News

Fannie Mae earned a quarterly net income of $7.6 billion in Q4 and an annual net income of $17.2 billion throughout 2012. Both figures represent the largest quarterly and annual net incomes in the company's history. Fannie Mae credited last year's growth to improved credit results driven by a decline in serious delinquency rates, an increase in home prices, and higher sales prices on Fannie Mae-owned properties. For the full year, Fannie Mae paid $11.6 billion in dividends to Treasury under the senior preferred stock purchase agreement between the two organizations.

Investment-home sales in 2012 were down slightly from the year before but remain elevated, while the median price increased, according to a survey from National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales for investment homes fell 2.1 percent to 1.21 million, down from 1.23 million in 2011. Overall, investment sales accounted for 24 percent of sales in 2012, the second highest share since 2005, NAR data revealed. The median price paid for investment homes increased 15 percent to $115,000 in 2012 compared to $100,000 in 2011, NAR reported.

Foreclosure activity in the Bay State plunged year-over-year in February, according to a report from The Warren Group. Foreclosure petitions, which mark the first step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts, fell by more than 38 percent to 856 in February, down from 1,394 in February 2012.

A father and son were charged for their roles in a fraudulent real estate investment scheme on March 27, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Monday. A federal jury in Detroit convicted John J. Bravata on one count of conspiracy and 14 counts of wire fraud, while his son, Antonio M. Bravata was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

For the first time since 2006, national home prices survived winter without experiencing a quarterly decline, according to Clear Capital's market report for March. Home prices ended last month with a 6.5 percent year-over-year improvement, while the quarterly gain was a modest 0.9 percent. On a regional basis, Clear Capital found quarterly growth was the strongest in the West, where prices were up by 2.2 percent. Over the next three quarters, Clear Capital is projecting growth of 1.7 percent, which would bring the 2013 forecast to 2.6 percent.

Construction spending rose 1.2 percent month-over-month in February, according to the Census Bureau. On an annual basis, construction spending was up 7.9 percent in February, reaching an annual rate of $885.1 billion. Residential construction spending increased 2.2 percent over the month, while nonresidential construction spending increased 0.4 percent. Within the residential sector, multifamily construction spending decreased in February while single-family construction spending rose.

It's no secret investor demand is playing a large part in the current housing recovery as cash buyers contribute to close to one-third of home sales. The question on the minds of many is whether the market is experiencing an artificial recovery and whether it will last. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, (KBW) suggests the question of artificiality is mute because the current recovery will, in fact, last. ""Sure, it may be artificial and in large part driven by high investor purchases and artificially suppressed mortgage rates,"" the firm said in a report.

Nearly two-thirds of millennials expressed an increased interest in buying, and it's not because they are tired of apartment living, according to a survey from Pulte Group, Inc., a national homebuilder. The PulteGroup Home Index Survey (PGHI) showed 65 percent of renters between ages 18 to 34 with an annual income of at least $50,000 said their intention to buy has increased significantly or somewhat over the past year. The majority of millennials, or 52 percent, are interested in buying because they view a home as an investment and have a desire to own and build equity.

Since the foreclosure crisis, several studies have linked foreclosures to falling property values for neighboring homes. However, one researcher from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston recently set out to discover the impact of foreclosed properties on neighbors who aren't looking to sell their homes. The study found the likelihood of a neighbor complaining about a particular home doubles once a homeowner enters the foreclosure process. Once a property is in REO, the likelihood increases nine-fold, according to the study.

The explanation from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) for the drop in the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) for February has to be viewed with a jaundiced eye. According to the NAR, the PHSI dropped because of the low inventory of homes for sale. Of course, that wasn't offered as an explanation one month earlier, when the inventory of homes for sale dropped to its lowest level since December 1999 and the PHSI increased. But when the PHSI fell in February, and the inventory of homes for sale increased, the still-low inventory became a convenient excuse.