The Norris Group Blog

Today’s News Synopsis:

According to Interthinx, investor-committed occupancy fraud increased 25% in the first quarter. 50% of 1,000 mortgage borrowers surveyed by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling said they could not afford a 20% down payment. CoreLogic claims national home prices rose 0.7% in March. HOPE NOW said foreclosure starts fell 25% in April.

In The News:

Mortgage Bankers Association – “Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey” (6-1-11)

“Mortgage applications decreased 4.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association”

Housing Wire – “Private sector adds 38,000 jobs in May” (6-1-11)

“Automatic Data Processing Inc. said nonfarm private payrolls increased a mere 38,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis last month. That’s down from a slightly revised 177,000 for April. ”

Housing Wire – “Interthinx risk index shows occupancy fraud rose 25% in 1Q” (6-1-11)

“The Agoura Hills, Calif.-based data firm said its occupancy fraud risk index, which measures the number of incidents of investors misrepresenting occupancy, rose 25% in the first quarter.”

Bloomberg - “Construction Spending in U.S. Rose 0.4% in April on Home Improvement Gains” (6-1-11)

“The 0.4 percent gain followed a revised 0.1 percent increase in March that was smaller than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey projected a 0.3 percent increase.”

Wall Street Journal – “Banks Hit Hurdle to Foreclosures” (6-1-11)

“Banks trying to foreclose on homeowners are hitting another roadblock, as some delinquent borrowers are successfully arguing that their mortgage companies can’t prove they own the loans and therefore don’t have the right to foreclose.”

Bloomberg - “Treasury 10-Year Yields Drop Below 3% for First Time This Year on Economy” (6-1-11)

“Treasuries surged, pushing 10-year note yields below 3 percent for the first time in 2011, as U.S. companies added fewer jobs in May than economists forecast and manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace in more than a year.”

Housing Wire – “CMBS delinquencies fall in May as market levels off” (6-1-11)

“The CMBS delinquency rate fell five basis points from April to 9.6%, according to Trepp analytics firm which released the numbers Wednesday. About .64% are 30-days delinquent, .50% are 60-days delinquent, 2.7% are 90-days delinquent and 1.84% are real estate-owned. Many of the delinquent loans (2.98%) are in foreclosure.”

Housing Wire – “Half of mortgage borrowers could never afford 20% down payment: NFCC” (6-1-11)

“Half of the more than 1,000 borrowers surveyed by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling said they would never be able to afford the 20% down payment required under the qualified residential mortgage structure. Federal regulators proposed a rule in March requiring lenders to maintain 5% of the risk on mortgages pooled into securities, except for those loans that meet a variety of standards including a 20% down payment.”

Housing Wire – “Planned job cuts in May down 4.3% from year ago” (6-1-11)

“The Chicago-based executive outplacement company said employers have disclosed plans to shed about 204,400 jobs so far this year, which is 21% lower than the first five months of 2010. Last month’s planned cuts of 37,135 was up 1.8% from April and down 4.3% from 38,810 for May 2010.”

DSNews - “CoreLogic Price Index Shows First Monthly Increase Since Mid-2010″ (6-1-11)

“The company says its index shows that home prices in the U.S. rose 0.7 percent between March and April, the first such increase since the homebuyer tax credit expired in mid-2010. However, national home prices are down 7.5 percent compared to April 2010, after an annual drop of 6.8 percent reported for March 2011.”

DSNews - “Foreclosure Starts and Sales Post Sharp Declines in April: Report” (6-1-11)

“Foreclosure starts nationwide were approximately 163,000 in April, down 25 percent from 217,000 the prior month, reports the industry alliance HOPE NOW. An earlier assessment by the nonprofit group showed that new foreclosures had increased 21 percent over the February-to-March period.”

Looking Back:

One year ago, the head of CoreLogic believed the real estate market had bottomed. According to the Commerce Department, construction spending increased 2.7 percent in May. LPS reported the number of loans 90 or more days past due — including pre-sale foreclosure — declined by nearly 3% to just over 4.07m from nearly 4.19m in March. According to Altera Real Estate, housing demand had dropped by 17%.

For more information about The Norris Group’s California hard money loans or our California Trust Deed investments, visit the website or call our office at 951-780-5856 for more information. For upcoming California real estate investor training and events, visit The Norris Group website and our California investor calendar. You’ll also find our award-winning real estate radio show on KTIE 590am at 6pm on Saturdays or you can listen to over 170 podcasts in our free investor radio archive.