News

With the deterioration of the U.S. mortgage market, the credit rating agency DBRS has noticed a deep divergence in delinquency, foreclosure, and REO timelines from historical norms. As servicers have stepped up loss mitigation strategies to deal with the increase in delinquent borrowers, some loans have spent a longer-than-usual time in each delinquency bucket. The analysts at DBRS found that non-performing loans now remain in the 90 or more days delinquency column for an average of three to four months before moving to foreclosure.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both issued new guidelines to servicers Tuesday, which allow homeowners with GSE loans to pursue a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure if they are unable to secure a modification under the government's foreclosure prevention program. GSE loans were oddly excluded from the Treasury's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program when it was rolled out in early April, but by August 1, 2010, all Fannie and Freddie servicers must begin offering HAFA solutions to eligible borrowers.

April marked yet another month of improvement for the residential real estate market in Massachusetts. According to a recent report released by the Warren Group, a provider of real estate data in New England, the Bay State saw year-over-year increases in both sales and prices of single-family homes and condos in April.

April proved to be a month of continued stabilization for the Illinois housing market, as both home sales and prices jumped on a year-over-year basis, the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) recently reported. According to IAR, statewide total home sales totaled 10,323 transactions in April 2010, jumping 34.4 percent from April 2009. In addition, the association said the median home price in April was $157,450, up 5 percent from the same month last year.

The number of unpaid mortgages in the United States declined again in April, but delinquency roll rates remain high, according to an industry report released Monday by Lender Processing Services (LPS). The Florida-based analytics firm says that while signs of stabilization in the nation's mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates may be emerging, the progress is largely neutralized by the more than 7 million loans still in distress.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday that it has sent a proposed rule to the Federal Register implementing provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which establish a duty for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to serve very low-, low-, and moderate-income families in three specified underserved markets -- manufactured housing, affordable housing preservations, and rural markets.

It looks as though escalating past due mortgages may be a thing of the past for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The federal mortgage insurer's delinquency rate dropped again in April, marking the third straight month of declines. According to FHA's latest operations report, as of April 30, 527,504 mortgages had spent at least 90 days in a delinquent status, yielding a serious default rate of 8.5 percent. That's down from 8.8 percent in March and 9.2 percent in February.

Professionally rehabbed REOs result in minimized sales cycles and maximized returns.

Five financial institutions - three in Florida and one each in California and Nevada - found regulatory officials at their doors Friday evening, discharged to close down their operations. This latest round of seizures brings the total number of insured-bank failures for the year to 78, and will cost the FDIC $317 million.

International real estate investment and services company Kennedy Wilson has announced the planned formation of a new partnership with Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited to pursue acquisitions of commercial real estate assets, including purchases of loans and real property. The companies say they will focus their efforts on assets in California.