St Louis Real Estate NewsDaily St. Louis real estate news, market analysis, home prices, and mortgage rate updates from local industry professionals. |
There have been many changes in the mortgage banking industry in the last couple of years. New regulations and laws now stipulate exact procedures, timetables and specific lending requirements to obtain a home mortgage. Mortgage bankers must obtain a federal license and state licenses for every state in which they originate loans.
These changes in lending policies are designed to protect and aid borrowers when making mortgage decisions to purchase or refinance a new home.
A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows negative equity, after decreasing for the three prior quarters, increased in the fourth quarter of 2010 for residential properties. The CoreLogic reports that 11.1 million, or 23.1 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 10.8 million and 22.5 percent in the prior quarter.
Radar Logic is a company that publishes a home price index (the RPX Index) that is based upon the price per foot homes are selling for, versus actual sale prices of homes. RPX publishes a daily RPX Composite price index for 25 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. based upon this square foot methodology and this morning the RPX Index, based upon sales that closed in the 28 day period ending January 3, 2011, came in at $183.18 per square foot, which is 34 percent lower than when it peaked during the boom at $278.32 per foot, and is the Continue Reading →
Here’s our St. Louis Real Estate Market Update for March 4, 2011 with a quick overview of what’s happening in our market. Remember, for more in-depth information, or information geared specifically toward your individual situation, please contact us or go to St. Louis Real Estate Market Stats and Reports.
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A report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows that the rate of serious mortgage delinquency (90+ days) in January was 8.90 percent, a slight increase from 8.83 percent in December and a 18.8 percent decrease from a year ago.
Seller concessions can be any negotiation where the seller, builder, developer or any interested party gives something up to the buyer…The concession can help lower or eliminate the amount a borrower is required to bring to the closing table. In some cases, a seller-paid concession can mean the difference between closing a home sale and losing one.
Not providing a current mailing address to the Assessors office can cost you your home
Mohammad Bhatti learned this the hard way. Bhatti, a resident of the City of St. Louis, purchased a property at 3243 Pennsylvania in 2005 to rehab and resell. From court records I reviewed it appears that the city had the property address as Mr. Bhatti’s mailing address rather than where he was actually living. This is something that would ultimately cost Mr. Bhatti to lose his property at 3243 Pennsylvania, which he claims to be worth $169,900, over $1,452.06 in delinquent property taxes.
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.
New regulations signed into law by the President allow HUD to increase the amount of premiums charged for FHA single family housing mortgage insurance programs. Assistant Secretary of Housing & Federal Housing Commissioner, David H. Stevens, has authorized an increase to help build back FHA’s capital reserves to their statutory level. There will be no increase in the Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (UFMIP): UFMIP for purchase money mortgages remains at 1.0%.
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. ”
St. Louis MORTGAGE RATES for February 16, 2011:
Conventional 30-Year Fixed 5.125% Conventional 15-Year Fixed 4.25% Conventional 5/1 ARM 3.750% FHA/VA 30 Year Fixed 5.00% Jumbo 5/1 ARM 3.875% Jumbo 15 yr Fixed 4.625% Jumbo 30 yr Fixed 5.750% 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 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 →
“It seems like we will be making house payments forever. We owe $140,000 at 6% interest and are paying $1000 a month. How much sooner could we pay it off if we started paying an extra $100 a month?”
The above is a hypothetical question, but it could be you. There are two answers: the quick one and the dig deeper one. By clicking a few buttons on a financial calculator we discover the quick answer is 21 months; paying an extra $100 will reduce the payoff from 20 years to 18 years and 3 months.
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.
Missouri Housing Development Commission offers first-time home buyers a forgivable 3% Cash Assistance Loan (CAL) for down payment and closing costs. Terms of this program include:
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 →
A federal grand jury indicted a Brookwood man yesterday on wire fraud and false statement charges related to a more than $1 million mortgage fraud scheme in the Birmingham area, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
A 34-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges SCOTT ERIC PERRY, 34, with 17 counts of wire fraud and 17 counts of making false statements to lending institutions in connection to real estate transactions between February and December, 2006.
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.