The Fannie Mae Fourth Quarter National Housing Survey polled homeowners and renters alike to assess their confidence in homeownership as an investment as well as their views on housing finance and the overall economy. The survey revealed that Americans are more confident about the stability of home prices than they were at the beginning of 2010, although they aren’t so confident about the strength of the overall US economy.
Dennis Norman
The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for January shows a decrease of 2.8 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 1.5 percent decrease from a year ago. The good news however is that the St. Louis area (five-county area including city of St. Louis and counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) saw a 1.51 percent in pending home sales in January from the month before and a 3.30 percent increase from a year ago.
It’s hard to miss the fact that the US Census Bureau just released some of the results of the 2010 census for our area. It’s been all over the media about St. Charles County’s population surpassing the City of St. Louis and moving it into the spot of the third largest county in the State.
Being the data junkie I’ve become I decided to tear into the numbers and see how the 2010 data compared with the 2000 data to see what changes have taken place in the last decade and see what I could glean from the data to Continue Reading →
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for January 2011 showing a decrease of 12.6 percent from the month before, and a decrease of 18.6 percent from a year ago.
The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for January was 284,000 homes. The supply of new homes on the market increased from an adjusted 7.0 month supply in December to a 7.9 month supply in January. The median new home price decreased for the month to $230,600 a 1.8 percent decrease from a revised median price of $235,000 the month Continue Reading →
RealtyTrac released their foreclosure report for 2010 showing that foreclosure homes accounted for nearly 26 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the year. This is down from 2009 when 29 percent of all sales were foreclosure homes.
Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in January were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 5.36 million units which is an increase of 2.7 percent from December and is an increase of 5.3 percent from a year ago.
Dennis Norman
Today the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for December was released and supports last months report saying a double-dip in home prices was headed our way. The report shows home prices declined by 3.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2010.
The Mortgage Bankers Association released the results of it’s National Delinquency Survey for the 4th quarter of 2010 and it shows very mixed results. On the positive side of things, overall mortgage loan delinquency in the U.S. has dropped to 8.22 percent which is the lowest rate since 4th quarter 2008 when the rate was 7.88 percent. On the flip side of the coin, the overall foreclosure rate for the quarter was 4.63 percent which ties the highest rate on record which was hit in the 1st quarter of 2010.
Today, CoreLogic released its “U.S. Housing and Mortgage Trends Report” which stated “their research indicates that the most popular measure of existing home sales is overstated by 15 percent to 20 percent. ”
The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for January 2011 showing a 4.8 percent decrease in single-family home building permits from December, and a 1.0 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before.
Much has been written (including by me) about the negative impact foreclosures and other distress sales have on home prices so this is no new issue. In fact, most readers have probably seen (or felt) the impact of this in their own neighborhood.
The charts below which show the percentage of mortgages that were 90 days or more past due and in foreclosure for 2007 through 2010 illustrate well just how ugly this issue is. In the lower left hand corner of each chart is depicted the national house-price index through the period and it is easy to see that Continue Reading →
This past Friday Federal Reserve Board Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin spoke at the 2011 Midwinter Housing Finance Conference about the powerful impact the housing and mortgage markets have had on the nation’s economy recovery.
Governor Raskin began by point out that, “speaking strictly in an economic sense, the recession that emerged in 2008 is over.” She then followed by saying “I know that the millions of Americans still looking for work, living in cars or motels, or trying to keep their businesses out of bankruptcy would beg to disagree.” Gov Raskin went on to state that our economy is in Continue Reading →
St. Louis bucks the national foreclosure trend…in the wrong way..
Earlier today I wrote that the U.S. foreclosure rate for January was up 1 percent from December and down 17 percent from the year before….unfortunately the numbers for St. Louis are not that good at all and in fact much worse. According to data released by RealtyTrac, the St. Louis Metro Area foreclosure rate in January 2011 rose almost 9 percent from December (8.76 percent) and was up 14.77 percent from January 2010.
According to a survey from Coldwell Banker Real Estate, 87 percent of first-time home buyers want to buy a “move-in-ready” home. First-time buyers have indicated they want to buy a home that is affordable, but they are not looking for the “fixer-uppers” as much as past buyers may have been.
RealtyTrac released their foreclosure report for January 2011 showing there were foreclosure filings in January on 261,333 U.S. properties, a 1 percent increase from December but a 17 percent decrease from January 2010.
Today, CoreLogic released its December Home Price Index (HPI) showing that home prices in the U.S. declined for the fifth-straight month. The report shows home prices declined by 5.46 percent in December 2010 compared with December 2009.
St. Louis home prices fell by 8.74 percent in December 2010 compared with December 2009, a decline of over 60 percent higher than the national home price decline. Home prices for the state of Missouri fell 8.82 percent during the period, slightly higher than St. Louis and high enough to put Missouri at number 5 in the country for home price declines for Continue Reading →
Today Richard W. Northcutt, a California real estate investor, pleaded guilty to conspiring with a group of real estate speculators who agreed not to bid against each other at certain public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Joaquin County. According to the court documents the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to suppress and restrain competition and to obtain selected real estate offered at these foreclosure auctions at non-competitive prices.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) back in August, 2010, published proposed “guidance” related to private transfer fee covenants that applied to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Banks (the “regulated entities). The message in this guidance was that private transfer fees are bad and those regulated enterprises should stay away from lending on real estate subject to such covenants.
Yesterday my wife received a letter from the condo association for a complex she owns a rental in with “OWNER ALERT!!!!!!!” (yes, that many exclamation points) at the top of it in big letters. The reason for the “alert” was to let condo owners know that FHA certification for this condominium complex expired December 31, 2010 (as it did for many complexes across the country) and that, in order to be eligible for FHA-insured financing the complex would have to obtain re-certification.
Now, in this particular case, the board is using this as a scare tactic to try to convince Continue Reading →
RealtyTrac released their foreclosure report for 2010 which showed some mixed results. During 2010 there were 2,871,891 foreclosure filings in the U.S., an increase of 1.67 percent from 2009. However the metro areas with the 10 highest foreclosure rates all saw decreases in foreclosure filings in 2010 from the year before, in fact six of the ten metros even had decreased foreclosure activity from 2008.
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced the temporary waiver of the “anti-flipping” rule has been extended through December 31, 2011. In my opinion the “anti-flipping” rule was a bad idea to start with and in the current housing market the last thing we need is anything to discourage investors from buying homes so this is a good move by FHA.
Dennis Norman
The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for December shows an increase of 2.0 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 4.2 percent decrease from a year ago.
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for December 2010 showing an increase of 17.5 percent from the month before, but a decrease of 7.6 percent from a year ago.
The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for December was 329,000 homes, a 17.5 percent increase from November’s revised rate of 280,000 homes. The supply of new homes on the market decreased from an adjusted 8.4 month supply in November to a 6.9 month supply in December. The median new home price increased for the month to $241,500 whopping 12.0 Continue Reading →
Dennis Norman
Today the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for November was released and confirms concerns that I have discussed previously that the housing market is headed for a double dip in home prices.
The report revealed that home prices decreased in 19 or the 20 metro areas covered by the report from their October levels and only four of the metro’s showed a year-over-year price gain in November.Furthermore, nine metros – Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Portland (OR), Seattle and Tampa – hit their lowest levels since home prices started to fall in 2006 and 2007.
Dennis Norman
The St. Louis foreclosure rate shot up 7 percent in November to 1.67 percent, according to a report published by CoreLogic. The report also shows that the rate of serious mortgage delinquencies in St. Louis (90+ days delinquent) increase slightly to 5.18 percent in November from 5.17 percent the month before.
A “first-look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, is somewhat encouraging as it shows the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (not including foreclosures) for December was 8.83 percent which is a decrease of 2.1 percent from November’s rate of 9.02 percent.
Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS(R) shows St. Louis area existing home sales for December were 3.1 percent higher than a year ago and St. Louis area home prices in December were 7.8 percent higher than the year before.
Nationally, existing home sales in December were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 5.28 million units which is an increase of 12.3 percent from November and is a decline of 2.9 percent from a year ago. Preliminary numbers for 2010 show 4,908,000 existing homes sold which is a decrease of 4.8 percent from 2009 when Continue Reading →
The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for December 2010 showing a 5.5 percent increase in single-family home building permits from November, but a 9.0 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before.
You finally reach a deal with a buyer to sell your house, or strike a deal with the seller of your dream home, only to see the deal fall apart later when the house doesn’t appraise for the price that has been agreed upon…what are you to do? This is a plight that has become all too common today for many buyers and sellers. Why? Several reasons….appraisers have, after being blamed by many for causing or contributing to the downfall of the housing market, understandably so become cautious and somewhat conservative when putting a value on a home today. Not Continue Reading →
A report released by CoreLogic showed that the St. Louis foreclosure rate increased in October marking the fourth-consecutive month of increases. The report shows St. Louis to have a foreclosure rate in October of 1.58 percent, a slight increase from September’s 1.57 percent, however an increase of over 11 percent from a year ago. The foreclosure rate in the U.S. in October was 3.33 percent, an increase of 14 percent from the year before.