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Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1999

Home sales increase 8 percent in city in 1998

Low rates, buyer-friendly loans, refinery buyouts credited

By ANDREA JARES
Staff Writer

   Take the lowest interest rates in years. Add buyer-friendly changes in home loans. Multiply by two refineries purchasing hundreds of homes near their plants.
   The result: a whopping 8 percent increase in home sales in Corpus Christi in 1998, according to unofficial statistics from the Corpus Christi Board of Realtors on homes closed as of Dec. 30. The final, year-end totals will be released later this month.
   Real estate sellers in the Corpus Christi area closed on 2,938 homes in 1998, an increase of 224 homes over 1997 figures, said Jackie Svoboda, real estate agent with Prudential Real Estate Center, who compiled the statistics.
   The average sale price was up 4.7 percent for the year over 1997, she said. The average home closed at $99,685. The average list price for a home in 1998 was also 4.7 percent higher, listing at $104,532.
   Homes sold a little bit faster in 1998, too. On average, a home sold in 104 days, instead of 106.
   The first half of the year began with sales setting a new record. In the first six months, 1,647 homes sold - 72 more homes than the Multi Listing Service's best year in 1996.
   Mortgage lenders and real estate agents hope interest rates will remain low, fueling home-buying.
   The average interest rate for 30-year mortgages last week was 6.83 percent, up from the 31-year low of 6.49 percent in October.
   Robert Van Order, an economist with mortgage company Freddie Mac, told the Associated Press last week that he didn't expect any big shifts in rates.
   "We don't see any significant change in near-term economic conditions that would move mortgage rates in any meaningful way up or down," he said. "Therefore, the housing market should continue to be strong in the first part of 1999."
   In Corpus Christi, the best month for home sales in 1998 was April, with 330 sales totaling $30 million. That's also more than any month in 1997.
   In April, CITGO Petroleum Corp. began to buy the property of 242 of the 275 homeowners in the Oak Park neighborhood. In June, Koch Refining Co. offered to buy 150 homes in the Hillcrest neighborhood.
   These buyouts caused a surge in home sales early in the year, said Harold Hoelscher, a Realtor at Hoelscher Company Realtors.
   Svoboda said she also has seen a lot of first-time homebuyers aided with additional funding to help them settle into a home.
   "There's more creative financing, because there's more money around," she said.
   In 1998, changes in two of the most popular loan programs opened the door for many homebuyers. The Fannie Mae, or conventional loan, lowered the amount a buyer would have to bring to the closing table from 5 percent to 3 percent. Meanwhile, the FHA loan amount a buyer can qualify for increased from $81,000 to $109,032 this year.
   In addition, programs like the Corpus Christi Community Involvement Corp. piggybacked onto these improved loans. This program, for example, puts $3,000 toward the down payment on a home. The loan for low-income homebuyers is not repayable unless the home is sold within 5 years.
   "Most people don't think they have a chance," Svoboda said. "They do, even if there's bad credit."
   Bob Steel, an owner of Arlene Steel Realtors, said some of the agents at his company have had their best year ever in 1998.
   "1999 is going to be a whole new year," Steel said. "But the prospects are great."
   

Columbia/HCA offices

   The South Texas division offices for Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. will be largely unchanged by the company splitting its Corpus Christi hospitals into the jurisdiction of other divisions, spokeswoman Mary Jo Currey said.
   Only three offices in the Columbia-owned administration building at 6629 Wooldridge Road will be vacated, Currey said. These include offices for the division president and the division chief financial officer, who will be leaving in the next month or so, she said.
   Between 100 and 150 people work at the division offices in marketing, managed care, sales and general hospital administration. They are shared by 19 of the hospitals in the system.
   "The offices will continue to operate as before," she said.
   The administration building is one of five buildings on the 17-acre Columbia campus.
   Business writer Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by e-mail at jaresa@scripps.com

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  © 1998 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.