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Mortgage interest rates have fallen this year to historical lows and with them so have the costs of home ownership. Regardless of a borrower’s loan amount, bargain-basement interest rates have brought a home buyer’s monthly mortgage payment down to levels never seen in history. Weekly I produce a short video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where it is headed Continue Reading → Mark Fleming, Ph.D., Chief Economist for CoreLogic, in a presentation yesterday, said the housing market is not out of the woods yet as the potential of a double-dip in our economy increases and as 30 to 40 percent of economists feel there is a chance of another recession. Continue Reading → The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for August shows a decrease of 1.2 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 7.7 percent increase from a year ago. This is the second consecutive month the index has decreased from the month before and, while the year over year numbers are still better, this month’s year over year increase was only half of what last months was. Continue Reading → First-time home buyers receive a forgivable 3% cash assistance loan (CAL) for down payment and closing costs. The Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) provides a competitive interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate 1st mortgage. Your 3% advance loan is treated as a 2nd mortgage completely forgivable after five years of continuous occupancy. The current rate for the CAL is 4.25%.* A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of July 2011 declined slightly from 1.7 million units in April to 1.6 million units, and was down from 1.9 million units a year ago. This current shadow inventory represents a 5 month supply. CoreLogic includes in it’s shadow inventory numbers properties that are either 90+ days delinquent on mortgages, in some stage of foreclosure, or an REO but not presently for sale in an MLS. St. Louis home prices increased 4.6 percent in July from the month before but were down 3.6 percent from a year ago. The median home price in July 2011 in the five-county core of the St. Louis market (St Louis City & County, St. Charles, Jefferson & Franklin Counties) was $140,000. This put’s St. Louis home price performance above the Case-Shiller home prices announced this morning for the 20 largest metro’s in the U.S. (St. Louis is not included) which showed a 0.9 percent increase from the month before and a 4.1 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 August 2011 showing a decrease of 2.3 percent from the month before, and an increase of 6.1 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for August was 295,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 302,000 the month before and is a rate that if we finish 2011 at will make 2011 new home sales the lowest since the Commerce Department began keeping track of sales in 1963. Signs point to trouble ahead for the housing market as recent growth in foreclosure filings suggest REO Inventories may balloon in coming months according to the Radar Logic July 2011 Monthly Housing Market Report. On the heels of a couple of upbeat articles I’ve been able to write about the market, I get hit with the glumness of this one….ugh. However, as I have said before, I have a lot of respect for this company and have found their market forecasts to be reasonably accurate, unfortunately. Weekly I produce a short video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where Continue Reading → There aren’t quite as many loan programs as there are borrowers, but it seems like it sometimes! We’ll work with you to qualify you for the best loan program to fit your needs. But there are some general considerations you can have in mind in advance. Are you refinancing to lower your rate and monthly payments? Then your best option might be a low fixed-rate loan. Maybe you have a fixed-rate mortgage now with a higher rate, or maybe you have an ARM — I keep saying that, until the foreclosure rate gets back down closer to a “normal” rate and the REO inventory is absorbed to the point where they are no longer putting such immense downward pressure on home prices, we are not going to see any sort of sustainable recovery in the housing market. It all starts with mortgage delinquencies, and as those go so go foreclosures and REO inventory ultimately. Having said that, we have some good news: A “first-look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, Continue Reading → Trulia released the results of its American Dream survey today, which showed that, despite the tough economy and challenged housing market we are in, home ownership is still central to the American Dream. In fact, 70 percent of American’s said home ownership is a part of achieving the American Dream. Last month I talked about how in 1959 the census bureau first started keeping track of new home construction activity and reported that there were 1.5 million new homes started that year and that, “unless something changes dramatically, 2011 will hit a new record low of new home starts. Well, unfortunately, the report for August paints a pretty bleak picture as well and in fact, shows new home starts are at an even lower rate than last month dropping from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 423,000 homes the prior month to 417,000 homes in August. The U.S. Census Continue Reading → Fannie Mae’s Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group says that we are not out of the woods yet and that the economy is “flirting with another economic downturn” now after more than two years since the worst recession since the World War II era. Fannie Mae Chief Economist, Doug Duncan, said “the weakening economic backdrop, a persistently high unemployment rate, and fear of a double-dip recession are casting a shadow over the housing market.” Weekly I produce a short video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where Continue Reading → National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) President, Ron Phipps, wrote a letter to Shaun Donovan, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury Department and Edward DeMarco, Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency with suggestions on how to improve the Real Estate Owned (REO) asset disposition programs for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA. NAR, like many other housing related associations and organizations, submitted letters in response to the government’s request for information on how to deal with the REO problem. The top five mistakes consumers make when refinancing their home loan were revealed by LendingTree Network’s newly released “Monthly Lender Marketplace Survey”. According to the survey, the top 5 mistakes made by consumers refinancing their home loans are: Over-estimating the value of the home: With home values dropping in today’s market, borrowers typically over-value their home, causing borrowers to receive higher-than-expected loan offers. Continue Reading → St. Louis foreclosure activity increased in August by 29.09 percent from July with 1 of every 682 St. Louis homeowners having a foreclosure filing according to RealtyTrac’s foreclosure market report that was just released. As the chart below depicts, of the eight largest counties in the St. Louis metro area all but Madison County Illinois saw an increase in foreclosure activity in August with Macoupin County Illinois leading the way with a 113 percent increase. To find foreclosures in your area click here. Las Vegas, Nevada is the best place in America to buy at rental property at this time according to the newly released “HomeVestors-Local Market Monitor Best Markets to Invest in Rental Property” report. St. Louis came in at number 50 and Kansas City at number 37. A report released today by CoreLogic shows that 17.30 percent (99,792) of all St. Louis homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position in the second quarter of 2011, up slightly from 17.10 percent the prior quarter. Negative equity is also referred to as being “underwater” or “upside down” and refers to homeowners that owe more on their mortgages than the current value of their home. Sixty-nine percent of American’s polled in Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey in August said that now is a good time to buy a home, this is up from 66 percent the prior month. Consumers are not in a home buying mode as a result of feeling good about the economy however as in the survey 78 percent said the economy is on the wrong track, up from 70 percent in July. Weekly I produce a short video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where Continue Reading → The St Louis foreclosure rates was 1.62 percent for June 2011, down from 1.71 percent the month before and up from June 2010 when the rate was 1.44 percent, according to a newly released data from CoreLogic. As usual, the St Louis foreclosure rate is significantly lower than the national foreclosure rate, which was 3.46 percent for June 2011. Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke, while speaking at the Federal Reserve Board Policy Forum last week, discussed the effect on the housing market that properties acquired by banks and lenders through foreclosure (REO’s) and suggested that if some of this inventory was converted to rental property by the lenders, this may have a positive effect on the housing market. On October 1, 2011, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will implement new single-family loan limits as specified by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). As a result, FHA will reduce loan limits in the highest cost metropolitan areas of the country, while limits would remain unchanged in most other parts of the nation. In my opinion, the capital gains tax exclusion that was granted to homeowners under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, is the single best, wealth-building opportunity, that’s ever been made available to the average American. That’s because, under Section 121, of the Internal Revenue Code, a single homeowner can exclude, up to $250,000, from the sale of their principal residence, from capital gains tax, and a married couple, filing a joint tax return, can exempt up to $500,000. The only requirement is that a homeowner must have owned and occupied their home, for a total of twenty-four out of Continue Reading → Weekly I produce a short video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where Continue Reading → As mortgage rates have dropped this year, so have the costs of homeownership. At every given loan size, bargain-basement interest rates have brought monthly mortgage payments to levels never seen in history. It’s a great time to buy a home. It’s an even better time to refinance. This isn’t cheerleading. This is fact. As a homeowner, your “total cost of homeownership” is tied to your mortgage. The higher your mortgage rate, the more interest you pay over time. And regardless of your mortgage interest tax-deductibility, over 30 years, mortgage interest accrues into something fierce. HUD released its U.S. Housing Market Conditions report for the 2nd quarter of 2011 which stated “housing data for the second quarter of 2011 indicate that the recovery in the housing market continues to remain fragile.” This did not come as a surprise, but what I did find a little surprising was the report showed that the market for new homes performed better than that for existing homes. The number of new homes sold rose in the second quarter and the year-over-year median sales price of new homes was up slightly. In contrast, the number of existing homes sold in Continue Reading → |
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