Market Studies

For the month of April, Massachusetts foreclosure activity remained at levels dramatically below those recorded last year, according to data released this week by the Warren Group in Boston. However foreclosure petitions, which mark the first step in the foreclosure process in the Bay State, posted their highest number so far this year.

Lender Processing Services (LPS) says market data it's pulled through the end of April reveals an increase in the national mortgage delinquency rate and a drop in the industry's foreclosure inventory. Both stats did a complete u-turn from the trajectory they were on the prior month. LPS says the ratio of mortgages 30 or more days past due but not yet in foreclosure rose to 7.97 percent in April, while properties in the midst of the foreclosure process declined to 4.14 percent.

According to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA), the Florida city's once-monolithic housing inventory was down to 11,480 homes available for purchase last month, a level not seen since 2005. Foreclosures and short sales represented a lion's share 65.49 percent of all home sales in April, although that figure is down 5 percent from March.

The first three months of 2011 saw a 44 percent increase in the volume of mortgage fraud case activity, according to industry data released this week. The cases reported represent fraud on an estimated $1.2 billion in real estate loans, rising from $0.9 billion in the final period of last year. The report notes that loan repurchases are largely responsible for the increase, with smaller firms forced to buy back loans from housing agencies or correspondent lenders conducting their own investigations and uncovering more fraudulent activity.

Foreclosure activity slowed in April in states along the country's West Coast, but a local firm that tracks every foreclosure action in the area is having trouble making sense of what it says is an unexpected trend. According to ForeclosureRadar, filings last month were down in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Washington. Cancellations were up significantly across the board, leaving fewer properties scheduled for trustee sale. ForeclosureRadar says banks have had time to resolve robo-signing issues, so we should be seeing exactly the opposite results.

The share of mortgage borrowers in the United States 60 or more days behind on their payments dropped to 6.19 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2011, according to data released Monday by the credit bureau TransUnion. That's down from 6.41 percent at the close of 2010 and marks the fifth consecutive quarter that TransUnion has reported an improvement in the national delinquency rate. The firm says as home prices have declined further, delinquencies were expected to remain flat or at least slow in their decline, but that hasn't been the case.

Delinquencies and losses on commercial real estate loan collateralized debt obligations (CREL CDOs) increased notably in April, according to the latest U.S. CREL CDO index results from Fitch Ratings. Asset managers reported approximately $164 million in realized losses from the disposal of defaulted and credit-impaired assets, which is substantially higher than March's total of $73 million. The agency says many of the realized losses stemmed from foreclosure or deed-in-lieu actions that wiped out subordinate positions.

Sales of previously owned homes - which in recent months have been buoyed by a growing share of distressed REO and short sales - are expected to remain on an upward, albeit uneven, track through this year and next, according to economists at the National Association of Realtors' midyear meeting. Lawrence Yun says if the first-quarter sales pace holds, the year will close with 5.1 million completed transactions, 4 percent above last year. Frank Nothaft expects the increase to be at least that much, perhaps a bit higher.

Nearly twice as many underwater borrowers think it is okay to walk away from their mortgage than harbored this sentiment a year ago, according to the results of a survey conducted by Fannie Mae. A separate academia study, however, found that the number of cases in which the homeowner defaulted even though they cold afford their payments - at least as perceived by their neighbors - appears to be trending down. The researchers also asked about respondents' feelings on robo-signing penalties.

Mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest mark in 2011 after declining for the fourth consecutive week, further reducing the costs associated with taking out a home loan. Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate is now averaging 4.63 percent, while the 15-year rate is at 3.82 percent. ARM rates also headed lower. Economists say the continued fall in home loan rates make a mortgage cheaper than renting.