The Home Front
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Financial Bailout: Who Received What
Continue reading… 27 CommentsCheck out this database outlining the companies that received TARP injections and how much they got. (via Patrick.net)
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Rep. John Conyers: 'Cram Downs' are Much-Needed, Fair
Continue reading… 2 CommentsRep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, took to the Op-Ed page of The Wall Street Journal Friday to rally support for his "cram down" legislation:
To those who claim that my bill will end up harming consumers by increasing the cost of credit, I would respectfully suggest that they are not taking account of the track record of the modern-day bankruptcy code.
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Mortgage Rates Dip to Attractive Levels
Continue reading… 2 CommentsThirty-year fixed mortgage rates dipped slightly this week to an average of 5.10 percent, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The retreat comes after rates bounced back from a record low weekly average of 4.96 percent, which they hit two weeks ago amid lower inflation and Federal Reserve moves to buy up mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates are down sharply from 6.46 percent in late October 2008.
[See Low Mortgage Rates: 7 Things You Need to Know to Refinance.]
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'Motivated Sales': A Bigger Piece of the Home Sales Pie
Continue reading… 1 CommentRadar Logic's Monthly Housing Market Report for November found that "motivated sales"--bank sales of foreclosed homes, for example--are accounting for a larger piece of the total home sales pie.
On the whole across Radar Logic’s 25 MSAs, motivated sales decreased on a month-over month basis for the second month in a row. In October, the 25-MSA motivated transaction count contracted for the first time in 2008, decreasing 3% relative to September. In November, motivated sales continued to contract, declining 7% from October levels. Notwithstanding the decrease in the 25-MSA motivated transaction count, motivated sales became a larger percentage of total sales. On the whole across the 25 MSAs, the quantity of other sales declined by 18% in November, while the quantity of motivated sales declined by 7%. Thus, while motivated transactions accounted for 28% of total sales in October, they accounted for 31% or total sales in November…
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MC Bailout
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe best bailout-inspired music to date. (From The Daily Bail, via Patrick.net.)
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Real Estate Trends in Los Angeles
Continue reading… 0 CommentsIn the latest installment of a new regular feature at the Home Front—in cooperation with our partners over at Trulia—here's a look at some key housing trends and statistics for Los Angeles (Click here for more stats and trends on L.A.'s real estate market.)
[Check out stats and trends for New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.]
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Your Real Estate Budget in Los Angeles
Continue reading… 2 CommentsIn cooperation with our partners over at Trulia, here's a look at what your real estate dollar will buy you in Los Angeles these days:
[Check out New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C.]
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Tumbling Asking Prices: Los Angeles
Continue reading… 2 CommentsIn cooperation with our partners over at Trulia, here's a look at some Los Angeles properties that have been forced to reduce their asking prices:
[Check out New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.]
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Uncle Sam Has -1,096% Return Rate on Big Bank Investments
Continue reading… 1 CommentTaking billion-dollar stakes in banks was never popular, but government officials insisted it was essential to stabilizing the rickety financial system. So how have these investments performed so far? Time magazine crunched the numbers:
Since October, the government has deposited $165 billion into the accounts of the nation's eight largest banks. Yet those same financial firms are now worth $418 billion less than they were four months ago. And the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government's preferred shares are worth at least $20 billion less…All told, the government's annualized rate of return on its investment in the nation's largest banks is -1,096%.
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New Home Sales Hit All-Time Lows: 4 Things You Should Know
Continue reading… 1 CommentAlthough exiting home sales bounced back recently--thanks to plummeting prices--a government report issued Thursday showed that December sales of new homes plummeted nearly 15 percent from the previous month to all-time lows. (That's 45 percent below year-earlier levels.) "This is horrible," Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist for High Frequency Economics, said in a report.
Here are four things you should know about the latest new home sales report:
1. How bad was December? Well, according to Mike Larson of Weiss Research, it was the single worst month on record. "We have NEVER sold this few homes in any month since the Census Bureau started tracking in 1963," Larson said in a report. "Not even in the early 1980s, when mortgage rates were in the 18 [percent] range."
