WASHINGTON (National Association of Home Builders) – April housing starts moved upward, sending an encouraging message to builders, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

Nationally, housing production jumped 2.6 percent over revised numbers from March, to 717,000 units. NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe believes that increase is “very solid for this point of the [economic] recovery.”

Regionally, the South posted the highest gain in home starts, at 11.6 percent, while the Northeast had the sharpest decline at 20.7 percent.

The number of building permits issued, however, fell 7 percent to an adjusted rate of 715,000 units in April. The loss was entirely on the “more volatile” multifamily side, NAHB reports.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Mortgage Bankers Association) – Foreclosure and delinquency rates were down across the board for Texas in first quarter 2012, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey, which was released Wednesday.
Texas’ overall delinquency rate dropped from 9.1 percent in fourth quarter 2011 to 7.3 percent in first quarter 2012, the lowest rate since second quarter 2008.
Mortgages seriously delinquent (90 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure) declined from 4.7 percent in fourth quarter 2011 to 4.4 percent in first quarter 2012.
Loans in foreclosure increased slightly from 1.8 percent to 1.9 percent. However, loans 90 or more days delinquent fell to 2.5 percent in first quarter 2012 from 3 percent in fourth quarter 2011 and from 2.8 percent in first quarter 2011.

TEXAS (Texas General Land Office) – The Texas Veterans Land Board (VLB) has voted to increase its home and land loan limits.

Texas veterans can now borrow up to $417,000 to buy a home and up to $100,000 for the purchase of land. Both options are available as low-interest loans.

The VLB has also reduced the minimum acreage allowed in its land purchase program. Lots as small as one acre are now eligible.

Information on the loan program can be found at the Veterans Land Board website.

HOUSTON (TxDMV) – As if moving wasn’t already stressful enough, now consumers are being warned to watch out for illegal moving companies that may be out to take a person’s personal belongings on a permanent vacation.

As the summer moving season gears up, state and moving industry officials cautioned Texans to do their homework before hiring a moving company and encouraged the law enforcement community to take note of a new state law that imposes fines and jail time against unlicensed movers.

More than 60 percent of the moving complaints received at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) deal with unlicensed movers. To operate legally, a moving company must display a valid TxDMV (TxDMV licenses moving companies) or United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) license number on the truck.

Perhaps the best advice is the most basic: always know who you are dealing with before starting a move.

“[Consumers] need to stop for a minute and ask themselves ‘Who am I about to let into my home?’ because it might just be some guy living in a basement or with a criminal record who is going to show up with a rented moving truck to cart off everything you own,” said Linda Bauer Darr, president and CEO of Virginia-based American Moving & Storage Association.

And where should you never go to hire a mover? Free internet advertising sites, said John Trevino of the Houston Police Department’s Special Investigation Command.

Before hiring a moving company, Texans can find out whether the company is licensed by going to Moving Companies on the TxDMV website.

March sales of single-family homes in Houston totaled 4,996, up 7.8 percent from March 2011. This marks the tenth consecutive monthly increase.     

Broken out by housing segment, March sales performed as follows:

• $1 – $79,999: declined 8.4 percent,
• $80,000 – $149,999: increased 3.5 percent
• $150,000 – $249,999: increased 19.7 percent
• $250,000 – $499,999: increased 12.1 percent
• $500,000 – $1million and above: increased 12.5 percent

At $227,270, the average price of single-family homes rose 5.7 percent from last March, resulting from a combination of increased sales activity among luxury homes and a decline in the sales of homes priced below $80,000. The average price achieved a March high but fell just shy of the historic level of $227,340 reached in June 2008. At $161,750, the median sales price for single-family homes climbed 7.8 percent year-over-year, also achieving a high-point for a March in Houston.

HAR also breaks out the sales performance of existing single-family homes throughout the Houston market. In March 2012, existing home sales totaled 4,088, a 6.3 percent increase from March 2011. The average sales price rose 6.5 percent from last year to $212,524 and the median sales price increased 7.4 percent to $145,000.

The number of townhouses and condominiums that sold in March declined 3.6 percent compared to one year earlier. In the greater Houston area, 374 units were sold last month versus 388 properties in March 2011.

The average price jumped 15.2 percent to $166,228 compared to March 2012. The median price of a townhouse/condominium rose 17.4 percent to $135,000.

Demand for lease properties persisted throughout the Houston market in March. Single-family home rentals rose 10.3 percent compared to one year earlier and year-over-year townhouse/condominium rentals increased 3.8 percent.

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Home sales in Texas cities were hot last month, rising in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) report by the Austin Board of Realtors, 1,852 single-family homes were sold in the Capital area during March, up 15 percent over the same period in 2011.

The Dallas-Fort Worth region reported a 13 percent increase in single-family home sales, with 6,126 properties sold in March, according to a report from the MetroTex Association of Realtors.

The Houston Chronicle reported 4,996 single-family homes sold in Houston in March, up 7.8 percent from the 4,634 homes sold during the same month last year.

San Antonio also showed improvements in March, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors, with 1,637 homes sold in the area, up 4 percent month-over-month.

The median sales price rose to $200,000 in Austin, up 8 percent from March 2011. The median price in DFW jumped 11 percent to $155,000, with San Antonio reporting a 4 percent increase to $155,600. The median sales price in Houston set a monthly record in March at $161,750.

COLLEGE STATION (AgriLife Today) – Agricultural losses in Texas from the 2011 drought totaled $7.62 billion, setting a record for the costliest drought in history, according to economists from Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Record-high temperatures, coupled with record-low precipitation and high winds, devastated production. Water supplies dwindled, thwarting production of hay and other crops, as well as inciting large sales of livestock.

Texas’ biggest category loss was livestock ($3.23 billion), followed by cotton ($2.2 billion), lost hay production ($750 million) and corn ($736 million).

The deficit from the 2011 drought is higher than the $5.2 billion in losses previously reported.

AgriLife Extension economists have recorded losses from droughts six times since 2000. The previous record was set in 2006, with $4.1 billion in losses.

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Revised employment data for Texas released in March 2012 show that the state’s economy is currently experiencing a “more solid economic recovery than before,” according to the Real Estate Center’s latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy.

The economy gained 266,200 nonagricultural jobs from February 2011 to February 2012, an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent compared with 1.6 percent for the United States. The state’s nongovernment sector added 319,000 jobs, an annual growth rate of 3.7 percent compared with 2.1 percent for the nation’s private sector.

Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 7.1 percent in February 2012 from 8 percent a year ago. The nation’s rate decreased from 9 to 8.3 percent.

All Texas industries except the information industry and the state’s government sector had more jobs this February than last. The state’s mining and logging industry ranked first in job creation, followed by the leisure and hospitality, other services, and the professional and business services industry.

All Texas metro areas except Abilene, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Waco and Wichita Falls had more jobs than a year ago. Odessa ranked first in job creation followed by Laredo, Corpus Christi, San Angelo and Midland.

The state’s actual unemployment rate in February was 7.2 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Odessa, Amarillo, Lubbock, San Angelo and Abilene.

DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Unemployment continues its decline in Texas for the sixth month in a row, according to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).

Nearly 28,000 jobs were added in February, dropping the state’s unemployment rate to 7.1 percent, down two-tenths of a point from January.

Unemployment was at 8 percent last February.

Ronny Congleton of the TWC said eight of the 11 major industries saw growth in the state in February, with local governments adding the most jobs. The construction industry added 4,500 jobs, which Southern Methodist University economist Bernard Weinstein said is due to an increase in commercial and infrastructure work.

The lowest unemployment numbers in the state can be found in Midland and Odessa. Their rates are 3.8 and 4.5 percent, respectively.

Beaumont-Port Arthur has the highest unemployment rate in Texas, at 10.9 percent.

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Texas cities are still the destination of choice for those relocating, according to U-Haul International Inc.

Houston took the top spot on U-Haul’s list of destination cities for relocation in 2011. San Antonio also attracted many new residents from other cities, ranking at number five, followed by Austin at number six. Other Texas cities in the top 50 include Dallas (15), Plano (35) and Fort Worth (44).

Rounding out the top five were Orlando, Fla., at number two, followed by Las Vegas (three) and Chicago (four).

U-Haul considers data for movers traveling more than 50 miles using its trucks.