News

Home prices across the United States continue to slide in the quarterly context, but industry data released Thursday indicates that when you widen the scope, year-over-year numbers are still showing a healthy bounce-back from the depressed levels recorded in 2009. Add to that the fact that REOs are coming to market at a much slower pace, and analysts at Clear Capital say it just might mean the rapid deterioration in the housing market will have a shorter lifespan than originally feared.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Wednesday that it lost $6.7 billion during the first three months of this year. The quarterly results helped pushed the GSE's net worth to negative $10.5 billion at the end of March, compared to a positive net worth of $4.4 billion at the end of last year. With the GSE's finances severely in the red, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) plans to submit a request to the Treasury Department on Freddie Mac's behalf for a draw of $10.6 billion in taxpayer funds.

The housing market in Connecticut seems to be on the road to recovery. According to a report released Tuesday by the Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real estate data in New England, sales of single-family homes and condos in Connecticut soared by double-digits in March. On a year-over-year basis, single-family home sales jumped 37 percent, and statewide condo sales surged 34.4 percent.

As part of its ongoing efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, Chase announced Wednesday that it will host multi-day homeowner assistance events exclusively for struggling Chase homeowners in eight major markets across the United States. These events will take place over the next five months, during which up to 40 Chase counselors will work with homeowners for up to 12 hours a day for four or five days in a central location, such as a civic center or community college.

Community Bank Mortgage LLC, a subsidiary of Washington, D.C.-based American Bankers Association (ABA), announced Wednesday that it has selected Richmond, Virginia-based SunTrust Mortgage, Inc., as one of three preferred secondary market investors. As a result of this selection, owner banks of Community Bank Mortgage can sell loans on a servicing-released basis to SunTrust Mortgage and can access the company's full line of products, including jumbo loans.

Banks have yet to loosen their tight grip on credit. The Federal Reserve's latest survey of senior loan officers found that most banks maintained stringent lending standards in the first quarter, while some tightened lending terms further. Compared with the previous quarter, a larger percentage of banks indicated that demand for first lien mortgages and home equity loans had weakened further. On the commercial side, a significant portion of lenders said they have increased their use of extensions for loans at or near maturity.

In an effort to assist struggling homeowners with their mortgages, HOPE NOW, the administration's Making Home Affordable Program, and NeighborWorks America co-sponsored a three-day homeownership preservation event last week in Uniondale, New York. The event had representatives from 16 mortgage servicers and more than a dozen local HUD-approved housing counselors on hand to provide assistance to the 2,353 at-risk borrowers in attendance.

With vacancy rates in the office market at record-high levels, it would seem that the options for tenants are endless. But that might not be the case. According to Grubb & Ellis, a real estate services and investment firm based in Santa Ana, California, the amount of available space in the U.S. office market may be overstated, giving tenants fewer realistic alternatives than previously indicated. In a phenomenon dubbed ""zombie buildings"" by Grubb & Ellis researchers, there are many properties that have significant capital constraints and are therefore unable to fund market-level tenant improvement allowances and commissions.

Bolstered by purchase applications in the days leading up to the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, total mortgage application volume increased 4 percent for the week ending April 30, 2010, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. According to MBA's Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, the seasonally-adjusted purchase index surged 13 percent from the week prior, marking the third consecutive weekly increase in purchase applications and the highest purchase index recorded in the survey since the week ending October 2, 2009.

Mountain Real Estate Capital, the newly formed acquisition and investment affiliate of Mountain Funding, announced this week that it has closed on its first five acquisitions. Historically, Mountain Funding has focused on value-added residential and commercial opportunities, but the company says in the current environment, it is zeroing in entirely on acquiring assets at distressed values.