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HUD's Donovan: More to Be Done to Help Homeowners Refinance
Tweet Share on Facebook February 29, 2012 CommentMore needs to be done to help homeowners cope with steep home price declines and underwater mortgages, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said at an event hosted by the National Journal Wednesday.
While more than 13 million homeowners have taken advantage of various government refinancing programs since April 2009, 1 in 5 Americans still owes more on a mortgage than the home is worth, the "single most lasting scar" of the financial crisis and housing market meltdown, he said.
"There is more to be done," Donovan added, urging Congress to take action on policy proposals by the Obama administration designed to expand refinancing and loan modification programs outside government-backed loans and help more homeowners take advantage of rock-bottom interest rates.
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Home Prices Hit New Lows
Tweet Share on Facebook February 28, 2012 CommentThe latest home price data has disappointed again, confirming what we already knew about the housing market in 2011 and what we can expect in 2012: Housing had a miserable run last year and prices haven't "bottomed out" yet, but 2012 will probably be (a little) better.
Falling for the fourth month in a row in December, home prices were down 4 percent nationally from a year ago, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, pushing all three S&P home price indexes—10-city, 20-city, and national—to their lowest levels since the housing crisis began in 2006. Nationally, home prices are still almost 34 percent off the 2006 peak.
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Falling Home Prices Aren't Helping Housing Costs
Tweet Share on Facebook February 28, 2012 CommentAlthough it seems phrases such as "affordable housing" or "historically low prices" are repeated ad nauseum when it comes to the housing market, freefalling home prices haven't done much to help many low- and moderate-income Americans cope with rising housing costs.
Nearly one in four working households spent more than half of its income on housing costs in 2010, according to a recent report from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Housing Policy. That's up slightly from about 22 percent in 2008.
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Pending Home Sales: Prelude to A Healthy Housing Market?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 27, 2012 Comment (1)Unseasonably warm weather in many parts of the country has given home sales a welcome boost this winter, a trend that will likely continue as the employment outlook improves and housing affordability remains at record levels, according to a new report.
Contracts to purchase previously owned homes surged to a near two-year high in January, according to the National Association of Realtors, reaching levels not seen since last January, when would-be home buyers scrambled to take advantage of the expiring home buyer tax credit. Contract signings are considered a leading indicator of home sales, which are finalized a month or so later.
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Survey: Bad Foreclosure Practices Still Rampant
Tweet Share on Facebook February 23, 2012 Comment (3)If you thought all of the bad press covering robo-signing and shady foreclosure practices would make big banks think twice about foreclosing on struggling homeowners, think again. According to a new survey, heightened media coverage and lawsuits galore have done little to change questionable practices in the mortgage finance industry.
Banks continue to routinely foreclose on scores of homeowners waiting for a loan modification or while they dispute fees or misapplied payments, according to a survey of consumer attorneys released by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Consumer Law Center, and the National Association of Bankruptcy Attorneys.
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Home Sales Surge Gives Realtors Spring Fever
Tweet Share on Facebook February 22, 2012 CommentHome sales in January surged to their highest level in almost two years, offering what experts hope is a preview of a healthy spring buying season.
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Suburbs May be Losing Their Luster to Home Buyers
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2012 CommentThere are more than 2.4 million homes for sale in the United States and even more in the foreclosure pipeline, and yet builders are still putting up new houses, according to recent construction data.
Why? It all comes down to the location and condition of existing homes on the market, many of which aren't appealing or suitable for buyers today, experts say.
"Many dwellings built during the boom years—whether now offered for sale by banks or homeowners wishing to move—are in the wrong locations or badly configured," Peter Morici, professor of economics at the University of Maryland, wrote in an E-mail. "Much of that housing was premised on cheap energy—far from jobs and requiring long commutes and expensive to heat."
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More Americans Opting for Shorter-Term Mortgage Refis
Tweet Share on Facebook February 15, 2012 Comment (1)When it comes to financing a home, the majority of Americans still opt for the trusty, tried-and-true 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. But according to a new report from government mortgage giant Freddie Mac, shorter-term loans are catching up to their long-haul brethren.
About 43 percent of Americans opted for a 15- or 20-year loan when refinancing in the fourth quarter of 2011, Freddie Mac reported, the highest share since the first quarter of 2003.
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Want to Own a Piece of NYC? Now You Can
Tweet Share on Facebook February 13, 2012 Comment (2)NYC-lovers, rejoice. You can now own a little slice of one of the city's most iconic skyscrapers.
The Empire State Realty Trust, the company that runs Manhattan's 102-story Empire State Building—you know, the one King Kong scaled?—announced plans to go public Monday, which could raise as much as $1 billion, according to the Associated Press. The company owns and operates a dozen properties in the greater New York metropolitan area.
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Rental Demand Goes Up, Rental Prices Go Down?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 13, 2012 Comment (2)In the space of just a few years, the nation's foreclosure crisis has chewed up millions of homeowners and spat them back into the housing market as renters.
You would think a huge inflow of rental demand and relatively limited supply—vacancy rates are at their lowest levels in 10 years—would cause rents to spike dramatically, but according to a recent study by Chicago-based risk management information firm TransUnion, that's not the case. The national average for rent has actually dropped slightly, from about $831 in the fourth quarter of 2010 to $820 in 2011.
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