July's last week, when tour requests fell 5.0 percent compared to the previous week. Meanwhile, the number of signed offers fell 10.8 percent from June. Offers were essentially flat during the same period last year. During the last week of July, the number of Redfin customers making signed offers declined 5.7 percent. "Looking ahead to fall, we will be watching to see if the downward trend in demand continues," Unger said. "Only time will tell whether buyers will regroup, re-budget, and 141

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