Today’s News Synopsis:
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey shows that mortgage rates dropped this week. According to MDA DataQuick, 4,853 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow last month in the Bay Area. The U.S. Treasury claims that its foreclosure prevention program has cut mortgage payments for approximately 947,000 homeowners. S&P estimates there are approximately 947,000 houses in shadow inventory, which will take nearly 3 years to sell.
In The News:
Market Watch – “Mortgage rates drop” (2-18-10)
“Mortgage rates fell again this week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropping to an average 4.93%, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming rates, released on Thursday.”
DQNews - “Bay Area home sales fall; median price up from last year, down from December” (2-18-10)
“A total of 4,853 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was down 38.0 percent from 7,828 sales in December and down 3.9 percent from 5,050 sales in January 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.”
Wall Street Journal – “More Households Benefit From Loan-Mod Program” (2-18-10)
“The U.S. Treasury said its foreclosure-prevention program has cut mortgage payments for about 947,000 households, at least temporarily.”
Inman - “S&P: Shadow inventory to grow” (2-18-10)
“Lenders are likely to add at least 1.75 million homes to their real estate owned (REO) property rolls that will take nearly three years to sell and put pressure on home prices, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC.”
Housing Wire – “California Leads States In HAMP Mortgage Modifications” (2-18-10)
“The Treasury launched HAMP in March 2009 to provide capped incentives to servicers for the modification of loans on the verge of foreclosure. Nationwide, more than 116,000 permanent modifications took place through January, up from 66,000 modifications in December. There are more than 830,000 active trial modifications currently under the program. California led all states with more than 191,000 permanent and active trial modifications through January, according to the Treasury.”
Housing Wire – “House Prices Swing Up to Close 2009, Still Down from 2008″ (2-18-10)
“Radar Logic’s monthly Residential Property Index (RPX), a composite HPI of 25 major US markets, increased 0.2% from November 17 to December 17. It’s the first November to December increase the index has experienced since 2004. Prices increased 1.5% from October to November.”
Bloomberg - “Fed Officials Set Goal of ‘Eventual’ Exit From Housing Finance” (2-18-10)
“Central bankers are planning to eventually remove $1.43 trillion of housing debt from the balance sheet after critics such as Stanford University economist John Taylor accused them of straying beyond monetary policy. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said yesterday that the Fed’s purchases of housing debt expose it to demands from politicians to support other industries.”
Looking Back:
One year ago, the Commerce Department reported that housing construction decreased by 16.8 percent in January. The MBA’s weekly survey showed that mortgage application volume had increased. CAR statistics showed that 59 percent of the California population could afford a home.
Tags: bruce norris, DataQuick, foreclosure, freddie mac, hamp, inventory, loan, MDA, modification, mortgage, radar logic, real estate, S&P, shadow, Standard & Poor, treasury