The Department of Justice has released details on a major settlement for homeowners with five of the largest US home lenders.
The $26B deal currently with the 5 key banks: Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally could actually rise if state and federal regulators reach an agreement with [...]
California ranks number 1 in Mortgage Debt being carried by its citizens.
California is followed by Maryland and then New Jersey.
Because Housing and Jobs are so closely related, it is important to watch for changing trends in the Unemployment level.
The chart below displays current levels of Unemployment by state. This information will be updated monthly.
Elevated refinance volume prompts decision
Refinance activity is so busy that Bank of American Home Loans has made the decision to turn off the spigot for cashout refinancing. It’s the second time in four months that such a move has been made.
From the end of 2011 until last week, inquiries for refinance loans [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
McLEAN, VA — Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), showing average mortgage rates changing little amid mixed economic data. Regardless, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage edged down slightly to 3.88 percent to a new all-time record low [...]
Continue Reading... →November Housing Starts
Housing starts for November rose 9.3% to 685,000. The highest annual rate since April 2010. Leading the way was multi-family units, rising 32.2%. Single-family units saw an increase of 2.3%. Over the last year, housing starts are up 24.3%.
The Housing Starts report measures the number [...]
Continue Reading... →30-YEAR FIXED-RATE MORTGAGE MATCHES ALL-TIME RECORD LOW AT 3.94 PERCENT
McLEAN, VA — Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), showing average fixed mortgage rates at or near their all-time lows. The 30-year fixed matched the average all-time record low of 3.94 percent, and a [...]
Continue Reading... →Prices in the Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index weakened slightly in September, falling 0.6% from August.
Of the 20 cities included in the index, only New York, Portland and Washington DC saw increases from August.
The 1-year change from September 2010 was down 3.6%. Though both Detroit (up [...]
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Because Housing and Jobs are so closely related, it is important to watch for changing trends in the Unemployment level.
The chart below displays current levels of Unemployment by state. This information is updated monthly.
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Building permits rose to 653,000 in October. A 10.9% increase from September and 17.7% higher than October 2010. This is the largest number of permits for 2011 and represents the most since March 2010.
The building permits report is used as a guide to gauge future signs of construction. Housing construction is significant [...]
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The PRICE Is the Same, But the COST Is Less
There is more and more research coming out showing that it makes great financial sense to purchase a home today. Whether it be rent vs. buy ratios, income-to-price ratios or income-to-mortgage payment ratios, purchasing a home right now is a bargain compared to [...]
Continue Reading... →Below is the press release from Freddie Mac regarding the average weekly mortgage rates as published by their “Primary Mortgage Market Survey”. Click <HERE> to find out more information about the PMMS.
As usual the media is leaving out the details and focusing solely on the published rate. To get a [...]
Continue Reading... →16 of 20 Cities Have Annual Improvement in August
The Case-Shiller 20-city index rose .2% in August marking the 5th consecutive month of gains. Though only 10 of the cities posted positive changes in August from July, 16 of the 20 cities saw their annual rates improve during the [...]
Continue Reading... →Today, the Obama Administration, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have announced a number of changes to “HARP”, the 2 year old Governmental refinance program that may open the door to refinancing for a million or more US homeowners. The Home Affordable Refinance Program is also known as [...]
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In a normal real estate market, it may make sense to wait for the spring buyers’ to appear before placing your house up for sale. The current real estate market is anything but normal however. The increase in supply of distressed properties will overshadow any increase in demand for housing over the next 6 months. This is reflected in the findings of [...]
Continue Reading... →According to the U.S. Department of Labor, September nonfarm payrolls increased 103,000, well above expectations.
Since April, payroll employment has increased by an average of 72,000 per month. Revisions to August and July payrolls also added an additional 99,000 workers to payrolls. Keep in mind, almost half of the added jobs were from [...]
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Roughly 10.4 million mortgages, or one in five outstanding home loans in the U.S., will likely default if Congress refuses to implement new policy changes to prevent and sell more foreclosures, according to analyst Laurie Goodman from Amherst Securities Group.
At the end of the second quarter, more than 2.7 million long-delinquent loans, [...]
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The ISM Index (Institute for Supply Management) rose to 51.6% for September. This represents a 1% increase from the August reading of 50.6%. In this chart, you can see the 12-month high was reached in February of 2011, while the 12-month low occurred last month in August.
Readings above [...]
Continue Reading... →Popular Posts
Employment Rate by State as of July 2011 
New Home Affordable Refinance Program Lending Guidelines - $26 Billion Foreclosure Settlement Reached
- Bank of America Suspends New Cash-out Refinance Applications
Wells Fargo (Wachovia) to pay out $67 million in NJ Settlement 
Philadelphia Fed Index - States With The Highest Mortgage Debt
