REO

Studies indicate the foreclosure crisis and its community-debilitating aftereffects are having a disproportionate impact on minorities and minority-owned real estate businesses. The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), the oldest African American trade group of real estate professionals in the country, has positioned itself alongside members of Congress, minority businesses, and granting agencies like the Salvation Army to face this challenge head-on. NAREB is hosting the State of Housing in Black America Issues Forum (SHIBA) on Wednesday, May 2, in Washington, D.C., with special appearances by Reps. Elijah Cummings and Eleanor Holmes Norton.

The nation’s homeownership rate (seasonally adjusted) dropped to 65.4 percent in the first quarter, its lowest level since the first quarter of 1997, the Census Bureau reported Monday. The homeownership rate fell in all four census regions in the first quarter – the steepest drop in the Northeast, 1.2 percentage points to 62.5 percent. The homeownership rate fell 0.8 percentage points in the South to 67.5 percent; 0.5 percentage points in the Midwest to 69.5 percent, and 0.2 percentage points in the West to 59.9 percent. At the same, the homeowner vacancy rate fell to 2.2 percent nationwide, down from 2.6 percent in the first quarter of 2011, and the rental vacancy rate dropped to 8.8 percent from 9.7 percent one year earlier.

While Radar Logic reported home prices in February showed a month-over-month increase, the real estate data provider sees this trend as possibly being temporary, considering that warm weather and investment buying helped to drive up sales. Home prices increased 1.9 percent over the month ending February 16, according to Radar Logic's RPX Composite Price, which tracks 25 major metropolitan areas. This increase was bolstered by strong sales in February, with sales from institutional investors increasing significantly since 2009 in certain metros, especially the hardest hit areas.

The United Athletes Foundation (UAF), Builders of Hope and Consumer Education Services, Inc. (CESI) announced Bring it Home, an initiative to revitalize blighted communities by developing safe and affordable housing and by educating new homebuyers and renters moving into the renovated houses. UAF, Builders of Hope, and Consumer Education Services Inc. launched Bring it Home, an effort to revive communities struck by the housing crises by developing safe and affordable housing and by educating new homebuyers and renters moving into the renovated houses.

While 114 out of 212 metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more saw increases in foreclosure activity during the 2012 first quarter, activity was still down compared to the same quarter a year ago, according to RealtyTrac's 2012 first quarter Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report. Last year, 135 out of 212 metros areas saw increases in foreclosure activity in the first quarter.

California may have some rough patches in it, but overall, with the worst part of the housing crises appearing to be over, the state is seeing fewer delinquencies and losing a smaller number of homes to foreclosure, according to a San Diego-based real estate data provider. A total of 56,258 Notices of Default (NODs) were recorded at county recorders offices in California during the first quarter of 2012, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2007 when 53,943 NODs were recorded, according to DataQuick. NOD filings peaked in the first quarter of 2009 at 135,431.

With a lone dissent, the Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday voted no change in the target federal funds rate. The economy has been expanding moderately, the FOMC said in the statement issued at the conclusion of its two-day meeting, echoing language in the statement following its meeting last month. After the meeting, the FOMC released its quarterly forecast of the economy and interest rates with more members of the Committee seeing higher rates in 2014 than in the prior forecast.

According to the Zillow Home Value Forecast, prices are projected to fall 0.4 percent over the next year, but not all markets are expected to see this decline, with several already appearing to have reached bottom. Of the 30 metro areas covered by the Zillow forecast, 19 are expected to, or already have hit their lowest point in 2012, with nowhere else to go but up. Metro areas that are expected to see significant gains following their low point in the next 12 months include Phoenix, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, and Tampa, according to the forecast.

The Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes fell for the sixth straight month in February with the 10- and 20-city indices each dropping 0.8 percent from January, Standard & Poor's, which compiles the indexes, reported Tuesday morning. The 10-city index slid to its lowest level since May 2003 and the 20-city index dropped to its lowest level since October 2002. Prices fell in 16 of the 20 cities surveyed, improving month-month in only Miami, Phoenix and San Diego. Prices were unchanged month-month in Dallas. Prices were down year-year in 15 of the 20 cities, improving only in Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis and Phoenix.

Three nonprofits are working together toward an effort to rehabilitate vacant REO properties and support home ownership. Rebuilding Together, NeighborWorks America, and the National Community Stabilization Trust are committing to a three-year partnership to turn vacant and dilapidated properties into affordable homes in the communities they serve. The joint initiative focuses on three areas. The first is providing training for local Rebuilding Together affiliates to operate programs to acquire, rehabilitate, and resell REO properties to help stabilize communities affected by foreclosure.