Tag Archives: Home Sales

Based on a poll of borrowers that have been subject to foreclosure, authorities at LoanSafe.org and AfterForeclosure.com say they're confident that 2014 will be the year of the ""boomerang"" borrower. They say changes in lending guidelines and population shifts make these buyers essential to the recovery of the housing market, particularly since developments that naturally advance housing have been largely disrupted in today's environment.

Existing-home sales dipped on both a monthly and annual basis in November, marking the first year-over-year decline in sales in nearly two and a half years. Hurt by higher mortgage interest rates, constrained inventory, and tight credit, sales of previously owned homes came in at an annualized rate of 4.90 million last month, the National Association of Realtors reported.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued new guidelines for manually underwritten loan applications that should improve a lender's ability to evaluate borrowers' risk and reduce credit requirement ""overlays"" that exceed FHA's lending standards. The agency says the move will help restore its depleted Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund from which it pays claims without forcing lenders to over-tighten credit standards.

According to Fannie Mae's November National Housing Survey, positive momentum in the housing market has slowed as Americans remain cautious about their personal finances and the overall state of the economy. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed believe the economy is on the wrong track. Within the next year, 22 percent expect their personal finances to worsen and only 45 percent expect home prices to increase.

Southwestern Pennsylvania saw a nearly 15 percent annual increase in the number of homes placed under sales agreement, according to the November housing report from the West Penn Multi-List, Inc. At the same time, the average number of days homes were on the market decreased by nearly 15 percent.

Inventories of homes for sale have been slow to bounce back since the 2007-09 recession, despite steady price appreciation since January 2012. Normally, higher prices reflect robust sales. But lately, prices have been rising even though sales remain stuck at relatively low levels, largely due to a lack of inventory. So why are there so few homes for sale? Two Fed economists examine the many factors affecting today's inventory levels.

The percentage of homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth has declined to less than 12 percent as of the third quarter of this year, according to Lender Processing Services' (LPS) Mortgage Monitor report. While the increasing number of homeowners rising above water is good news for the market, LPS detects some tumultuous seas ahead as a cloud of problem home equity loans forms on the horizon.

While rising home prices have lifted many underwater homeowners to positions of positive equity, the real estate information and analytics provider DataQuick warns tight credit will still preclude many traditional buyers from the market. Instead, investors will continue to carry an outsized portion of the purchase market for the foreseeable future, according to DataQuick.

""Modest to moderate"" economic growth continues to be the theme at the Federal Reserve, which this week released its Beige Book, tracking expansion across the 12 Fed districts from October through mid-November. The central bank reported improvements in residential real estate activity in the Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and San Francisco regions, with single-family home sales softening in most of the remaining districts.

Fixed mortgage rates increased sharply this week while reports on adjustable-rate mortgages were mixed. Freddie Mac puts the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 4.46 percent for the week ending December 5, up from 4.29 percent last week. Bankrate's weekly national survey showed a rise of 11 basis points for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to 4.55 percent. Economists pinned the increases on encouraging growth in new home sales and private jobs.