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90 STATE OF AFFAIRS: SOUTH » Texas RANK: 41 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate APRIL 2014 2.23% 0.78% 5.2 YEAR AGO 2.22% 1.22% 6.4 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 0.4% -36.3% -1.2 Top County HOUSTON COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate APRIL 2014 3.14% 2.63% YEAR AGO 2.58% 1.70% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 22.0% 55.0% Top Core-Based Statistical Area BROWNWOOD, TX 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate APRIL 2014 2.69% 1.76% YEAR AGO 2.80% 1.79% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -3.9% -2.1% 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 April 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary April 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. IN THE NEWS Houston Housing Market Continues Surge in 2014 Metrostudy released an analysis of the first quarter of 2014 for the Houston housing market, which found that housing continued to surge in Q1, with prices rising for both new and resale homes. New home construction started on roughly 7,100 homes, representing the fastest pace since the third quarter of last year. "ese numbers represent a year-over-year gain of 9 percent," said David Jarvis, regional di- rector of Metrostudy's Houston market. "Hous- ton hasn't seen this many new homes started in the first quarter of the year since 2007." On an annualized basis, housing starts were roughly 29,000 for Q1, a 14 percent boost from the first quarter of 2013. e quarter's numbers represent the strongest rolling four quarters since Q 3 2008. Lot supply constraints continue to limit Houston builders. "During the expansion phase of a housing recovery, we expect to continue to see closings lag behind starts activity given the timeline of home construction and sales," Jarvis said. "e current annualized rate of new home closings is the largest since the first quarter of 2009 when builders were still liquidating their inventory as quickly as possible. Need- less to say, the sales occurring today are of a much healthier nature." Closings have increased steadily as well, noting gains for the last 11 quarters. Area builders closed on 6,553 new homes, bringing the annualized total to 26,463. Closings have increased by 2.8 percent from the previous quarter and are up 15 percent from the previ- ous year. e group found that job growth continues to push housing numbers upward from an increase in demand. New home demand is also inflated from the extremely tight inventory of resale homes available in the area. e company projects that new home construction will still struggle from a lack of available lots. "Due to builder demand for more lots, most, if not all, lots being brought to market have a buyer before they're completed. erefore, a number of publicly traded builders and large, privately owned builders have begun aggressively accumulating land and developing lots for their own use as a defensive posture," the company said. e increase in demand is fueling an increase in price appreciation, as well as pushing construction materials higher. ese market conditions have created a bottleneck, limiting growth in starts and extending deliv- ery times. "e result of all these factors is strong appreciation in home values, which Houston has already been observing as median closing prices for resales in Houston are up more than 17 percent since last year and new sales are up 13 percent," Jarvis said. Virginia RANK: 46 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate APRIL 2014 1.85% 0.64% 4.9 YEAR AGO 2.22% 0.91% 5.6 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -17.1% -30.2% -0.7 Top County RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate APRIL 2014 0.84% 2.30% YEAR AGO 1.49% 1.26% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -43.6% 83.0% Top Core-Based Statistical Area WASHINGTON-ARLINGTON-ALEXANDRIA, DC-VA-MD-WV 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate APRIL 2014 2.14% 1.37% YEAR AGO 1.53% 0.68% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 39.9% 102.6% 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 April 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary April 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Ruben M. Peña TC AUSTIN RESIDENTIAL GROUP, LLC 12950 Country Pkwy Suite 180 San Antonio, TX 78216 210.490.3948 ext. 1002 Offi ce 210.424.0420 Fax 210.710.2612 Cell www.tcaustinres.com Knowledge & Experience You Can Count On The median home value in the rapidly growing Texas Capital of Austin was $244,300, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. KNOW THIS