News

Home sales in California displayed a typical seasonal decline in November and fell month-over-month, but the median price posted both monthly and yearly gains, San Diego-based DataQuick reported.

As household formation mends and grows, the housing recovery will benefit overall, but the rental industry is expected to come out as the biggest winner, according to a report from Capital Economics. ""[W]ith the overwhelming majority of newly forming households over the next few years set to rent rather than own their home, the rental sector will be the disproportionate beneficiary,"" wrote economist Paul Diggle in the report. The analytics firm expects household formation to soon meet or exceed the rate of 1.1 million per year.

The Federal Housing Administration has released its mortgage loan limits for 2013. According to an earlier announcement from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) the national conforming loan limit will remain $417,000 for a single-unit property.

Fay Servicing made available the results of its in-depth Personal Budget Analysis (PBA) service to clients. Clients can access the results of the PBA through the company's browser-based reporting portal. Fay Servicing explained the PBA improves transparency and makes it easier to analyze the financial health of borrowers.

The Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF) and Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper forged a partnership to offer a statewide hotline specifically for distressed homeowners in the state. The hotline for Tennessee residents is 855.876.7283 and offers free information and referrals to foreclosure prevention and mortgage counseling.

Fixed mortgage rates made small movements this week as fiscal cliff negotiations seemed to stall. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage(FRM) interest rate averaged 3.32 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending December 13, down slightly from 3.34 percent the previous week. The 15-year FRM this week averaged 2.66 percent (0.6 point), down week-to-week from 2.67 percent.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has a mission of making the American dream of homeownership accessible to low- and moderate-income families and first-time homebuyers. However, due to FHA's underwriting policies and practices, Edward Pinto, resident at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), argued the administration has instead put ""a high percentage of low- and moderate-income families and communities at risk of excessively high foreclosure rates.""

A significant drop in foreclosure starts brought down foreclosure activity in November, according to a foreclosure report from RealtyTrac. Foreclosure starts were filed on 77,494 U.S. properties in November, a 71-month low and the lowest level since December 2006, RealtyTrac reported Thursday. The decrease represents a 13 percent drop from October and a 28 percent decline from November 2011. While foreclosure starts fell, bank repossessions rose annually for the first time in 25 months.

Rental income of residential properties, which CoreLogic defines as ""gross rents for homeowners and renters minus the associated cost of financing and other expenses,"" rose 12 percent from September last year. Furthermore, ""[t]his growth shows no signs of slowing down,"" according to CoreLogic. The data provider attributes the 12 percent growth to ""fundamental shifts in the housing market, driven by a large increase in affordability and rising rents.""

FHFA is directing both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to work together with the agency on developing industry-wide servicing data standards, according to updates from the GSEs. The news standards are a component of the Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP) and will go by the name Uniform Mortgage Servicing Dataset (UMSD).