Regional performance data appears the the bottom of the article.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Home Sales Get a Much Needed Boost
NATIONAL REALTY NEWS reports on a Freddie Mac announcement - the full text of the article appears below:
Home Values Up in Several Parts of the Country; Thirteen States Registered Price Gains
Regional performance data appears the the bottom of the article.
Regional performance data appears the the bottom of the article.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Prices Up In Certain Markets
August 7, 2008
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Real Estate Outlook: Prices Up In Certain Markets
by Kenneth R. Harney
When you're in a long, slow recovery period in real estate, even the slightest hint of good news can be significant.
We saw that last week, when the controversial Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price index came out.
You may have seen the headlines or watched the gloomy news reports on TV: Prices were down again -- this time by nearly 16 percent year to year -- in 20 of the largest U.S. markets.
Now even if you accept the validity of that index as a measure of what's really going on in prices nationwide -- and we have always had serious doubts about it -- when you scratch below the surface of the latest monthly report, you find some surprisingly positive developments that got little or no media attention.
Number one: Prices in seven of Case-Shiller's top markets actually were UP for the month. They include Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Portland and Dallas.
Number two: The month to month change for the entire index was a minus nine tenths of one percent. We all know the index is disproportionately weighted toward the most volatile, high-cost markets of the boom years, so when the monthly change is less than one percent, it begins to look like the curve is finally flattening out.
That's definitely positive news, especially coming from the most bearish source in the real estate marketplace.
In other economic developments affecting housing this week, recession fears were put off for still another quarter, as the U.S. economy continued to expand and defy the doomsayers. The Gross Domestic Product (or GDP) rose at a 1.9 percent rate in the second quarter, up from nine tenths of one percent in the first quarter.
Mortgage rates dropped to 6.46 percent for 30 year fixed rate loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Fifteen years rates slid below the 6 percent mark again, down from 6.1 percent last week. Both are lower than year ago levels.
The main negative at work at the moment is the unemployment rate, which jumped again last month and now stands at 5.7 percent. However, the Labor Department just revised its employment numbers upward by 26,000 for the prior two months. As a result, according to forecast economist Dr. Orawin Velz of the Mortgage Bankers Association, "the decline in employment in the past two months is less severe than originally reported."
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Copyright © 2008 Realty Times. All Rights Reserved.
.
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Real Estate Outlook: Prices Up In Certain Markets
by Kenneth R. Harney
When you're in a long, slow recovery period in real estate, even the slightest hint of good news can be significant.
We saw that last week, when the controversial Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price index came out.
You may have seen the headlines or watched the gloomy news reports on TV: Prices were down again -- this time by nearly 16 percent year to year -- in 20 of the largest U.S. markets.
Now even if you accept the validity of that index as a measure of what's really going on in prices nationwide -- and we have always had serious doubts about it -- when you scratch below the surface of the latest monthly report, you find some surprisingly positive developments that got little or no media attention.
Number one: Prices in seven of Case-Shiller's top markets actually were UP for the month. They include Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Portland and Dallas.
Number two: The month to month change for the entire index was a minus nine tenths of one percent. We all know the index is disproportionately weighted toward the most volatile, high-cost markets of the boom years, so when the monthly change is less than one percent, it begins to look like the curve is finally flattening out.
That's definitely positive news, especially coming from the most bearish source in the real estate marketplace.
In other economic developments affecting housing this week, recession fears were put off for still another quarter, as the U.S. economy continued to expand and defy the doomsayers. The Gross Domestic Product (or GDP) rose at a 1.9 percent rate in the second quarter, up from nine tenths of one percent in the first quarter.
Mortgage rates dropped to 6.46 percent for 30 year fixed rate loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Fifteen years rates slid below the 6 percent mark again, down from 6.1 percent last week. Both are lower than year ago levels.
The main negative at work at the moment is the unemployment rate, which jumped again last month and now stands at 5.7 percent. However, the Labor Department just revised its employment numbers upward by 26,000 for the prior two months. As a result, according to forecast economist Dr. Orawin Velz of the Mortgage Bankers Association, "the decline in employment in the past two months is less severe than originally reported."
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Copyright © 2008 Realty Times. All Rights Reserved.
.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
MARKET CONDITIONS - NEXT MORTGAGE CRISIS
A Realty Times article from New York Times data that suggests we are not out of the woods yet.
A SECOND ROUND IN THE FUTURE?
Doesn't exactly give you that warm feeling, does it?
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A SECOND ROUND IN THE FUTURE?
Doesn't exactly give you that warm feeling, does it?
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Saturday, August 2, 2008
Charitable Downpayment Assistance Legislation
August 1, 2008
The FHA bill passed by congress and signed by Bush this week eliminated charitable downpayment assistance like Ameridream and Nehemiah.
Last night, Congress introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 6694 that would reauthorize and reform charitable downpayment assistance. This bill would remedy a harmful provision in the new housing law which limits homeownership opportunities for low and middle-income Americans. The legislation, sponsored by U.S. Reps. Al Green (D-TX), Gary Miller (R-CA), Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Christopher Shays (R-CT) reauthorizes and reforms charitable downpayment assistance funded in part by sellers, which has helped over one million families and individuals become homeowners since 1999. The program was eliminated by legislation signed by President Bush on July 30, 2008.
The Green-Miller-Waters-Shays plan would re-authorize and reform non-profit downpayment assistance and secure it as an allowable source for FHA borrowers. The bill seeks to ensure that providers of the downpayment assistance operate in a transparent manner to guard against conflicts of interest. The bill also includes language to ensure that FHA maintains its financial stability by permanently authorizing the Secretary to assess higher premiums to higher risk borrowers.
It is important that you contact your elected officials in Congress and tell them that you support downpayment assistance and urge them to support H. R. 6694. To reach your elected officials, please call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121.
To learn how you can support it, visit http://www.supporthomeownership.com.
We can only hope Congress will look favorably upon this bill.
.
The FHA bill passed by congress and signed by Bush this week eliminated charitable downpayment assistance like Ameridream and Nehemiah.
Last night, Congress introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 6694 that would reauthorize and reform charitable downpayment assistance. This bill would remedy a harmful provision in the new housing law which limits homeownership opportunities for low and middle-income Americans. The legislation, sponsored by U.S. Reps. Al Green (D-TX), Gary Miller (R-CA), Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Christopher Shays (R-CT) reauthorizes and reforms charitable downpayment assistance funded in part by sellers, which has helped over one million families and individuals become homeowners since 1999. The program was eliminated by legislation signed by President Bush on July 30, 2008.
The Green-Miller-Waters-Shays plan would re-authorize and reform non-profit downpayment assistance and secure it as an allowable source for FHA borrowers. The bill seeks to ensure that providers of the downpayment assistance operate in a transparent manner to guard against conflicts of interest. The bill also includes language to ensure that FHA maintains its financial stability by permanently authorizing the Secretary to assess higher premiums to higher risk borrowers.
It is important that you contact your elected officials in Congress and tell them that you support downpayment assistance and urge them to support H. R. 6694. To reach your elected officials, please call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121.
To learn how you can support it, visit http://www.supporthomeownership.com.
We can only hope Congress will look favorably upon this bill.
.
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