Real Estate Market
August 11, 2011
Featured Story
MSRs on the Market Are on the Rise
By Paul Muolo
If there was ever any doubt that the mortgage market is in the midst of a restructuring, consider this: roughly $260 billion of mortgage servicing rights are currently up for grabs.
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Jobless Data and Rally in Stocks Reverse Course of Record-Low Rates
By Bonnie Sinnock
Relatively favorable jobless claims and a rally in the stock market early Thursday reversed the course of mortgage rates, causing them to bounce back from what Freddie Mac’s latest weekly survey confirms have been a record lows.
| FLHBs Want a Pass on Risk Retention By Brian Collins The Federal Home Loan Bank System is seeking an exemption from pending risk retention rules so they can continue to provide risk-sharing mortgage programs that they claim have exhibited “superior credit performance” for more than a decade. |
| Consumer Lawyer Questions HAMP’s Impact By Lew Sichelman An Obama Administration official and a Seattle attorney squared off at the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators annual meeting in San Francisco, with one claiming that “dual track” servicing has all but ended but the other saying that’s not the case, at least not in the Puget Sound area.
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Category : Blog &Mortgage &Real Estate Market
August 3, 2011
| Featured StoryMore Firms Keeping MSRs: Here’s Why By Paul Muolo One tenet of real estate investing is that you never should sell a home in a down market. And one tenet of mortgage banking has always been that you don’t sell servicing rights in a down market either. |
| Low Rates Boost Apps By Brad Finkelstein Lower mortgage rates, driven by the debt ceiling negotiations and bad economic news, led to a 7.1% increase in application volume the week ended July 29, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But, an economist with the group pointed out, refinance volume is still 30% lower than it was at this time last year. |
| Rates Plunge, Will Loan Volumes Rally? By Paul Muolo The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to 2.57% Wednesday — compared to just under 3% last week – as stocks plunged in both the U.S. and overseas markets. |
| Insurers See Mixed Results on Returns for Commercial Mortgages By Brad Finkelstein Life insurers saw a 68 basis point improvement in returns on their commercial mortgage investments in the first quarter when compared with the fourth quarter, according to the LifeComps Commercial Mortgage Performance Index. But when looked at against the first quarter 2010, returns are 253 basis points down. |
| Community Banks Want a Pass on National Servicing Standards By Kevin Wack Community bankers are pressing for a carve-out as lawmakers weigh whether to create national mortgage servicing standards. SpotlightServicing Portfolios Down
The top ten servicers showed a 5% decline in their portfolios as of June 30, 2011, compared to the year before.
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Category : Agents & Brokers &Blog &Mortgage &Real Estate Market
By: Clark Raitz
Although foreclosure houses pose stiff competition when it comes to sales, new dwellings did well in November all around the U.S. Latest housing industry data showed that sales of new homes surged by 5.5% for the month when compared with October. According to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, around 290,000 new single family housing units were sold in November all around the country.
The nationwide figure presents an optimistic outlook for the local Los Angeles Real Estate market since the city has been one of the metro areas that have struggled to sell newly-built houses since the start of the foreclosure crisis. And although nationwide November sales were still down by more than 20% when compared with the same 2009 month, local realtors are optimistic that the national improvement will eventually trickle down to Los Angeles and the rest of California.
The improvement in new residential sales is considered significant since homebuilders are usually forced to compete with low-priced foreclosure houses in their areas. Although November showed a surge in new dwelling sales, their increase did not take much away from existing residential sales as the number of previously owned houses sold during the month also jumped compared with October.
Locally, realtors are predicting that the Los Angeles Real Estate industry will remain weak until next year despite national sales improvements. According to them, both national and local housing markets will not be able to make any headway towards a sustained recovery until the status of the job market improves. However, they did admit that a modest recovery in the housing industry is possible by next year as long as job creation continues its upward path.
They also stated that, unless another major economic crisis happens next year, Los Angeles and the rest of the U.S. have a big chance of stabilizing the housing market in 2011. They predict that more job openings will be available by this year which would mean more people seeking new homes and further improvements in home prices. However, recovery will be slow and will likely be hindered by huge supplies of foreclosure houses and tight lending requirements, analysts have asserted.
Author Resource:-> ForeclosureDataBank.com. Get a free foreclosure listings investment eBook with membership.
Article From Real Estate Pro Articles
Category : Blog &Real Estate Market
By: John Cutts
The huge supplies of cheap condos for sale and foreclosed residential properties are part of the burdens that are pulling the economy of Tennessee down, according to economists. The same problem is expected to occur in 2011, following a tumultuous 2010 period for the state’s housing market.
The number of foreclosures for sale in Hendersonville and in the rest of the region is expected to remain high this year, with values of real estate also expected to continue to decline. This, economists stated, is hurting county and city budgets since declining property values precipitate a decline in property tax revenues.
Despite predictions that Tennessee Foreclosures will continue to increase in the state, experts stated that the area’s economy is showing some signs of improvement. A report from the University of Tennessee claimed that 2011 will be a better year for the state, economy-wise. It stated that the improvement will be gradual this year, but will be stronger come 2012. Authors of the report also stated that any improvement will be slow, given that the economy will be coming from a very low base.
Although cheap condos for sale and foreclosure numbers will be much the same in 2011, other economic indicators are expected to post better numbers this year. One of the more significant is the non-farm job sector. Economists predict that jobs in this segment will rise by around 1.3%, the first time it is expected to improve since 2007.
Aside from the non-farm job market, other employment segments expected to expand are those in the business and professional services. This projected rise in jobs will hopefully offset the impact of foreclosure listings on the state’s economy. The report from the University of Tennessee also stated that revenue from sales taxes will increase by more than 5% this year and by 4.5% in 2012. Meanwhile, improvements in automobile sales are also expected to increase sales tax revenue this year.
Although foreclosures and cheap condos for sale supplies are projected to remain high, most economists are optimistic that the state’s economy will start recovering this year. Stronger employment in various sectors and higher tax revenues are expected to pull Tennessee through.
Author Resource:-> BuyForeclosuresSale.com.
Article From Real Estate Pro Articles
Category : Blog &Real Estate Market
By: John Cutts
Sales of residential properties, including repossessed homes, dropped in most areas of Texas in 2010 compared with 2009 levels. According to the Texas Association of Realtors, the decline in sales showed that the region is not insulated from the national economic downturn that affected most of the U.S. housing markets in 2010.
The number of houses, including Corpus Christi bank owned properties, that were sold in the whole state last year totaled 202,916, representing a 5% decline when compared with 2009 figures. The good news is that the median price of housing units sold last year improved by 1% when compared with 2009 median prices. Median rate for houses sold in 2010 was pegged at $147,600.
According to realtors, although the increase is only one percent, it shows that the region is doing much better than other U.S. markets despite the oversupply of bank owned homes in Texas. They stated that even a flat year-over-year median price would have been positive, given the condition of the country’s residential real estate industry.
For October-December 2010, the same trend was evident, with sales of non-foreclosed and repossessed homes declining from year-ago levels and prices rising over the same period. A total of 43,605 residential properties were sold in the state during October-December 2010, 18.9% lower than the sales total recorded in the 2009 fourth quarter. However, median price jumped by 3% for the quarter over the same 2009 period to a rate of $147,400.
Texas realtors stated that the big difference between sales in the fourth quarter of last year and the last quarter of 2009 is not as worrying as it appears. They stated that figures for the 2009 fourth quarter were inflated by the tax credit initiative of the federal government, which resulted in more bank owned real estate homes getting purchased by buyers. The tax credit was extended until the first six months of 2010, causing the gap between the comparable quarters to widen, realtors have added.
As of the 2010 fourth quarter, Texas is sitting on an inventory of unsold non-foreclosed and repossessed homes equivalent to 7.6 months of supplies. Despite the figure, realtors stated that the region is still in a much better position than other U.S. areas.
Author Resource:-> BankOwnedHome.net
Article From Real Estate Pro Articles
Category : Blog &Real Estate Market
