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Daily Real Estate News | February 4, 2010 The 110 members of the Real Estate Executive Roundtable are more positive about their industry in the first quarter of 2010 than they were in 2009 with the sentiment index at 73, up from 63 in the fourth quarter of 2009.The sentiment index measures confidence in real estate market conditions. However, a common concern of respondents is the employment picture. As one CEO commented, "There are 20 million or more people who are underemployed or unemployed. Businesses are being very cautious. The federal government is considering raising taxes. All of this is causing uneasiness."Approximately two-thirds of respondents said capital—for both debt and equity—is more accessible now compared to a year ago, during the height of the financial crisis.Source: Real Estate Roundtable (02/03/2010)
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Daily Real Estate News | February 4, 2010 Mortgage applications shot up 21 percent last week compared to the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. On an unadjusted basis, applications rose 23.5 percent.
The unadjusted purchase index increased 17.5 percent compared with the previous week, but was down 11.2 percent from the same week a year ago.
“Mortgage application volume rebounded last week, returning the purchase and refinance indexes to levels from mid-December,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics.
"Rates continue to hover around 5 percent, quite low by historical standards, but are well above the record lows seen in 2009, and hence are not generating substantial refi volume," Fratantoni said. "We expect that rates will rise over the next few months as the Federal Reserve winds down its MBS purchase program, and this will likely lead to a decline in refinance volume."
Here are the average contract interest rate changes:
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.01 percent from 5.02 percent.
- 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.33 percent from 4.34 percent.
- 1-year ARMs decreased to 6.70 percent from 6.84 percent.
Source: Mortgage Bankers Association (02/03/2010)
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Daily Real Estate News | February 3, 2010 In a new study, "Housing in America: The Next Decade," Urban Land Institute senior resident fellow John McIlwain says the housing market will not return to what it was prior to the downturn but rather that a "new normal" will take its place.
He expects another 10 percent decrease in residential prices this year, a jump in the number of borrowers abandoning "underwater" mortgages, and a change in consumer perceptions of homeownership.
"The emotional impact on the children and parents and disillusion about the 'joys' of homeownership will be intense; new attitudes to homeownership and the American dream will emerge," McIlwain writes.
He expects home price appreciation to hover around 1 percent or 2 percent per year after the market recovers and the national homeownership rate to drop from 67 percent currently to 62 percent by 2020.
In the coming decade, McIlwain expects the following: - Older baby boomers to move to urban, mixed-use, mixed-age centers near family instead of retiring to Sun Belt communities;
- Immigrants to snub the suburbs in favor of more close-knit communities;
- Younger boomers to face the challenges of lost home equity and a smaller pool of move-up buyers;
- Generation Y to rent for long periods by choice or because they are paying off student loans or have stagnant incomes.
Source: Inman News (02/01/10)(c) Copyright 2010 INFORMATION, INC
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Thought you might find this information good to know.
Fannie Mae offering 3.5% seller concession for purchase or FNMA REO purchase before May 1.
3.5% can go toward closing costs or APPLIANCES!
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Daily Real Estate News | February 2, 2010 Rating agency Standard & Poor’s said Monday that for commercial real estate, the worst is probably yet to come.Vacancies remain high and rents are declining, causing more delinquencies and lower prices, S&P said.While big banks have the most real estate exposure compared to smaller institutions, they probably aren’t facing the greatest risk. The agency said small community “unrated” banks made the riskiest deals and continue to hold loans with the most down side.Source: Reuters (02/01/2010
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Daily Real Estate News | February 2, 2010 Accountants at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are auditing mortgage files to uncover loans with improper documentation about a borrower’s income, and then forcing banks and savings and loans to buy the loans back.
Freddie required lenders to buy back $2.7 billion of loans in the first nine months of 2009. Fannie Mae won’t disclose its figures, but the mortgage trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance said Fannie made $4.3 billion in loan-repurchase requests in the first nine months of 2009.
One result is that banks are underwriting mortgage loans even more carefully than they were last year, which can further slow the lending process.
"If you're being hit with a lot of repurchases very suddenly, the easiest thing to do is to tighten your standards rapidly," said Glenn Boyd, a Barclays analyst.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (01/30/2010)
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Daily Real Estate News | February 1, 2010
Beginning Feb. 1, the Federal Housing Administration will provide mortgage insurance for some purchases in which the seller bought the property and held it for fewer than 90 days.The agency is changing what is known as the “anti-flipping rule” to speed up sales of renovated homes in communities with too many bank-owned and foreclosed homes, says FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens.Waiving the 90-day rule will encourage private investors to buy vacant properties, fix them up, and quickly sell them to buyers who will be eligible to buy them using FHA financing.FHA's change "is going to be absolutely terrific" for first-time home buyers hoping to take advantage of the tax credit, says Bobby Taylor, an associate with Coldwell Banker Mountain West Real Estate in Salem, Ore.Source: Washington Post (01/30/2010
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|  | | | January 28, 2010 | | | | | Incentive Part of Ongoing Effort to Stabilize Neighborhoods WASHINGTON, DC — Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) announced today that people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property will receive up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price to be used toward closing cost assistance or their choice of appliances. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010. "Attracting qualified buyers to the market and reducing the inventory of vacant homes is critical to stabilizing neighborhoods and helping the market recover. Many families are taking advantage of the federal homebuyer tax credit to buy a new home so this is a great time for Fannie Mae to offer some additional help," said Terry Edwards, Executive Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management. "Homebuyers have the option to choose between financial assistance toward closing costs or new appliances for their home." Properties eligible for this incentive are listed on HomePath.com and most listings include detailed property descriptions, photographs, community and school information and more. In addition, many Fannie Mae-owned properties are eligible for special HomePath Mortgage and HomePath Renovation Mortgage financing which offers homebuyers an opportunity to purchase with as little as 3 percent down. |
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Daily Real Estate News | January 29, 2010 Fannie Mae, the largest provider of residential home funding in the United States, announced Friday that it would pay the closing costs on purchases of foreclosed homes in its inventory.The government-controlled company said buyers of qualified properties will get up to 3.5 percent in closing costs, or an equivalent amount for the purchase of new appliances.The goal of Fannie is to clear out the nearly 50,000 properties it has in inventory— listed on the Web site created by Fannie Mae last year to sell the growing number of foreclosed homes."Attracting qualified buyers to the market and reducing inventory of vacant homes is critical to stabilizing neighborhoods and helping the market recover," said Terry Edwards, executive vice president for credit portfolio management, in a statement.Source: Reuters News, Al Yoon (01/28//2010)
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Daily Real Estate News | January 27, 2010 Nationwide, only 87 markets are in the overvalued category, according to a newly released 2010 report compiled by IHS Global Insight and PNC Financial Services.That means 242 of the 299 largest U.S. housing markets are selling for prices that even bankers think are less than fair market value. The judgment is based on a comparison of median home prices, local interest rates, population densities and income, plus historic premiums or discounts.Here are the 10 most undervalued areas, according to the study:- Las Vegas, -41.4 percent
- Vero Beach, Fla., -39.8 percent
- Merced, Calif., -37.7 percent
- Cape Coral, Fla., -36.8 percent
- Houma, La., -34.6 percent
- Port St. Lucie, Fla., -33.3 percent
- Warren, Mich., -32.3 percent
- Vallejo, Calif., -31.9 percent
- Modesto, Calif. -31.8 percent
- Stockton, Calif., -31.8 percent
Source: CNNMoney, Les Christie (01/27/2010)
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Daily Real Estate News | January 27, 2010 Mortgage applications declined 10.9 percent last week compared to the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported in its weekly survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications decreased 10.1 percent compared with the previous week and were down 19.8 percent compared to the same week last year.Refinances decreased 15.1 percent compared to the previous week, while purchases were down only 3.3 percent. Most interest rates were up slightly compared to the previous week:- 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.02 percent from 5 percent.
- 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.34 percent from 4.33 percent.
- 1-year ARMs increased to 6.84 percent from 6.72 percent.
Source: Mortgage Bankers Association (01/27/2010)
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Daily Real Estate News | January 27, 2010
The inventory of foreclosed houses still hampers the recovery of the housing sector, but overall, the U.S. housing market appears to be at or near bottom, Freddie Mac CEO Charles Haldeman told the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday.
He predicted that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate would remain between 5 percent and 6 percent through 2010.
"The big downside risk to all this is a large wave of homes now in foreclosure potentially hitting the market at prices that are destructive," Haldeman said.
Source: Reuters News, Soyoung Kim (01/26/2010)
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Daily Real Estate News | January 22, 2010 |
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document.write(' Share ');The homebuyer tax credit is not as simple or straightforward as you might think. Here are some nuances that will affect homebuyers who plan to use it.
- To qualify for the move-up tax credit, a home owner must have occupied the same principal residence for five of the last eight years consecutively.
- Buyers can elect to claim the credit on either their 2009 or their 2010 tax return, whichever is best for them.
- Buyers who claim the credit in 2009 can’t file electronically because the Internal Revenue Service hasn’t put the required forms on line. The wait for a refund is three or four months.
- The home can be a mobile home or travel trailer that is fixed to land owned or leased by the home owner. A mobile home or travel trailer that is actually mobile doesn’t qualify.
- The home can’t be purchased from a close relative, including a parent, spouse, child, grandparent or grandchild.
- A buyer who earns no taxable income or doesn’t owe any federal income tax can qualify for the tax credit and file a tax return just to claim it.
Source: Bankrate.com, Marcie Geffner (01/21/2010
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Daily Real Estate News | January 25, 2010
The cessation of the government program to buy mortgage-backed securities, set to end in a couple of months, will show whether the White House and Federal Reserve have effectively stimulated the lending market to the point that it is now on solid footing. If the sector slumps again, home owners could face a new period of distress. Keeping mortgage rates at record lows was a major component of the economic strategy during President Obama's first year in office. While it did not garner the kind of headlines that efforts to bail out banks did, the policy did help revitalize home buying in parts of the country and assisted millions of home owners who were able to refinance.Source: Washington Post, David Cho, Neil Irwin, and Dina ElBoghdady (01/25/10)
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Daily Real Estate News | January 25, 2010 |
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Existing-home sales fell as expected in December after first-time buyers rushed to complete deals during the months leading up to the original November deadline for the tax credit. However, prices rose from December 2008 and annual sales improved in 2009, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
Existing-home sales—including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops—fell 16.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million units in December from 6.54 million in November, but remain 15 percent above the 4.74 million-unit level in December 2008.
There were approximately 5,156,000 existing-home sales in 2009, which was 4.9 percent higher than the 4,913,000 transactions recorded in 2008. It was the first annual sales gain since 2005.
Tax Credit Creates Swing in Market
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says there were no surprises in the data.
“It’s significant that home sales remain above year-ago levels, but the market is going through a period of swings driven by the tax credit,” he said. “We’ll likely have another surge in the spring as home buyers take advantage of the extended and expanded tax credit. By early summer the overall market should benefit from more balanced inventory, and sales are on track to rise again in 2010."
However, Yun says, the job market remains a concern and could dampen the housing recovery. "Job creation is key to a continued recovery in the second half of the year,” he says.
An NAR practitioner survey shows first-time buyers purchased 43 percent of homes in December, down from 51 percent in November. Repeat buyers rose to 42 percent of transactions in December from 37 percent in November; the remaining sales were to investors.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $178,300 in December, which is 1.5 percent higher than December 2008.
“The median price rose because of an increased number of mid- to upper-priced homes in the sales mix,” Yun says. It was the first year-over-year gain in median price since August 2007.
Falling Inventories
NAR President Vicki Cox Golder said market conditions are challenging in some areas.
“There’s a shortage of lower-priced homes for sale in much of the country, resulting in multiple bids in some areas,” she says. “Raw unsold inventory has been trending down. As the market heats up again this spring, buyers may need to be prepared to move quickly on a particular home."
Total housing inventory at the end of December fell 6.6 percent to 3.29 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.2-month supply at the current sales pace. That is an increase from a 6.5-month supply in November.
Raw unsold inventory is 11.1 percent below a year ago, is at the lowest level since March 2006, and is 28.2 percent below the record of 4.58 million in July 2008.
Distressed homes, which accounted for 32 percent of sales last month, continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes in the same area.
For all of 2009, the median price was $173,500, down 12.4 percent from $198,100 in 2008. Distressed homes accounted for 36 percent of total sales last year.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.93 percent in December from 4.88 percent in November; the rate was 5.29 percent in December 2008.
Single-Family Home, Condo Sales Dip
Single-family home sales fell 16.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million in December from a pace of 5.76 million in November. Sales are 12.7 percent above the 4.25 million level in December 2008. For all of 2009, single-family sales rose 5 percent to 4,566,000.
The median existing single-family home price was $177,500 in December, which is 1.4 percent above a year ago. For all last year, the median price for a single-family home was $173,200, down 11.9 percent from 2008.
Meanwhile, existing condominium and co-op sales fell 15.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 660,000 in December from 780,000 in November. Sales are 34.7 percent higher than the 490,000-unit pace a year ago. For all of 2009, condo sales rose 4.8 percent to 590,000 units.
The median existing condo price was $183,700 in December, up 1 percent from December 2008. For all of last year, the median condo price was $176,100, which is 16.1 percent below 2008.
Regional Breakdown
Here are existing-home sales figures by region:
- Northeast: sales dropped 19.5 percent to an annual level of 910,000 in December but are 21.3 percent above a year ago. Median price: $241,700, up 3.2 percent from December 2008.
- Midwest: sales fell 25.8 percent in December to a level of 1.15 million but are 8.5 percent higher than December 2008. Median price: $143,200, which is 1.8 percent above a year ago.
- South: sales dropped 16.3 percent to an annual pace of 2.01 million in December but are 15.5 percent above December 2008. Median price: $152,000, down 1 percent from a year ago.
- West: sales declined 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.38 million in December but are 15 percent higher than a year ago. Median price: $236,000, up 2.7 percent from December 2008.
— NAR
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