Market Studies

As the Baby Boomer generation heads into retirement, many are plagued with debt, and mortgage debt is their most common financial hardship, according to a study released Monday by Securian Financial Group, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based financial services firm. Among those who are near retirement, 67 percent expect to carry mortgage debt with them into their retirement--the largest debt category cited in the Securian study. This is up drastically from 30 percent in Securian's last study completed in 2009.

Fannie Mae made available loan-level credit performance data for single-family mortgages delivered to the GSE from January 1, 2000 to March 31, 2012. The release of the new data marks a step toward greater transparency. Through the data, investors can model the credit performance of Fannie Mae loans and analyze potential risk sharing transactions. In a statement, FHFA applauded Fannie Mae's release, explaining it ""represents an important step toward returning private capital to the mortgage market.""

In its most recent foreclosure report, CoreLogic reported 55,000 homes were lost to foreclosure in March, up 6 percent from 52,000 completed foreclosures in February. Still, completed foreclosures stood 16 percent lower compared to the year ago level when 66,000 homes were lost to the process. CoreLogic also reported the number of homes in foreclosure inventory stood at 1.1 million, down 23 percent from March 2012 and down 1.9 percent from February.

The number of households owning homes fell 698,000 to 74,511,000 in the first quarter, the first decline in almost two years, according to a Census Bureau report Tuesday. At the same time, the nation's homeownership rate fell to 65 percent (seasonally adjusted), the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 1995. The Census data paints a grim picture for the home sales market, which has already been struggling against mortgage restrictions and weak inventory.

Despite weakness in the Midwest, home prices posted their strongest year-over-year gain in almost seven years in February, according to the Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city Home Price Indices released Tuesday. Home prices rose year-over-year in all 20 of the cities in the Case-Shiller survey. Month-over-month, the 10-city index improved 0.4 percent in February, while the 20-city index was up 0.3 percent. On a yearly basis, the 10-city index was up 8.6 percent, and the 20-city index rose 9.3 percent.

In the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) Conservatorship Priorities for 2013, delivered in early March, Acting Director Edward DeMarco discussed his goal of creating a common securitization platform for the GSEs. As FHFA and the GSEs take the first steps toward developing this platform, Freddie Mac's SVP of conservatorship and corporate initiatives, Stephen Clinton, outlined some of the positive impacts the platform could have on the market.

After tracking transactions in February, Lender Process Services, Inc. (LPS) found home prices rose 1 percent month-over-month, with California and Washington leading the gains. In dollar terms, LPS' Home Price Index (HPI) for non-distressed sales stood at $210,000, up 7.3 percent from February 2012. LPS data also showed short sales, which accounted for 12 percent of February sales, were sold at a 25 percent discount compared to non-distressed sales. Meanwhile, REOs accounted for 10.5 percent of sales and were discounted by 27 percent compared to non-distressed properties.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 1.5 percent to 105.7 in March, the highest level in almost three years, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Economists had expected a 0.7 percent increase to 105.5 from February's originally reported 104.8. The February index reading was revised to 104.1. With the month-over-month improvement, the PHSI is 7.0 percent above March 2012, slightly below the 7.7 percent year-over-year gain in February. The index registered double-digit percent gains from April through October last year so the dip--on the eve of the homebuying season--is less than encouraging.

Restrained by slow wage growth, personal income rose a disappointing $30.9 billion (0.2 percent) in March--half of what economists expected--as spending rose $21.0 billion or 0.2 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, reported Monday. Personal income had improved $15.2 billion in February, largely on the strength of an $80 billion increase in dividend payments. Dividend payments in March increased by $4.5 billion over February.

After showing some reluctance at the beginning of the first quarter, homeowners polled for Redfin's second-quarter Real-Time Seller Survey seem far more interested in entering the market. According to responses collected by Redfin, 45 percent of sellers believe now is a good time to sell, up from just 22 percent in the first quarter and 15 percent in last year's fourth quarter.