Mortgage Rates End Year Near Record Lows

Mortgage Rates End Year Near Record Lows

Fixed-rate mortgages ended the year by hovering near record-breaking lows and keeping home buyer affordability high, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. 

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.66 percent for 2012, the lowest annual average in at least 65 years,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages were nearly 0.6 percentage points below that of the beginning of the year, which translates into an interest payment savings of nearly $98,600 over the life of a $200,000 loan. Moreover, opting for a 15-year fixed mortgage at today's rates, a home owner could save an additional $138,400 in interest payments.'

Freddie Mac reported the following national averages for mortgages for the week ending Dec. 27: See current rates ...

Low Inventory Levels Lift Home Prices

Low Inventory Levels Lift Home Prices

The large inventory drops have been attributed to home owners waiting out the market for price increases, investors snagging up houses, fewer bank foreclosures, and builders curbing production.

But the low inventories are helping home prices to rebound. “Large drops in inventories have whittled away the discount at which foreclosures sell in many markets, which has further contributed to big price gains,” The Wall Street Journal reports. Read more...

4 Housing Issues to Watch in 2013

4 Housing Issues to Watch in 2013

What does 2013 have in store for the housing market? With marked gains this year, housing experts expect the housing market to continue to gain momentum in the new year. 

The Wall Street Journal recently offered up some chief housing issues likely to be important in the New Year.

These include: 

• Inventories rise: To meet the increased demand, home builders are increasing production and more sellers may be more willing to test the market as housing prices increase. 
• Home prices spur demand: More buyers have urgency with home purchases as rents rise, housing values gain momentum, and mortgage rates remain low. 
• Credit remains tight: “While rising prices could serve as a tailwind, new regulations may lock in some of the defensive underwriting posture while impeding capital rules may lead banks to pare their lending footprint,” The Wall Street Journal predicts. Read more ....

Price Gains Driven by Composition Changes

Price Gains Driven by Composition Changes

 Not Appreciation, After tracking home price trends in 25 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), Radar Logic found prices in October are now 6.9 percent higher than a year ago, according to the company’s RPX Composite price.

“However, this increase was driven by a change in the composition of sales rather than price appreciation,” Radar Logic stated in a recent report.
Upon closer scrutiny, the analytics company explained the price increase is mainly the result of a decrease in distressed sales, or “motivated sales,” and the actual price increase for “non-motivated sales” is much smaller than the overall yearly gain. Read more ...

How 'Normal' Is the Housing Market?

How 'Normal' Is the Housing Market?

The housing market is expected to make big strides to getting closer to more normal levels, due mostly to a rise in home prices and household formation that is adding to demand, the NAHB reports. 

Single-family housing starts are forecasted to reach 534,000 units this year, up 23 percent this year from 2011. For 2013, single-family housing starts is expected to jump 21 percent in 2013 and another 29 percent gain in 2014 to 837,000 units. 

Multifamily production is forecast to jump 31 percent this year to 233,000, and gain another 16 percent in 2013 to 270,000. 

New single-family home sales are forecast to post a 20 percent jump this year to 367,000 and to rise another 22 percent in 2013, and reach 607,000 by 2014. Read more...

Buyer Urgency Expected to Drive 2013

Buyer Urgency Expected to Drive 2013

Home shoppers will likely have more urgency in the new year, wanting to buy before home prices rise even more. 

Home prices are edging up in most markets,and buyers are taking notice. Buyer surveys recently have shown that home shoppers expect home prices to continue to inch up, and they want to cash in before they rise too much higher. 

“Every single thing about housing is flashing green” with household formation rising, inventory falling, and affordability hovering at record highs, James Dimon, chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase told CNBC last month.  Read more....

Utah year-over-year basis,experienced price gains

Utah year-over-year basis,experienced price gains

The winter season has not stopped home prices from posting both monthly and yearly gains, according to recent reports, and the Federal Finance Housing Agency’s(FHFA) October home price report was no different.

According to the agency’s Home Price Index (HPI), home prices in October rose 0.5 percent from September and 5.6 percent from October 2011. The index current sits 15.7 percent below the April 2007 peak. See what other Regions ......

FHA to Tighten Up Mortgage Standards in 2013

FHA to Tighten Up Mortgage Standards in 2013

In an effort to make up for a large budget shortfall, the Federal Housing Administration announced it will publish new mortgage standards for certain home owners and replace a popular reverse-mortgage program on Jan. 31, 2013. As among the changes, borrowers with credit scores between 580 and 620 will face stricter underwriting standards. Such borrowers will face stricter limits on their debt-to-income ratio. The FHA also will soon require a minimum down payment of 5 percent for high-cost mortgages that exceed $625,500. Read more and to stay on top of what the market is doing visit our website....

Home Prices Could Jump 9.7% in 2013

Home Prices Could Jump 9.7% in 2013

Even as the market heads into its slow season, sales numbers continued to stand well above their year-ago level in November,  National Housing Report. But the expectations for higher home prices are still widespread. Nearly three-quarters of investors polled by J.P. Morgan expect home prices to rise 5% in 2013

The report shows home sales were up 15.7 percent year-over-year in November, the second highest annual increase this year (behind October’s 17.8 percent yearly rise). November is the 17th consecutive month in which sales have posted year-over-year increases.

Prices also rose both on a month-to-month and year-over-year basis. The median price for homes sold in November was $163,750, 3.6 percent higher than October and 6.9 percent higher than November 2011. November is the 10th straight month to experience year-over-year price gains. Read more ....

Turning Point for Home Owners in 2013

Turning Point for Home Owners in 2013
Falling housing inventories and an increase in demand bode well for the market's recovery next year, according to Barclays 2013 housing outlook report. 

Townhomes: A Growing Option Once More?

Townhouses are showing a strong comeback. For the third-consecutive quarter, the construction of townhomes — attached single-family housing — saw a sharp rise in total units and market share to a point that hasn’t been seen since 2008, the National Association of Home Builders reports. 

The construction of townhouses nearly doubled in the past year — rising from 12,000 starts in the third quarter of 2011 to 21,000 starts during the third quarter of 2012. The market share of townhouses makes up 12.1 percent of all single-family housing starts, up from 11.2 percent during the previous quarter of this year. Read more ...

Great Expectations for Housing in 2013

Great Expectations for Housing in 2013

“The last few months have brought a spate of favorable news on the U.S. housing market with construction up, more home sales, and home-value growth turning positive,” Nothaft says. “This has been a big change from a year ago, when some analysts worried that the looming ‘shadow inventory’ would keep the housing sector mired in economic depression. Instead, the housing market is healing, is contributing positively to GDP and is returning to its traditional role of supporting the economic recovery.”

  

Housing Price increase 2-3  Percent,  Rates begin rising a bit, Vacancy Rates Trending Lower Here’s how Nothaft sees the coming year: Read more .....

Western States Dominate Top Markets for Sellers

Western States Dominate Top Markets for Sellers

For its latest research brief, Zillow analyzed data on actual sales prices compared to asking prices, the number of days listings spent on Zillow, and the percentage of homes on the market with a price cut.

“As most housing markets continue to improve nationwide, the relative position of buyers and sellers continues to vary considerably by geography,” said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries. “In some markets, buyers are finding themselves in strong bargaining positions relative to sellers, confidently offering less than the asking price on a home they had months to consider. In other areas, it’s sellers that are squarely in the driver’s seat with their homes selling within days of listing, often after bidding wars that increase the sale price above the asking price.” Read more .....

Fixed Rates See Slight Changes

Fixed Rates See Slight Changes

Hover Near Record Lows

Fixed mortgage rates made small movements this week as fiscal cliff negotiations seemed to stall.

According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market.

“Mortgage rates showed little movement as the fiscal cliff talks looked more like a stalemate,” Bankrate said in a release. “But a newly announced stimulus plan from the Federal Reserve aimed at buying longer-term Treasuries should help bring both bond yields and mortgage rates lower, albeit modestly. Don’t expect any big moves in mortgage rates as long as the fiscal cliff talks drag on.” See rates...

Foreclosure Starts Fall to 6-Year Low

Foreclosure Starts Fall to 6-Year Low

The latest data offers “more evidence that we are past the worst of the foreclosure problem brought about by the housing bubble bursting six years ago,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “But foreclosures are continuing to hobble the U.S. housing market as lenders finally seize properties that started the process a year or two ago — and much longer in some cases. We’re likely not completely out of the woods when it comes to foreclosure starts, either, as lenders are still adjusting to new foreclosure ground rules set forth in the National Mortgage Settlement along with various state laws and court rulings.” See which States...

Who's Calling the Shots: Buyers or Sellers?

Who's Calling the Shots: Buyers or Sellers?

The housing market is changing, creating a “new playing field for home owners, who are finally able to sell, as well as would-be buyers who've been delaying a purchase in anticipation that prices would keep falling,” Money Magazine reports. 

Mortgages for home purchases are expected to soar 55 percent in 2013, according to forecasts by the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

“The days of buyers sticking it to sellers are over,' says Tracie Peay, a Salt Lake City real estate practitioner.

Still, home sellers should keep their expectations in line: Price increases are to be modest and gradual. Fiserv forecasts home prices will rise 3.3 percent a year in value between now and 2017. 

As for buyers, they may need to have a better understanding of the increased competition they may face. 

'If you want to buy, you have to be ready to make an offer,' says David Howell, chief information officer at McEnearney Associates, a real estate agency in the Washington, D.C., metro area. He says the first offer should be close to the home buyer’s best offer.  Read more ....

More Americans Say Now Is a Good Time to Sell

More Americans Say Now Is a Good Time to Sell

More Americans are growing confident about selling, with the share of those who say now is a good time to sell rising 5 percentage points in November to 23 percent and reaching its highest level since Fannie Mae started its survey in June 2010.

The rise in those who say it's a good time to sell has helped narrow the gap with those who say now is a good time to buy, according to Fannie Mae’s November 2012 National Housing Survey, released Monday. Americans are also getting more confident about the direction of the overall housing market and the economy, according to the report.

Read more....

No Foreclosures for the Holidays by Fannie,Freddie

No Foreclosures for the Holidays by Fannie,Freddie

Homeowners facing foreclosure just received an early Christmas present: They won't be evicted from their homes over the holidays.

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced Monday that they will temporarily halt all bank repossessions and evictions beginning in mid-December until Jan. 2, 2013. 

The temporary foreclosure suspension goes into effect beginning Dec. 17 and Dec. 19, respectively. The moratorium will not affect the filing notices of default or the scheduling of auction sales. 

'The holidays are a chance to be with loved ones and we want to relieve some stress at this time of year,' says Terry Edwards, Executive Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management, Fannie Mae. Read what other banks are not foreclosing either....

Number of Improving Housing Markets Soars

Number of Improving Housing Markets Soars

The number of improving housing markets grew by 76 in December to a total of 201, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Market Index. 

The index identifies U.S. metro areas that have shown improvement in home sales, employment, and housing values for at least the past six months.Some of the new markets added to this month’s improving list include Atlanta; Bloomington, Ill.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Seattle; and Green Bay, Wis.

'The big gain in improving markets this December indicates that key measures of housing and economic strength have now been holding steady or improving in metros across the country for six months or more, Read more....

Mortgage Rates Stay Low, Near Record Levels

Mortgage Rates Stay Low, Near Record Levels

Fixed-rate mortgages continue to hover near their record lows, keeping home buyer affordability high, Freddie Mac reports in its latest weekly mortgage market survey. 

'Mortgage rates were little changed and near record lows this week amid indicators of stronger economic growth and signs of tame inflation,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

The following are national averages on mortgage rates for the week ending Dec. 6, according to Freddie Mac. See Rates.....

FHA oks 2 Year Extension Anti-Flipping Waiver

FHA oks 2 Year Extension Anti-Flipping Waiver

The Federal Housing Administration is extending its 90-day “anti-flipping” waiver through 2014—which could bode well for single-family investors, rehabbers, and buyers seeking low down payment financing, Inman News reports. 

The waiver allows buyers to purchase homes that have already been sold in less than 90 days. 

The purpose of the two-year extension to the waiver is to increase “the availability of affordable homes for first-time and other purchasers, helping stabilize real estate prizes as well as neighborhoods and communities where foreclosure activity has been high,” says Carol J. Galante, acting FHA commissioner about the extension.

In 2003, FHA issued an anti-flipping waiver to stop a high number of home flipping, which was being blamed on inflating home values. The FHA rule prevented FHA-backed loans from being used to purchase homes that had been owned by a seller for less than 90 days. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development decided to reconsider that 90-day limit when foreclosures started to cause blight in neighborhoods and put downward pressure on property values. Read requirements ...

10 most affordable cities for homebuying

10 most affordable cities for homebuying
Looking to buy a home? These housing markets offer the best combination of low prices and competitive wages, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

1. Ogden, Utah how great is that for our state number 1....

Median home price: $153,000

Median income: $71,500

% of homes sold that are 'affordable'*: 93.2%

See if your state is on this list.....

Yearly Price Gains Continue into Offseason

Yearly Price Gains Continue into Offseason

Compared to 2011, home prices continued to show strong gains in October and posted their biggest yearly increase since June 2006, according to data from CoreLogic.

Home prices—including distressed sale—climbed 6.3 percent higher year-over-year in October, marking the eighth consecutive month of yearly gains. Distressed sales include transactions for REOs and short sales.
With the conclusion of the home-buying season, home prices dropped by 0.2 percent from September to October.
According to the data provider’s pending home price index, prices should further increase yearly by 7.1 percent in November when including distressed sales. See which states ....

REO Sales Diminish to Under 20% of Overall

REO Sales Diminish to Under 20% of Overall

lear Capital released a new market report Tuesday, tracking home prices through the end of November. Nationally, quarterly price gains were cut by more than half compared to readings from the month before. For November, home prices edged up just 1 percent.

Even with fewer fair market sellers put their homes on the market – which is typical during the winter season –Clear Capital says REO sales held steady at 18.4 percent of total sales. Even with the effects of winter unfolding, the company says REO saturation trends don’t yet sound any alarms. Should distressed sales hold around their current level for the next several months, Clear Capital says downward price pressure should be minimal –- but that’s barring any other outside economic stress. Read More ....

Housing Recovery Is Sustainable

Housing Recovery Is Sustainable

According to Market Analysts.Despite a number of potentially damaging headwinds, the ongoing housing recovery will remain sustainable for the foreseeable future, analysts for Capital Economics say in a recently released report.

The housing industry’s rapid rebound took many experts by surprise-even the researchers who authored the report admit they “have been slightly taken aback” by the recovery’s speed. However, they point to several major indicators that show the current upturn is more than a temporary blip or a false recovery. Read more ....

No change to conforming loan limits at Fannie, Fre

No change to conforming loan limits at Fannie, Freddie

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced this week that it will not be changing the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Maximum loan limits for single-unit properties will stay at $417,000. However, in some designated high-cost areas that number could rise to $625,500. Read more 

Rising Prices Could Lift 3.5M Homeowners

Out of Negative Equity

While almost one-quarter of homeowners remain underwater, rising home prices over the past year have some economists hopeful negative equity could begin to diminish in coming months.

“The negative equity problem is still crippling many homeowners and the wider economy,” Capital Economics stated in a report.
In addition to the almost one-fourth of homeowners who owe more on their mortgage loans than their homes are worth, almost half of homeowners do not meet the 80 percent loan-to-value ratio required for a standard refinancing.
While “[a]dmittedly, the recovery is still in its infancy,” Capital Economics sees the potential for 3.5 million homeowners to move out of negative equity positions over the next 12 months. Read more ....

Pending Home Sales Rise in October

Pending Home Sales Rise in October

Pending home sales rose strongly in October with mixed regional results, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 5.2 percent to 104.8 in October from an upwardly revised 99.6 in September and is 13.2 percent above October 2011 when it was 92.6. The data reflect contracts but not closings. Click on the Picture to watch the video and learn more about today's market ....

Rents to Keep Rising

Rents to Keep Rising

Rents are forecasted to rise nationally 4.6 percent next year, and that’s following a 4.1 percent increase this year, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

What’s more, rents are expected to continue to climb for the foreseeable future, rising more than 4 percent a year for 2014 and 2015, forecasts Reis, a market research firm. 

“The pendulum has definitely swung back in favor of landlords, not renters,” Ryan Severino, senior economist for Reis, told USA Today. Read more ....

Five Reasons Home Prices Have Been Rising

Five Reasons Home Prices Have Been Rising

Home prices rose by 0.1% in September from the prior month and by 3.6% from one year ago, the largest such gain in six years, according to a report released Monday by Lender Processing Services.

Compared with one year ago, prices are up by 17.7% in Phoenix, the largest gain among the nation’s 40 largest metro areas. Other cities with notable year-over-year increases include Detroit (11.7%), Las Vegas (11.5%), San Jose, Calif. (11.3%), San Francisco (10%), and Sacramento (8.3%).

Among the top 40 metros, only a handful have posted year-over-year declines, led by St. Louis, which was down by 4.1%. Bridgeport, Conn., was down by 2.3%, while Chicago (-0.5%) and Cincinnati (-0.1%) also posted declines.

The LPS figures serve as a good reminder that it’s still hard to generalize about housing. Some markets are up sharply amid big declines in both prices and the share of distressed sales, while others are still soft. Generally, though, there are at least five significant contributors to rising prices: Read more....

Mortgage Rates Reached New Lows Again Last Week

Mortgage Rates Reached New Lows Again Last Week

Mortgage rates continue to fall, with fixed-rate mortgage rates reaching new record lows last week for the second consecutive week, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. 

'Fixed mortgage rates continued to ease somewhat this week to record lows and should help the ongoing housing recovery,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. 
Here’s a closer look at mortgage averages for the week ending early due to the holiday on Nov. 21: See rates....

Fannie Mae Releases Forecast on Housing

Fannie Mae Releases Forecast on Housing

Given improvements seen in housing, Fannie Mae revised its housing forecast higher for 2012 and 2013 in its November economic outlook report.

According to the GSE, the fundamentals are set in place for a “solid” housing recovery, such as low interest rates, rising prices, and a labor market that’s healing.

Considering these developments in housing, the GSE’s Economic & Strategic Research Group anticipates single-family housing starts will jump 25 percent this year, then rise by another 22 percent in 2013.

Existing-home sales should also rise and see a 9 percent increase in 2012 and a 4 percent gain in 2013. Learn more....

Foreclosure Discounts Vanishing

Foreclosure Discounts Vanishing

Foreclosure discounts have nearly dried up due to low inventory levels, according to the latest housing reports.

The average discount nationwide for foreclosure properties has fallen to 7.7 percent, according to Zillow research. In some parts of the country, there is no foreclosure discount when compared to other sales. 

“The smallest foreclosure discount is found in places where competition for homes is so high, people there are willing to pay the same amount for a foreclosure re-sale that they would for a non-distressed home simply to take advantage of historic affordability,” says Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist. See which states...

FHA Looks to Raise Mortgage Fees to Avoid Bailout

FHA Looks to Raise Mortgage Fees to Avoid Bailout

The Federal Housing Administration plans to raise its mortgage fees next year in order to help avoid a taxpayer bailout, the Obama administration announced. A report last week revealed the FHA, which insures mortgages, faces a $16.3 billion deficit due to a rise in mortgage delinquencies over the last few years, particularly among loans that originated during the housing bubble from 2007 through 2009. 

FHA says it plans to raise its premiums on loans it guarantees by 10 basis points, which equates to about $13 per month extra to borrowers’ costs, Reuters reports. Also the FHA says it plans to increase short sales on loans it guarantees, in an effort to avoid more borrowers foreclosing on their properties. Find out how this could affect you  Read more....

Rising Rents

Rising Rents

Press More Americans to Make Big Decision

Fifty percent of Americans recently surveyed say they expect home rental prices to rise in the next year, and it’s making them lean more toward home ownership, according to the Fannie Mae October National Housing Survey, which surveyed 1,000 Americans. 

'This has been a year of steady growth in the percentage of consumers with positive home price expectations,' says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president and chief economist. 'Increasing household formation, encouraged by an improving labor market, is adding additional momentum to the housing recovery and putting upward pressure on rental price expectations. Expected increases in both owning and renting costs may encourage more consumers to buy and add further strength to the housing recovery already under way.' Read more...

Freddie Mac Paints Realistic Picture

Freddie Mac Paints Realistic Picture

Of a 'Healthy' Market

The housing market is slowly but surely getting back up to speed, but don’t expect it to recover to peak levels,Freddie Mac says in its latest U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook.

In the November outlook, Freddie Mac takes into account recent trends, housing indicators, shifting demographic patterns to put together a picture of what makes a “healthy” housing market. According to the GSE’s projections, the current trajectory of the recovery should bring the market to a healthy state by 2017.
According to the data, housing starts should increase to about 1.7 to 1.8 million homes per year, a pace below the 2.1 million peak set in 2005. However, Freddie Mac VP and chief economist Frank Nothaft said the projected pace should be “much more sustainable” given the pace of household formations.

Starts in Q3 reached about 790,000, according to the GSE’s data. Learn more...

Threat of Shadow Inventory Fades

Threat of Shadow Inventory Fades

Delinquencies, Foreclosures Decline

The percent of loans in foreclosure, or the foreclosure inventory rate, fell to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest delinquency survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the foreclosure inventory rate in the third quarter was 4.07 percent, down 20 basis points from last quarter and 36 basis points from a year ago. MBA reported the quarterly decrease was the largest since the survey’s history.
“The level however, is still roughly four times the long-run average for this series as we continue to see back logs of loans in the foreclosure process in states with a judicial foreclosure system,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s VP of research and economics, in a release. Lean more...

Median Price and Sales Up

Median Price and Sales Up

A lower supply of inventory and fewer distressed sales led to stronger home price gains across the country, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed in a recent report.

On a national level, the median price for existing single-family homes increased 7.6 percent to $186,100 in the third quarter of this year compared to last year. In the third quarter of 2011, the median price was $173,000.NAR says the annual gain is the strongest since the first quarter of 2006 when the median price was up 9.4 percent.

In the second quarter, the median price posted a 7.2 percent yearly increase.

When assessing third quarter price growth in metros areas, NAR found the median price for existing homes improved in 120 out of 149 metro areas since the same quarter a year ago. NAR’s findings are based on closings. Learn more....

NAR Forecast on Housing, Economy

NAR Forecast on Housing, Economy

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun says he expects the market share of distressed sales to fall from about 25 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2014, according to a release on the forum.
Mark Vitner, managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo, was one of the speakers at the NAR forum. Vitner compared distressed homes to an after-Christmas sale stating, “most of the best stuff has been picked over, but make no mistake they’ll be with us for a while.”

The housing recovery was expected to continue so long as credit does not further tighten and a fiscal cliff is avoided. Mortgage Rates and Housing Market projected for 2013....

Mortgage Rates Stay Low

Mortgage Rates Stay Low

Keep Buying Power High

A year ago at this time, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped below 4 percent for the first time since Freddie Mac started reporting national average mortgage rates in 1971. Thirty-year rates have fairly much stayed below 4 percent since then too, continuing to hover near all-time record lows and pushing home buyers’ purchasing power higher and helping refinancers to unlock savings. 

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages in mortgage rates for the week ending Nov. 8. Read more ....

Foreclosed Home Owners

Foreclosed Home Owners

Rebound Faster With FHA Loans

Home owners who experienced foreclosures are finding themselves owning again sometimes only three years later—possibly even less—with Federal Housing Administration-backed loans.

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac usually require a seven-year wait following a foreclosure. However, the FHA will approve loans after three years, if the borrower can show good credit and ability to pay the mortgage. 

The FHA insures loans with low down payments, such as 3.5 percent, and tends to have greater flexibility with income requirements too. Read more ....

FHA Revises Condo Rules

FHA Revises Condo Rules

Agency reduces barriers to financing, though restrictions still hamper some investments.

 When an investor seeking FHA financing last August tried to buy a condominium unit in Telluride, Colo., the picturesque ski town nestled in the Rockies, the transaction fell through. Too much space in the project was devoted to non-residential commercial use.

“The project didn’t meet the condo-to-commercial ratio, so I lost the deal,” says George Harvey Jr., broker-owner of the Harvey Team in Telluride and vice chair of NAR’s Resort Committee. “The FHA has all these check boxes—you can’t do this, you can’t do that—and even for loans that aren’t FHA-insured, a lot of banks won’t make a loan on the idea that, if the FHA isn’t going to make it, they’re not going to either. So, anything the FHA can do to make condo financing a little easier would be really important.” Read more ....

Jobs, Rising Rents Help Pending Sales Inch Up

Jobs, Rising Rents Help Pending Sales Inch Up

NAR’s forward-looking pending home sales index showed a very small rise in September, just 0.3 percent, but it’s one more data point to suggest the recovery is solidly underway even if it remains modest. The rise represents the latest in a string of about half a dozen months in which pending sales have moved in a very narrow band, and that’s really what’s most informative about the latest release: it suggests that the underlying factors in the improved market are systemic and not due to just one or two transient factors. To Watch the video click on link: Affordable Utah Housing

Extra Touches to Help Sell This Fall

Extra Touches to Help Sell This Fall

Homes can look less inviting in the fall and cooler months, but there are easy ways you can evoke that “homey” feel buyers crave. 

'Inventory is low, so if you have your house on the market and it's priced well, it's going to sell,' says Gail Hartnett, a National Association of REALTORS® regional vice president and an agent with Keller Williams Realty Boise in Idaho.

Hartnett offers some of the following tips:  Read more .....

September See Biggest Yearly Price Gain Since 2006

September See Biggest Yearly Price Gain Since 2006

Home prices in September posted their biggest yearly gain in more than 6 years, but prices displayed a typical seasonal slowdown and fell month-over-month, according to the Home Price Index (HPI) report from CoreLogic.

When including distressed sales, the report showed home prices moved higher by 5 percent from September 2011, the seventh straight month of yearly increases and the biggest annual gain since July 2006.
From August to September, prices decreased by 0.3 percent.
CoreLogic’s pending HPI projects continued yearly gains into October, with prices expected to rise by 5.7 percent from October 2011. As the winter season sets in, prices are expected to continue moving downward and drop 0.5 percent month-over-month. Read more... 

Rent Prices Continue to Rise

Rent Prices Continue to Rise

Faster than Asking Prices

Rent prices are climbing faster than asking prices and are rising in metros where asking prices are falling, according to a report from Trulia.

Year-over-year, nationwide rent prices were up 5.1 percent in October, while asking prices were up 2.9 percent during the same period when including foreclosures.
Out of the top 25 rental markets in the United States, Houston led with a 16.5 percent yearly increase. Miami and Oakland took the next two spots with a 10 percent gain in rent prices, Trulia reported.
Denver was ranked number 4 with a 9.4 percent increase and Seattle fifth for its 8.8 percent improvement. Read more ...

Borrowers With Sub-660 Credit Scores

Borrowers With Sub-660 Credit Scores

 Face Big Hurdles

While standards for FHA loans have stayed about the same as they were in 2006, banks claim, borrowers with credit scores lower than 660 are facing a tougher time in getting approved, according to a new survey by the Federal Reserve of 68 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.

The majority of the domestic banks surveyed said that their lending standards for approving an application for a Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages are about the same as they were in 2006. But borrowers with credit scores lower than 660 may have a more difficult time getting approval, according to the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on bank lending practices. Read more ....

Mortgage Rates Back Near All-Time Lows

Mortgage Rates Back Near All-Time Lows

Under signs of a growing economy and low inflation, fixed-rate mortgages inched down this week and are hovering near their record lows, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. 

Here’s a closer look at average mortgage rates for the week ending Nov. 1:  Read more ...

Fannie, Freddie Streamline Short-Sale Approvals

Fannie, Freddie Streamline Short-Sale Approvals

Beginning Nov. 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gave nine private mortgage insurers the ability to approve short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure for distressed home owners without requiring a separate review. The move is expected to reduce delays, costs, and uncertainty involved in processing short sales and deed in lieu, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Under the new agreement with the private mortgage insurers, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) will allow the insurers to approve short sales or deed in lieu of foreclosure who have a Freddie or Fannie-backed loans without requiring a “separate and potentially time-consuming review” by the mortgage insurance companies, according to a news release. Read more...

Will the Upcoming Election Shed Some Light

Will the Upcoming Election Shed Some Light on Shadow Inventory?

Ever since the notorious subprime mortgage meltdown and subsequent collapse of the housing market in 2007-2008, many of the nation’s lenders have found themselves loaded down and plagued with a plethora of foreclosed real estate holdings.

Not wanting to create an influx of inventory in what had been an unambiguous buyer’s market for several years, lenders were hesitant to overstep the delicate tenets of supply and demand for fear that such a step would further reduce property values, diminishing their ability to recoup housing costs and possible ROI.

This “retreat” from the market resulted in a surplus of what is commonly known as the “shadow inventory.” Frustrated with how the market’s been trending, both buyers and lenders are just now beginning to actively seek out real estate transactions, but their previous inactivity has resulted in a stalemate of sorts, leaving the market sluggish and in desperate need of a kick-start. Read more ....

VA Guarantees 20 Million Loans and Counting

VA Guarantees 20 Million Loans and Counting

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced it has reached a major milestone: It has guaranteed 20 million home loans since launching its loan program in 1944. 
“The 20 millionth VA home loan is a major milestone and is a testament to VA’s commitment to support and enhance the lives of Veterans, Service members, their families and survivors,” says Allison A. Hickey, VA’s undersecretary for Benefits. “As a result of their service and sacrifice, as a group, they prove to be disciplined, reliable, and honorable—traits that are ideal for this kind of national investment.” Read more....

40 Out of 42 Counties Post Monthly Price Gains

40 Out of 42 Counties Post Monthly Price Gains

In September, home prices improved in nearly all of the largest counties throughout the United States as tracked by DataQuick.

According to the company’s new Property Intelligence Report (PIR), home prices grew in 40 out of 42 counties month-over-month, while prices improved in all 42 counties from the previous quarter and over the last year.

DataQuick suggested the PIR is displaying evidence the recovery in housing is underway, but the PIR found an uneven recovery, with some areas facing risk factors, such as high REO inventory.

Gordon Crawford, VP of analytics for DataQuick, highlighted changes in Maricopa County, where house price growth was the highest on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. From September 2011 to September 2012, prices in Maricopa County grew 20.23 percent. Read more..

3.8% Tax: What's True, What's Not

3.8% Tax: What's True, What's Not

Rumors about the 3.8% Medicare tax continue to circulate. Here's the definitive word on what's true and what's not on how the tax impacts real estate.

OCTOBER 2012 | BY ROBERT FREEDMAN

 Ever since health care reform was enacted into law more than two years ago, rumors have been circulating on the Internet and in e-mails that the law contains a 3.8 percent tax on real estate. NAR quickly released material to show that the tax doesn’t target real estate and will in fact affect very few home sales, because it’s a tax that will only affect high-income households that realize a substantial gain on an asset sale, including on a home sale, once other factors are taken into account. Maybe 2-3 percent of home sellers will be affected.

Nevertheless, the rumors persist and the latest version that’s circulating falsely say NAR is advocating for the tax’s repeal. But while NAR doesn’t support the tax (it was added into the health care law at the last minute and never considered in hearings), it’s not advocating for its repeal at this time.
The characterization of the 3.8 percent tax as a tax on real estate is an example of an Internet rumor, says Heather Elias, NAR’s director of social business media. Elias and Linda Goold, NAR’s director of tax policy, sat down for a discussion of how the tax works and how Internet rumors work and you can find their remarks in the 6-minute video below. Watch the video....

Shrinking Supply of Distressed Homes

Shrinking Supply of Distressed Homes  Makes Room for Homebuilding

 A steady drop in distressed home sales may spell a better future for builders, Capital Economics analyst and property economist Paul Diggle says.

In a US Housing Market Update released by the firm, Diggle notes that while “a substantial overhang of properties still in the shadow inventory” will keep distressed sellers in the market, the peak in distressed supply appears to be well behind us, giving homebuilders more room to grow with less competition from discounted existing homes.
“The continued drop in the supply of distressed homes on the market is encouraging homebuilders to break ground on more sites,” Diggle said.
Distressed sales made up 22 percent of all sales in September, down from 33 percent at the start of 2012, the update says. Furthermore, September’s share of distressed sales is the lowest reading in the five-year history of the data. Read more..

Nondelinquent Borrowers

Nondelinquent Borrowers Soon to Be Eligible for Short Sales

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have issued new rules, which will take effect Nov. 1, that will allow short sales for underwater borrowers who have never missed a mortgage payment. Previously, Fannie and Freddie allowed only home owners who had missed payments to qualify for a short sale.

Eligible borrowers under the new rules will need to show a hardship to qualify for a short sale, however. Hardships may include unemployment or a death of a spouse. 

Inman News points out one potential flaw to the new rule, however: The nondelinquent home owners who undergo a short sale will likely take just as big a hit to their credit score than if they had missed loan payments and gone into a foreclosure. Read more...

Investors Still Buying Up Properties in Bulk

Investors Still Buying Up Properties in Bulk

Shortage of Foreclosures could be because of this reason or could it:

Large corporate investors are continuing to buy up thousands of single-family homes to turn them into rentals and money-making ventures. 

And institutional investors are expected to become an even bigger force in the housing market in the coming months. Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. became the first entity to seek an IPO for its single-family home real estate trust, hoping to raise $287.5 million for its IPO. Colony Capital plan to invest $1.5 billion in the single-family rental market in the upcoming year, officials told USA Today. 

Fannie Mae is pressing forward with its bulk sales program, expecting to unload nearly 2,000 homes in bulk sales to investors to lighten its portfolio of foreclosed houses.  Read more...

Homes Are Selling Faster

Homes Are Selling Faster

Inventories of for-sale homes aren’t the only thing that is dropping. The amount of time homes are staying on the market is growing shorter as well—down 11 percent in the last year—according to the latest Realtor.com data.

Homes were listed on average 95 days, according to September housing data. That is down from 107 days a year earlier. Home buyer demand is increasing, with housing affordability still high and ultra low mortgage rates that have pushed home buyers’ purchasing power higher. Read more..