Monthly Archives: August 2013

Mortgage applications edge up slightly | Chappaqua Homes

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Mortgage applications barely edged up for the week ending August 2, with applications increasing only 0.2% from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Associationreported.

Similarly, the refinance index remained unchanged, while the purchase index rose 1% from the prior week.

As a whole, the refinance share of mortgage activity once again stayed frozen at 63% of total applications.

The average contract interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a conforming loan balance inched up to 4.61% from 4.58%.

Additionally, the 30-year, FRM jumbo remained unchanged at 4.64%.

The average 30-year, FRM backed by the FHA escalated to 4.33% from 4.30%.

Meanwhile, the 15-year, FRM fell to 3.66% from 3.67%, and the 5/1 ARM went unchanged at 3.39%.

 

Mortgage applications edge up slightly | 2013-08-07 | HousingWire.

Fannie Mae to pay Treasury $10.2B as housing prices rise | Armonk Homes

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Fannie Mae, the mortgage financier seized by U.S. regulators in 2008, will pay the Treasury Department $10.2 billion after reporting its sixth consecutive quarterly profit on continued recovery in the housing market.

The government-sponsored enterprise, which is operating under federal conservatorship, had net income of $10.1 billion for the three-month period that ended June 30, according to a statement released Thursday.

“Fannie Mae reported a strong second quarter in 2013 driven primarily by continued stable revenues and boosted by a significant increase in home prices in the quarter, which resulted in a reduction in the company’s loss reserves,” the company said in the statement.

After its latest payment, Washington-based Fannie Mae will have sent the Treasury a total of $105 billion, compared with the $117.1 billion of aid the company has received. Freddie Mac, which Wednesday reported a $5 billion quarterly profit, will have paid about $41 billion after drawing $72 billion.

Don Layton, Freddie Mac’s chief executive officer, said his McLean, Va.-based company may send Treasury as much as $28.6 billion within the next two quarters if tax credits it holds have value based on expectation of continued profitability.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have returned to profitability as the housing market recovered and they raised fees for loan guarantees. Fannie Mae’s net income last year exceeded that of companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., General Electric Co. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The two companies were seized in September 2008, shortly before the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the rescue of American International Group Inc., amid losses that pushed them toward collapse. They ceased this year paying 10 percent dividends that returned $65 billion to Treasury and now turn over any profits above a permitted capital reserve.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were created by the federal government before becoming publicly traded companies, buy mortgages from lenders and package them into securities on which they guarantee payments of principal and interest.

President Barack Obama on Aug. 6 called for the two companies to be replaced with a government mortgage reinsurer that would sustain losses only in catastrophic circumstances.

Hedge funds including Paulson & Co. Inc. have been pushing Congress to abandon plans to liquidate the companies as they buy up preferred stock that has been soaring after being considered worthless, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Some owners of preferred shares have sued the U.S. government, charging that some of the companies’ profits should eventually go to stockholders.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130808/BIZ/308080078#ixzz2bi7uV22s

 

Fannie Mae to pay Treasury $10.2B as housing prices rise | The Detroit News.

Home Prices Climb in 87% of U.S. Cities as Recovery Builds | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Prices for single-family homes climbed in 87 percent of U.S. cities in the second quarter as the national housing recovery accelerated amid competition for a limited number of properties on the market.

The median transaction price rose from a year earlier in 142 of 163 metropolitan areas measured, the National Association of Realtors said in a report today. A year earlier, 75 percent of regions had gains.

Values are increasing as homebuyers, encouraged by improving employment, compete for a tight supply of listed properties. At the end of the second quarter, 2.19 million previously owned homes were available for sale, 7.6 percent fewer than a year earlier, according to the Realtors group.

“There continue to be more buyers than sellers, and that is placing pressure on home prices, with multiple bids common in some areas of the country,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in the report.

The median price for an existing single-family home was $203,500 nationally in the second quarter, up 12 percent from a year earlier. That was the biggest gain since the fourth quarter of 2005, according to the Realtors group.

Cities with tight supplies of homes for sale had the strongest price growth, the Realtors said. Eight markets were added to the report in the quarter.

Biggest Gains

The best-performing areas were Sacramento, California, and Atlanta, where prices jumped 39 percent from a year earlier. Prices rose 36 percent in Fort Myers, Florida; 33 percent in Reno, Nevada; and 31 percent in Las Vegas.

 

 

Home Prices Climb in 87% of U.S. Cities as Recovery Builds (2) – Businessweek.

Vine & Instagram Have A New Short Video Competitor | Bedford Realtor

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Two days ago Brianna Wills wrote a great post talking about how Vine videos are a great way to market your eCommerce business. Today, I’d like to add an additional tool to your tool belt. Once Vine was released, Instagram saw the opportunity and released their version. It was different in that the video can be 15 seconds, instead of the 6.5 seconds that Vine offers.

YouTube has now entered the short video scene and released their own version. It’s called MixBit and it’s available on iOS devices.

When you make a video, it can be up to 16 seconds. Is it possible that the market wants longer video time? For Vine and Instagram users, this app is quite different in some regards. Here are some of those differences:

  1. Everything is anonymous – there are no usernames and no commenting available. (Will most likely come down the road.)
  2. You can edit the videos from within the app.
  3. You can share your videos on social networks.
  4. You can string together up to 256 clips into an hour long video. (videos of others and ones you own).

I’m excited to begin using MixBit on my iPhone. At the end of the summer, I’ll put together a bunch of the clips that my wife and I made during the summer. It will be like a wrap up of summer 2013. I think there are many applications for this. What do you think of MixBit? Will you use it for your business?

 

 

Vine & Instagram Have A New Short Video Competitor | Search Engine Journal.

Housing supply catches up with demand | Cross River Homes

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Those fearing the housing bubble apocalypse can finally breathe — it looks like home prices may begin to move laterally on a month-over-month basis moving forward.

While the median cost per square foot rose 14.9% year-over-year in July, inventory fell by almost 16% in the same period. Meanwhile, on a monthly basis, the median list price per square foot held steady from June to July, while the number of homes listed for sale increased.

The stagnant list price month-over-month is an indicator that the inventory supply is beginning to catch up with demand, according to the latest report from Movoto Real Estate.

Higher mortgage rates coupled with increased inventory will stunt price appreciation, slowing the quickly rising pace of home prices.

This goes hand-in-hand with the latest CoreLogic (CLGX)Case-Shiller report which states that slowly, as more and more homeowners consider selling their homes to lock in capital gains, the pressure that has been driving prices upward will subside. The report predicted that price appreciation will start to decelerate in 2014.

Currently, the real estate market is mixed, the report suggests. While sellers would be smart to list their homes in order to take advantage of the increase price per square foot, homebuyers would be wise to keep an eye on the monthly change in list price per square foot. June to July marked the first time this year that the price did not increase, which could imply the market is loosening, putting more power back into the hands of buyers, Movoto noted.

In 36 of the 38 cities tracked by Movoto, the median list price per square foot increased, up 14.9% year-over-year. The July 2012 median list price per square foot sat at $157; at the end of July, the median price jumped to $181.

However, before July, the median list price per square foot rose for six consecutive months, a negative sign for potential buyers looking to strike a deal. Fortunately for buyers, July put a stop to the price increase. While this is a good sign for homebuyers, data from Movoto indicated that there has been little change in the price between June and July over the past two years.

 

 

Housing supply catches up with demand | 2013-08-05 | HousingWire.

CoreLogic: July Prices to Increase 12.5 Percent | Westchester Real Estate

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July 2013 home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to rise by 12.5 percent on a year-over-year basis from July 2012 and rise by 1.8 percent on a month-over-month basis from June 2013m, the fastest pace since 1977, according to CoreLogic’s Pending HPI released this morning.

Excluding distressed sales, July 2013 home prices are poised to rise 11.4 percent year over year from July 2012 and by 1.3 percent month over month from June 2013. The CoreLogic Pending HPI is a proprietary and exclusive metric that provides the most current indication of trends in home prices. It is based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data that measure price changes for the most recent month.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 11.9 percent on a year-over-year basis in June 2013 compared to June 2012. This change represents the 16th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 1.9 percent in June 2013 compared to May 2013*.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased on a year-over-year basis by 11 percent in June 2013 compared to June 2012. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.8 percent in June 2013 compared to May 2013. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

“In the first six months of 2013, the U.S. housing market appreciated a remarkable 10 percent,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This trend in home price gains is moving at the fastest pace since 1977.”

“The U.S. housing market experienced robust price appreciation during the first half of 2013 and our forecast calls for double-digit growth through July,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Despite their rebound of late, home prices remain reasonable in a historical context, with most states near peak affordability levels.”

Highlights as of June 2013:

  • Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+26.5 percent), California (+21.4 percent), Wyoming (+16.7 percent), Arizona (+16.2 percent) and Georgia (+14.3 percent).
  • Including distressed sales, this month only two states posted home price depreciation: Mississippi (-2.1 percent) and Delaware (-1.1 percent).
  • Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+23.6 percent), California (+18.7 percent), Arizona (+14.1 percent), Utah (+13.8 percent) and Florida (+12.7 percent).

 

CoreLogic: July Prices to Increase 12.5 Percent | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Will rates kill the building rebound? | South Salem Real Estate

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McBride & Son had so many people waiting to buy houses in its new subdivision in south St. Louis County that it held a lottery last week to allocate the lots.

“We had 47 people give us checks,” McBride Chief Executive John Eilermann said. The lottery determined the order in which buyers could pick their home sites.

“I’ve been doing this 27 years, and that was the biggest demand I’ve ever seen,” said Eilermann of his new subdivision near Grant’s Farm.

Home building has been rising rapidly in St. Louis — although higher mortgage rates put the future in doubt.

From January through June, home construction permits were running 38 percent ahead of last year on the Missouri side of the area. Permits issued in June were up 66 percent from June 2012.

“The industry is healing. It’s getting better, and we’re putting more people back to work,” said Pat Sullivan, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri.

The association counts the hours that carpenters work building houses in St. Louis. At the current rate, carpenters will work 2.1 million hours this year, up from 1.4 million last year.

But that’s still far below the 4.7 million of 2005, before the housing bust. And it’s below the 5.4 million record set in the late 1980s.

 

 

Will rates kill the building rebound? : Business.

Richmond real estate market getting stronger | Waccabuc Real Estate

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The real estate industry has been showing signs of sustained growth over the past year.

That’s good news for an industry that has been in a severe contraction since the recession of 2007-2009.

Residential investment grew by double digit rates in the nation over the past four quarters ending with the 2013’s second quarter, according to the gross domestic product report released last week.

The second quarter housing report released by George Mason University for the Richmond Association of Realtors points to improvements in the Richmond metro area market as well.

Sales in the greater Richmond area — a broader statistical area of four cities and 12 surrounding counties — rose 12 percent compared with the same period in 2012.

In the Tri-Cities area, home sales grew at a double-digit rate in the second quarter compared with a year ago in all jurisdictions except Dinwiddie County.

 

The average days that a home was on the market before it is sold also has continued to inch downward in the broader statistical area. It is now 57 days compared with 76 day two years ago.

 

 

Christine Chmura: Local real estate market getting stronger – Richmond Times-Dispatch: Richmond’s Latest Business & Economic News.

Mortgage foreclosure filings fall 35% in July | Katonah Real Estate

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Mortgage foreclosure filings in July were about 35% lower than in the same month a year ago in southeast Wisconsin, extending a trend that has helped keep a general recovery in housing on course.

Court records show there were 581 filings in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha counties last month, compared with 896 in July of 2012. It was the lowest July total since before the housing slump and recession occurred.

Through the first seven months of 2013, mortgage foreclosure filings were down about 37% in the region, to 4,288 from 6,797 during the same span last year.

However, the 581 filings recorded in July were the most for one month since March of this year, when there were 636 filings.

The July filings decreased in all seven counties in southeast Wisconsin.

While bank-owned foreclosures have dropped, the City of Milwaukee is facing an increase in city-owned tax foreclosures. To date, the city holds title to well over 900 properties, with the prospect of several hundred more properties going into tax foreclosure by the end of the year.

The Common Council has taken steps to help homeowners avoid tax foreclosure. Specifically, homeowners have been given more time to pay back special charges owed to the city. The old policy required strapped homeowners to pay back the special charges in full.

 

 

Mortgage foreclosure filings fall 35% in July.

Small Dog’s Death Raises Concern About Coyotes | Mount Kisco Homes

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Concerns about a coyote invasion in Westchester County have been heightened since the animals attacked and killed one woman’s beloved dog.

As CBS 2’s Tracee Carrasco reported Monday night, a tiny backyard memorial has been set up for the small dog that lost her life to three vicious members of her own taxonomic genus.

“She was a Chihuahua-terrier mix, about 7 pounds; full of heart,” said Kristin Porteus.

But the tiny pup, Roxy, was no match for a pack of three coyotes last Friday morning.

Like any other day, Porteus let her three dogs into the backyard of her Mount Kisco home in Westchester County. But on this particular day, there were three coyotes right there waiting.

“Right around here, I saw a lot of commotion and Roxy was barking, and I saw two coyotes come,” Porteus said.

Two of Porteus’ small dogs were able to escape as she chased the coyotes out of her backyard. But Roxy could not get away.

Now, Porteus and other Mount Kisco residents have become worried that the brazen animals are becoming more aggressive. They are afraid the animals may attack a child next.

 

 

 

Small Dog’s Death Raises Concern About Coyotes In Westchester County « CBS New York.