Category Archives: Bedford Corners NY

Fed Renews Vow to Keep Rates Low | Bedford Corners Real Estate by robert paul realtor

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Fed Renews Vow to Keep Rates Low

Daily Real Estate News | Wednesday, March 14, 2012
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The Federal Reserve sounded more upbeat about the direction of the economy, citing signs of an improving job market and increased household spending, according to a statement released after the Fed’s annual policy-making committee meeting. 

The Fed said they expect “moderate economic growth,” but threats still remain, such as a sluggish housing market.  The Fed renewed its commitment at the meeting to keep interest rates at record-lows. 

The committee “is clearly shifting its stance away from blanket gloom to something more realistic, but they have a long way to go,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, told The New York Times.

The Fed has vowed to continue to keep short-term interest rates near zero until late 2014, possibly longer. The Fed also has been stockpiling Treasury securities, which may even reduce borrowing costs more too. Mortgage rates have been at — or hovering near — all-time record lows for several weeks. 

Source: “In Otherwise Dour Report From Fed, the Tiniest Touch of Optimism,” The New York Times (March 13, 2012)

via realtormag.realtor.org

5 Housing Markets Showing Price Appreciation | Bedford Corners NY Homes

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While home prices are starting to show more signs of stabilizing, some states are already seeing prices start to climb. The states with the highest price appreciation in January, according to new data released by CoreLogic, are: 

  • South Dakota: prices rose 5.7%
  • North Dakota: up 4%
  • West Virginia: up 4%
  • Montana: up 3.6%
  • Michigan: up 3%

Not all states fared as well for the month, however. According to CoreLogic’s report, overall home prices in January, which includes distressed sales, dropped 3.1 percent compared to a year earlier. 

“Although home price declines are slowly improving and not far from the bottom, home prices are down to nearly the same levels as 10 years ago,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

The states that saw the biggest price depreciation in January was Illinois, where home prices were down 8.7 percent for the month.

via realtormag.realtor.org

Foreclosure Backlogs Starting to Clear, Report Says | Bedford Corners Homes

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Foreclosure starts rose 28 percent while foreclosure sales soared 29 percent in January compared to the previous month, according to the latest Lender Processing Services’ January Mortgage Monitor report.

The rise in foreclosures in January is a sign that foreclosure backlogs are beginning to clear, which is considered a positive, necessary step in the real estate market’s recovery, housing experts say. Lenders slowed processing foreclosures in 2010 when a robo-signing scandal surfaced, resulting in a backlog of foreclosures that prevented home prices from making a full recovery, experts say. 

“It is a definite shift in that direction,” an LPS spokeswoman said about the spike in foreclosures sales and starts in January. “We could be seeing the beginning of something, and we should most certainly be keeping our eyes on this over the next few months.”

RealtyTrac, another company that tracks foreclosure data, reported that foreclosure filings in January rose 3 percent. 

“We continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw,” Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac, had said about his company’s report. 

According to LPS, the states with the highest number of seriously delinquent mortgages in January are: Nevada, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, and Georgia.

via realtormag.realtor.org