Real Estate by the Numbers: Week of February 12-18

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of February 12-18, by the numbers:

14.6% – Percentage that home starts were up from December to January. With a seasonally adjusted rate of 596,000 starts, it’s the highest rate in four months. However, it’s still along ways off from the 2 million pace at the height of the market in 2005 and 2006.

5% – Percentage of mortgages being issued that are ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages). At the height, 70% of all mortgages were ARMs. In 2009, it dipped to only 3%. It is predicted that ARMs will make up 10% of mortgage loans by December.

8.2% – Percentage of homeowners who missed at least one payment from October through December 2010. The percentage of homeowners missing payments has been going down, as the previous quarter figure was 9.1% and over 10% in the first quarter of 2010. Still,the percentage of homeowners currently in the foreclosure process tied a previous high at 4.6%.

$1,000 – Amount down payment needed by a Detroit area cop to purchase a home in the Boston-Edison and East English Village neighborhoods of Detroit. Through a program called Project 14, the city of Detroit is trying to encourage cops to move from the suburbs to the the city where they work.

5% – Average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage. That’s down from 5.05% the previous week.

$3.4 Billion – Total cost for a new hotel, casino and retail resort in the Bahamas. The new resort is a being built by partnership between Baha Mar Resorts, Ltd., China State Construction Engineering Corp., and Export-Import Bank of China.

93.5% – The home affordability score for Indianapolis, IN, the highest score for any city in the nation. The score means that 93.5% of homes sold between October and December 2010 were affordable to the average working family in Indianapolis.

25.5% – The home affordability score for New York, NY, the lowest score for any city in the nation. The score means that only 25.5% of homes sold between October and December 2010 were affordable to the average working family in New York.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.