According to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) released yesterday for the past week, interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased 5 basis points (1/20th of 1%) to 4.13 percent , the highest rate they have been at during 2016. Last year at this time the PMMS showed average interest rates at 3.95 percent so, while rates have increased over the past year, the amount has been fairly small. Continue Reading →
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New mortgage applications for a home purchase declined last week 7.0 percent from the prior week, according to a report just released by the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA). The MBA’s Market Composite Index, which is how they track the volume of loan applications, fell to it’s lowest level for home loans for a purchase since January 2016. Continue Reading → Over the past 5 years or so I have written a few articles on the topic of the mortgage interest deduction (MID) and how, in spite of what many others in the industry say, I didn’t think it was that critical to the housing industry. All the while, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) (of which I’m proud to be a member, just happen to disagree on this topic) has staunchly supported the MID and warned that if the deduction went away the housing market and home buyers would suffer. NAR published a fact sheet on the topic stating: Repealing Continue Reading → Last week, National Mortgage News, published an article on a report which indicated home prices and homeownership rates are “out of whack”. Continue Reading → For couples planning to get married before you spend the time doing the bridal registry thing at stores, picking out housewares, china and perhaps some other things you don’t really need or won’t use, consider putting a house on your list! Continue Reading → One of the more controversial topics to discuss within the REALTOR community is the topic of agent bonuses, a bonus that a seller, by way of the listing broker, would pay to the agent that sells their home, over and above the normal sales commission. Sometimes seller’s, or their listing agents, see this as a way to draw more attention to their listing and to encourage buyer’s agents to show it and sell it. However, there are many conflicting opinions on this topic within the industry which creates some confusion for seller’s (and buyer’s for that matter), so I thought I would take some time to discuss it. Continue Reading → The number of homeowners that are “seriously underwater”, or in a negative-equity position (meaning they owe more on their home than it is currently worth), increased during the 2nd quarter of this year, according to a report just released by Attom Data Solutions. During the 2nd quarter of 2106, 17.8% of the homeowners, with a mortgage, in the St Louis MSA were in a negative equity position, up from 16.6% the quarter before and up just slightly from 17.4% during the 2nd quarter of 2015. Continue Reading → Mortgage interest rates have been falling since last Thursday when the referendum passed for the United Kingdom to exit the European Union. As the chart below shows, interest rates on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage today averaged 3.44%, a new 52-week low and a decline of nearly 3/4 of 1 percent from a year ago when they were 4.20%. Continue Reading → Home mortgage loan originations in the St Louis metro area declined during the first quarter of this year to 5,843 total loan originations for purchase mortgages, a decline of 16 percent from the prior quarter when there were 6,976 purchase mortgage loan originations, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. Continue Reading → In mid-April the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced a new program aimed to help homeowners with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan that are seriously underwater on equity, meaning that their mortgage balance is at least 115 percent of the current value of their home. This new principal reduction modification program offers, to those that qualify, a one-time reduction in the balance of their mortgage to bring them out of a negative equity position. Continue Reading → A recent article by STL Today indicated that home affordability in St Louis had fallen, specifically noting that affordability in St Louis County had fallen below historic “norms”. As is always the case with stats, it depends upon which data you are taking into account and the accuracy of the data. I decided to take a look at the data and see if my data showed the same result as the STL Today article. Continue Reading → In the St Louis area there were 44,674 (7.9 percent of all residential properties) with negative equity, or underwater, during the 4th quarter of 2015, according to a report just released by Corelogic. This is a decline of 18.6 percent from the year before when there were 54,604 St Louis homeowners in a negative equity position (9.7 percent of all residential properties) . Continue Reading → For those that have been reading my articles for a while, you know I am not a Pollyanna when it comes to the real estate market, opting instead to tell it like it is, even when the news is not so encouraging. For that reason, as well as the data behind my opinion, I think my suggestion that now is a good time to buy a home in St Louis should be considered to be a credible opinion from an industry insider. Continue Reading → Before I begin, I should point out that what I’m about to tell you runs contrary to what the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the largest trade association in the country and one I belong to and support, will tell you. The NAR position on the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is, quoting from their website, “the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is a remarkably effective tool that facilitates homeownership.” Continue Reading → The St Louis real estate market performed well in 2015 and, by all indications, 2016 should be an even better year for the St Louis real estate market! Continue Reading → I have the honor of serving as chairman of the St Louis Industry Forum which consists of leaders of professional and trade associations that are engaged in some aspect of the real estate industry in St Louis (such as REALTORS, Builders, Mortgage Lenders, Bankers, etc) and at our bi-monthly meetings millennial’s are often the topic of conversation with regard to this generations thoughts on home ownership vs. renting, where they want to live and other related matters. Continue Reading → As of the end of the 3rd quarter this year, seven percent of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position meaning their current mortgage balance exceeds the current value of their home, according to a report just released by Corelogic. Continue Reading → According to a report just released by TransUnion, the mortgage delinquency rate for borrowers that are 60 days or more delinquent, declined almost 30 percent during the 3rd quarter of 2015 from a year ago. During the third quarter of this year, the mortgage delinquency rate was 2.40%, down from 3.36% during the third quarter of 2014. Continue Reading → No, in spite of the fact this is October, this article is not about Halloween nor the zombies associated with it, instead, it’s about vacant homes that have delinquent mortgages but have not yet been foreclosed upon yet, which the industry has applied the term of “zombie” to. Continue Reading → Since the real estate market bubble burst in 2008, the number of foreclosed homes that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has had to manage and sell to investors and new home owners has increased significantly, averaging around 100,000 homes sold per year and hitting a peak of 111,416 HUD homes sold during fiscal year 2013. Continue Reading → There were 123,546 St Louis homeowners with negative equity, or in a seriously underwater condition on their mortgage meaning they owe more than the current value of their home, in the St Louis MSA during the 2nd quarter of 2015 according to the most recent data by RealtyTrac. This works out to 17 percent of all St Louis metro area homeowners with a mortgage being underwater on their mortgage which is an improvement from 21 percent just 2 quarters prior. Continue Reading → On October 3rd some new regulations with regard to home mortgages and loan closings will go into effect that have the mortgage and real estate industry in a little bit of a panic. As a result of passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act there is a major overhaul to the lending industry in the works. Continue Reading → The Federal Reserve Bank of New York just released it’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the 2nd quarter of 2015 in which some encouraging facts were revealed with regard to the home mortgage market, including: Continue Reading → In case you are concerned the real estate industry is not subject to enough regulation, do not let your heart be troubled as new regulations imposed by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was signed into law back in 2010, affecting home mortgages go into effect October 3, 2015. Continue Reading → One year ago today, the small city of Ferguson gained international attention after Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an incident which spurred weeks of violence and property destruction in Ferguson. This delivered a blow to the Ferguson real estate market which was still struggling to recover from the housing bubble burst in 2008 which had severely impacted the area. Continue Reading → The number of St Louis homeowners that are underwater, or have negative equity in their homes, has shown an upward trend lately, while those St Louis homeowners that are “equity rich” has trended downward. Continue Reading → For the month of May, 2015, less than 3 percent (2.95%) of St Louis mortgages were seriously delinquent (90+ days) marking a slight decline from the month before and a decline of 13 percent from a year ago, according to data just released by CoreLogic. Continue Reading → St Louis bank and government owned home sales are down as banks and government enterprises such as Fannie Mae, FHA, VA and Freddie Mac whittle down their inventory of foreclosed homes while, at the same time, new mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure rates continue to decline. While this is Continue Reading → Over two million (2.2 million) boomerang buyers may re-enter the housing market as home buyers over the next five years as their credit recovers to the point where they can obtain a home mortgage again, according to a study just released by Trans Union. According to the study, 700,000 of those buyers will be eligible for mortgages this year alone. Boomerang buyers are described as homeowners who lost their home in foreclosure, did a short sale, deed in lieu or had some other serious negative credit action with regard to their home mortgage, such as becoming 60 days or more Continue Reading → That’s right, Zombies are very real and very present in St Louis…at least Zombie foreclosures that is! That’s right. According to a foreclosure zombie report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, St Louis made the list of “Top 10 Zombie Foreclosure Rates Among Major Markets”, coming in at number 6 on the list with 1 of every 1,627 housing units being a zombie foreclosure. In the number 1 spot on the list was Tampa Florida where 1 of every 217 housing units is a zombie foreclosure (the complete list, and infographic, is below). Continue Reading → |
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