May 18, 2011 (Shirley Allen) Lender Processing Service (LPS) released its monthly “First Look” Mortgage Report for April 2011 yesterday, which is derived from its loan-level database of nearly 40 million loans. The month-end data shows that mortgage delinquency rates increased in the month of April as foreclosure inventories declined. Read more...
May 18, 2011 (Shirley Allen) Housing starts fell 10.6 percent nationwide in April to a seasonally adjusted rate of 523,000 units, with housing starts for single-family homes dropping 5.1 percent, and multi-family housing starts dropping a whopping 24.1 percent according to newly released figures from the Commerce Department. Read more...
May 17, 2011 (Jeff Alan) Distressed property sales made up 54 percent of California’s resale market in April 2011 according to DataQuick, while sales of new and resale homes and condos was down 3.3 percent compared to March, and 6.1 percent below sales in April, 2010. Read more...
May 17, 2011 (Shirley Allen) Freddie Mac is offering a new round of buyer assistance on homes in its HomeSteps foreclosure inventory now through July 31, 2011. The HomeSteps Summer Sales Promotion is being offered nationwide and provides closing cost assistance for the buyer and a bonus for the selling agent. Read more...
May 16, 2011 (Jeff Alan) Future sales expectations from the nation’s homebuilders dropped two points in May, from 22 to 20, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single family homes remained unchanged at the low level of 16. [...]
May 13, 2011 (Chris Moore) The massive delays in processing foreclosures threaten to prolong the effects of the current housing crisis and delay the ability of the housing market to recover. Like a ticking time bomb, the number of properties in the foreclosure inventory continues to expand as the amount of time it takes to [...]
May 13, 2011 (Chris Moore) The housing bust, and subsequent housing price crash, has crimped Americans penchant of using their homes as piggy banks. Over the past 25 years, 62 percent of refinanced loans were “cash-out” loans where the borrower increased their loan balance by five percent or more, but now according to the latest [...]
May 12, 2011 (Shirley Allen) The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced they will speed disaster relief assistance to areas of Mississippi, Minnesota, and North Dakota, providing support to homeowners and low-income renters who have been forced from their homes following heavy flooding last week. Read more...
May 12, 2011 (Shirley Allen) Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which shows mortgage rates declining for the fourth consecutive week. Mortgage rates for the 30-year fixed-rate averaged 4.63 percent, and the 15-year fixed averaged 3.82 percent, their lowest levels yet in 2011. Read more...
