Daily Archives: February 6, 2014

30-year-mortgage rate falls to 4.23% | Armonk NY Homes

 

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.23% in the week that ended Feb. 6, hitting the lowest level since November, from 4.32% in the prior week, according to a Thursday report from federally controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac/quotes/zigman/226335/delayed/quotes/nls/fmccFMCC-1.69%. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 3.53%. “Mortgage rates fell further this week following the release of weaker housing data,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie’s chief economist, citing a recent drop in a gauge of upcoming home sales, among other reports. The average rate for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.33% in the latest week from 3.40% in the prior week. Meanwhile, the rate for a 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 3.08% from 3.12%. The rate for a 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM fell to 2.51% from 2.55%.

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-year-mortgage-rate-falls-to-423-2014-02-06-9915956?siteid=yhoof2

 

Mortgage Rates Fall For Fifth Straight Week | Mt Kisco Realtor

The bond rally of 2014 continues to carry over into mortgage rates, which fell for a fifth straight week. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate dropped to 4.23% this week from 4.32% a week ago and 4.53% in the first week of January, according to Freddie Mac’s (FMCC) latest weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. A year ago that rate stood at 3.53%. The average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rate also fell to 3.33% from 3.40% a week earlier, up from 2.77% a year ago.

A similar 30-year mortgage rate measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest weekly survey fell to 4.47% from 4.52%, a week earlier. That survey also showed mortgage applications increased by 0.4% in the week.

 

http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2014/02/06/mortgage-rates-fall-for-fifth-straight-week/?mod=yahoobarrons&ru=yahoo

Spain Property Market Outlook 2014: Home Price May Fall By Another 15% | North Salem NY Real Estate

After five years of double-dip recession, Spain’s economy seems to have stopped sinking. But the recovery will be a prolonged one. Despite having fallen almost 40 percent since the housing bubble burst in late 2007, home prices in the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy are expected to drop by another 10 percent to 15 percent before they stabilize.

“Recovery in the housing sector in Spain hinges on an improvement in employment and access to credit, both of which are prey to uncertainty,” Souheir Asba, an analyst at Societe Generale, said in a note.

Here are the reasons why Asba thinks Spain’s property market has yet to hit the bottom.

While a recent trend indicates an improved appetite for distressed Spanish real estate assets, it’s not significant enough to call for a revival of the market.

Spain has finally overcome a slump triggered by the end of the real estate boom. The country emerged from recession in the third quarter of last year and its economy expanded 0.3 percent in the final three months of 2013, the fastest rate of quarterly growth in almost six years.

The Spanish government expects gross domestic product in Real Estate to grow by about 0.7 percent this year, and for job growth to resume in the second or third quarter, including the buying and renting market. You can even check out villas to rent in Spain here on this website and get to live your life in the most comfortable way ever.

The fact that investors are once again buying up Spanish government bonds is a big vote of confidence. As a result, the government is now paying much lower interest rates to borrow money. Yields on 10-year treasury bonds are down to 2006 levels.

http://www.ibtimes.com/spain-property-market-outlook-2014-home-price-may-fall-another-15-1553610

Swiss Housing Market Bubble Looms Closer | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

 

Switzerland’s property market is at greater risk of overheating, raising the question as to whether authorities have done enough to curtail the boom.

The UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index rose to 1.23 points in the fourth quarter from 1.2 points in the third, according to a statement from UBS AG (UBSN) today.  A reading above 2 indicates a bubble.

“The potential for correction has increased further,”Matthias Holzhey and Claudio Saputelli at UBS in Zurich said.

The Swiss National Bank (SNBN)’s policy of zero rates, in place since August 2011, has kept down the cost of taking out a mortgage. Coupled with high immigration from neighboring European countries that has fueled a strong increase in real estate prices in Switzerland.

Growth in mortgages has exceeded that of economic output since 2009, and last year price gains of homes and apartments outstripped advances in incomes, according to the central bank.

Concerned Switzerland could fall victim to a real estate crisis similar to that of the 1990s, the government last year forced banks to build up a countercyclical buffer of 1 percent of mortgage-related assets. After that failed to prevent a further deterioration of the mortgage market, it last month doubled the requirement to 2 percent. Even so, it refrained from raising it to the maximum 2.5 percent. Banks have until June 30 to comply.

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-05/swiss-housing-market-bubble-looms-closer-ubs-says.html

China’s housing market is looking ugly | Cross River NY Real Estate

China’s surging property market might finally have hit the skids.

Sales have “showed a sharp decline” (paywall) in January, compared to Dec. 2013, according to China Confidential, a Financial Times research outfit, even when controlling for softness due to the Chinese New Year holiday. Official data show prices still high in December (the last month for which data were available), but those will likely be dragged down in the coming months.

A big blow to global markets

Housing investment is a big engine of China’s economy. And though slower growth could help end China’s dangerous reliance on credit-backed investment, an abrupt slowdown will freak out global markets and throttle commodity prices.

 

Devastating for China’s financial system

Property-sector loans accounted for one-third of total loans last year, equaling $380 billion. A slowdown would mean that real estate developers, many of whom borrow through shadow finance channels, would struggle to pay back retail investors who effectively loaned to them via wealth management products (more on those here). A lot of that investment has flowed one way or another through China’s shadow banking system, the unregulated credit that allows banks to shunt loans to dodgy borrowers.

But the threat to China’s financial system is much broader than that. Untold billions in corporate borrowing are supported by property used as collateral. There’s a cottage industry of auditors willing to appraise unoccupied or under-development property at whatever value is deemed necessary to get a bank manager to extend a loan. (In many cases, the borrower will turn around and lend to another business at a higher interest rate.) The fact that prices keep going up means there’s nothing challenging those face-value assumptions. A slump in prices would put a big dent in the value of that collateral.

http://qz.com/174029/chinas-housing-market-is-looking-ugly-which-is-scary-for-its-financial-system/#174029/chinas-housing-market-is-looking-ugly-which-is-scary-for-its-financial-system/

Puget Sound area home prices up as much as 17% in January | South Salem NY Real Estate

 

With more houses on the market and sales prices rising, the housing market is “definitely in full recovery mode” in the Puget Sound area, a Realtor said Wednesday.

The median price of King County houses and condos that sold in January was nearly $364,900, or 17 percent higher than in January 2013, according to the latest report from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Median sale prices in Pierce and Snohomish counties rose 12 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

“We are finally going to be looking at the ‘housing crisis’ in the rear view mirror,” said Mike Gain, CEO and president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate. “In 2014 we are definitely in full recovery mode.”

The inventory of residences on the market, while improving, continues to be a source of worry, he said.

“Lots of buyers and not enough of the right inventory to satisfy our buyers’ wants and needs,” was how Gain described current conditions. “Following the worst year for inventory I have seen in my 35 years of practicing real estate locally, we are expecting the number of homes for sale to increase in 2014.”

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2014/02/05/puget-sound-home-prices-up-as-much-as.html

Canada housing agency sees stable starts, prices in 2014 | Katonah NY Real Estate

 

Canada’s federal housing agency nudged up its forecast for housing starts and prices in 2014 and said sales and construction will be steady to higher in 2015 as an improving economy tempers the impact of rising mortgage rates.

The view from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp suggests the nation’s once-roaring housing market is settling into a soft landing, with construction moderating to more sustainable levels and sales and prices ticking slowly higher.

The CMHC said on Thursday housing starts will be in a range of 176,600 and 199,800 in 2014, with a point forecast, or most likely outcome, of 187,300 units, relatively unchanged from 187,923 units in 2013. That is up slightly from CMHC’s October estimate of 184,700 starts.

The agency said there will be 163,200 to 206,600 units started in 2015, with a point forecast of 184,900.

Both forecasts represent a sharp slowdown from the 214,827 starts of 2012, when the market was at record highs and the government intervened to tighten mortgage lending rules.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/06/canada-economy-housing-idUSL2N0LB0V520140206