Low 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Not Reviving The Housing Market As Homeowners Do Not Qualify For Refinances

15 08 2011

The turmoil in the financial markets has been pushing mortgage rates lower. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages have now fallen to about 4.3 percent, which is very close to the lowest level on record.But many Americans can't qualify for those low rates, and analysts say these historic interest rates aren't likely to do much to help the housing market.


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Categories : Fannie Mae, Financing, Freddie Mac, Housing Market, Mortgage Industry, Refinance, Underwriting

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac And FHA Now Own Half Of All Foreclosed Properties And Obama Administration Is Seeking Proposals On How Best To Shrink Inventory

10 08 2011

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie, will issue the formal "request for information" with the administration to solicit proposals that shrink the glut of foreclosed properties weighing on the residential market.


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Categories : Bank-Owned, Defaults, Delinquencies, Fannie Mae, Federal Government, FHA, Foreclosures, Freddie Mac, Housing Market, HUD, Statistics

Fannie Mae Survey Shows More Americans Expect Home Prices To Decline In Next Year As Optimism Fades

9 08 2011

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
Homeownership and Renting

  • On average and consistent with June, Americans believe home prices will decline slightly over the next year.
  • Only 11 percent of respondents say it is a good time to sell one’s home (similar to May and June 2011 survey results).
  • Despite Americans’ expectations that rental prices will go up in the next 12 months, fewer Americans say they would buy their next home (down 5 percentage points) and more of those surveyed say they would rent (up by 3 percentage points).

Household Finances

  • For the third month in a row, optimism about personal finances has declined, with 35 percent of respondents expecting their finances to get better over the next year (down from 40 percent in April).
  • Consistent with June, 20 percent of respondents report significantly higher household incomes over the past 12 months, while 17 percent report significantly lower incomes.
  • As compared to past months, four times as many Americans report significantly higher household expenses (up from 37 percent in June to 40 percent in July) as significantly lower expenses (10 percent).

For more:  http://www.fanniemae.com/media/pdf/2011/nhs-monthly-data-082011.pdf


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Categories : Economic Statistics, Fannie Mae, Housing Market, Mortgage Industry, Purchases, Statistics, Surveys

Morgan Stanley Housing Report Sees Restrictive Lending Limiting Owner-Occupied Purchases, Rental Costs Rising As Home “Effective Home Ownership Rate” May Drop Below 60%

8 08 2011

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  • There are about 2.2 million vacant homes available for sale in the U.S.
  • 7.5 million homes are facing foreclosure that would add to the excess housing supply
  • This will continue to cause home values to drop further
  • The homeownership rate fell to 65.9 percent as of June 30, the lowest level in 13 years
  • Home ownership peaked at 69.2 percent in June 2004, the Commerce Department reported July 29
  • The effective homeownership rate would drop below 60 percent if delinquent buyers who are expected to lose their houses to foreclosure are removed from the total
  • “Mortgage credit remains tight, making home purchases more difficult, while rental demand is accelerating, causing rents to rise quickly,”
  • “If nothing is done soon, we will find ourselves in a situation where owner-occupied housing becomes unobtainable due to lack of credit, while rental housing becomes unobtainable due to rising costs.”

For more:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-08/bulk-buying-would-ease-u-s-housing-crisis-morgan-stanley-analysts-say.html


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Categories : Delinquencies, Economic Statistics, Home Sales, Home Values, Housing Market, Mortgage Industry, Purchases, Short Sales, Statistics, Underwriting

Foreclosure Update: Fannie Mae Disposed Of 13.3% More REO’s In 2nd Quarter 2011 But Believes Delays In Foreclosure Process Will “Delay The Recovery Of The Housing Market”

5 08 2011
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  • Fannie Mae acquired 53,697 single-family real-estate owned (REO) properties, primarily through foreclosure, in the second quarter of 2011
  • This compared with 53,549 in the first quarter of 2011
  • Fannie Mae disposed of 71,202 single-family REO in the second quarter of 2011
  • This was a 13,3% increase over the 62,814 REO in the first quarter of 2011
  • As of June 30, 2011, the company’s inventory of single-family REO properties was 135,719
  • This represented a 11.4% decrease from the 153,224 REO as of March 31, 2011
  • The carrying value of the company’s single-family REO was $12.5 billion, compared with $14.1 billion as of March 31, 2011.

The changing foreclosure environment has significantly lengthened the time it takes to foreclose on a mortgage loan in many states, which has slowed the pace of Fannie Mae’s REO property acquisitions. The increase in foreclosure timelines also has increased Fannie Mae’s credit-related expenses and negatively affected its single-family serious delinquency rates. Fannie Mae believes these changes in the foreclosure environment will continue to negatively affect its foreclosure timelines, credit-related expenses, and single-family serious delinquency rates. Moreover, Fannie Mae believes these changes in the foreclosure environment will delay the recovery of the housing market because it will take longer to clear the housing market’s supply of distressed homes, which typically sell at a discount to non-distressed homes and therefore negatively affect overall home prices.

For more:  http://www.fanniemae.com/media/pdf/newsreleases/q22011_release.pdf;jsessionid=L4ZZUGKM20MSZJ2FQSISFGA


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Categories : Fannie Mae, Foreclosures, Home Sales, Housing Market, Mortgage Industry, REO Insider, REO's, Statistics

Mortgage Loan Underwriting: Research Demonstrates That “Sound Underwriting And Dcoumentation”, Not Higher Down Payments, Is Key To Lower Foreclosure Rates

4 08 2011

For more:  http://www.realtor.org/topics/qrm?cid=WR08022011:25814&ed_rid=602394

 


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Categories : Economic Statistics, Fannie Mae, Federal Government, FHA, Financing, Foreclosures, Freddie Mac, Housing Market, Mortgage Industry, Mortgage Insurance, Statistics, Underwriting

30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Move Below 4% For First Time As 10-Year Treasury Yields Drop To 2.62% On Weakening Economy

3 08 2011

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  • The yield on the 10-year Treasury note plunged to 2.62% on Tuesday — down from more than 3.7% in February
  • Mortgage rates followed and reached their lowest point since November 2010, according to the real estate website Zillow
  • 30-year fixed-rate loans average 4.5% with no upfront costs
  • The 30-year fixed is 4.125% with 1 point and paying upfront fees
  • For the first time 3.875% on 30-year fixed loans is available for 3 points and paying upfront points and fees

For more:  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/08/anyone-want-a-30-year-fixed-rate-mortgage-for-less-than-4-home-loans-at-that-seemingly-hallucinatory-rate-were-out-there-t.html


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Categories : Economic Statistics, Financing, Housing Market, Mortgage Industry, Rates, Statistics

Freddie Mac Reports That “Cash Out Refinances” Fall To 23% Of Total In 2nd Quarter 2011, Down 50% From Historical Average; “Rate-And-Term” Refinances Reduce Note Rates By Average 1%

2 08 2011

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  • In the second quarter of 2011, 77 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either maintained about the same loan amount or lowered their principal balance by paying-in additional money at the closing table. Of these borrowers, 51 percent maintained about the same loan amount, and 26 percent of refinancing homeowners reduced their principal balance.
  • “Cash-out” borrowers, those that increased their loan balance by at least five percent, represented 23 percent of all refinance loans; the average cash-out share during the 1985 to 2010 period was 46 percent.
  • The median interest rate reduction for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was about 1 percentage point, or a savings of about 18 percent in interest rate. Over the first year of the refinance loan life, these borrowers will save over $1,550 in interest payments on a $200,000 loan.
  • The net dollars of home equity converted to cash as part of a refinance of a conventional, prime-credit home mortgage was an estimated $7.5 billion in the U.S. during the second quarter, similar to the first quarter level but substantially less than during the peak cash-out refinance volume of $83.7 billion during the second quarter of 2006. Taken together over the first two quarters of 2011 and adjusting for inflation, the amount of equity cashed-out was at the lowest level in 15 years, since the second half of 1996.
  • Among the refinanced loans in Freddie Mac’s analysis, the median value change of the collateral property was a negative 7 percent over the median prior loan life of five years. In comparison, the Freddie Mac House Price Index shows about a 25 percent decline in its U.S. series between March 2006 and March 2011. Thus, borrowers who refinanced in the second quarter owned homes that had held their value better than the average home, or may reflect value-enhancing improvements that owners had made to their homes during the intervening years.

Quotes

Attributed to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist:

  • “This is primarily a ‘rate-and-term’ market, meaning that the typical homeowner is looking to cut their interest rate or shorten their loan term. More than three-in-four borrowers are keeping their loan balance about the same or reducing their loan balance when they refinance.
  • “Savvy homeowners are taking advantage of some of the lowest fixed-rates in more than 50 years to lock in interest savings. Over the first half of 2011, fixed-rate mortgage rates hit a low during June, with 30-year product averaging 4.50 percent and 15-year averaging 3.68 percent over the last four weeks of June, according to our Primary Mortgage Market Survey.”

For more:  http://freddiemac.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=12329&item=48719


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Categories : Financing, Freddie Mac, Housing Market, Mortgage Industry, Refinance

Housing Industry: U.S. 2nd Quarter “Gross Domestic Product” (GDP) Slows To 1.3% Annualized Rate As Consumer And Government Spending Decreases

1 08 2011

U.S. GDP grew at an annualized rate of 1.3 percent in the second quarter, subdued by weakened consumer spending tied to Japanese auto-related products. More worrisome, however, was the sharp downward revision to first quarter output from 1.9 percent to just 0.4 percent. This significant drop in first quarter figures was led by steep reductions in government spending.


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Categories : Economic Statistics, Housing Market, Statistics

A New Study By Pew Research Center Finds “Housing Bust” Has Reduced “Household Wealth” Of Black And Hispanic Americans More Than White Americans (Video)

27 07 2011

As the economy struggles to rebound, a new analysis of Census data shows a widening wealth gap among white, black and Hispanic Americans. Gwen Ifill discusses the results of a new study with the Pew Research Center’s Paul Taylor and Howard University’s Roderick Harrison.


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Categories : Economic Statistics, Federal Government, Foreclosures, Home Values, Housing Market, Reports, Statistics, Surveys

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