Today’s News Synopsis:
Alan Greenspan expressed concern that a decrease in home prices might cause the U.S. to slip back into recession. The Census Bureau estimates the homeownership rate will fall to 62% in 2012. Moody’s reports strategic delinquencies are falling on jumbo mortgages. Construction spending remained relatively flat with just a 0.1 percent increase last month.
In The News:
Bloomberg - “Greenspan Says Drop in Home Prices Might Bring Back Recession” (8-1-10)
“Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the slowing economic recovery in the U.S. feels like a ‘quasi-recession’ and the economy might contract again if home prices decline.”
Los Angeles Times – “Builders’ pricing strategies are aimed at creating sales urgency” (8-1-10)
“The first bump occurs when ground is broken for the project. Then builders up the ante when the streets go in, and again when the model homes begin to take shape. Prices go up for a fourth time with the big opening splash.”
USA Today – “Homeownership rate continues to slide” (8-2-10)
“Fresh projections say the rate could plummet to about 62% as early as 2012 and almost certainly by the end of the decade. Homeownership rates haven’t been that low since they hit 61.9% in 1960. The share of households that own their homes has been sliding since the housing bubble burst in 2006. The rate fell again in the second quarter of this year to 66.9% — the lowest since 1999 — from a peak of 69.4% in 2004, the Census Bureau says.”
Mercury News – “June construction activity rises 0.1 percent” (8-2-10)
“Construction spending rose 0.1 percent in June, the Commerce Department reported Monday. While that was better than the decline economists had forecast, the government sharply revised down its estimate of activity in May to show a drop of 1 percent rather than the 0.2 percent dip initially reported.”
Housing Wire – “Strategic Defaults Falling on Jumbo Mortgages, Relative to Smaller Loans: Moody’s” (8-2-10)
“According to a weekly credit report from Moody’s Investors Service, jumbo mortgage delinquencies, in this case delinquencies on mortgages over $1m, are almost equal to mortgage delinquencies for smaller mortgages. The agency monitors the risk of default across mortgages that are bundled into bonds and sold as residential mortgage-backed securitizations.”
Housing Wire – “2010 CMBS Modifications Outnumber the Last 2 Years Combined: Trepp” (8-2-10)
“As delinquency increases begin to slow, modifications on CMBS loans are accelerating, according to the analytics firm, Trepp. Further, halfway through 2010, modifications have already passed the amount done in 2008 and 2009 combined. The rate of modifications is set to triple the rate in 2009. In the first seven months of 2010, there have been modifications done on $12.1bn worth of CMBS loans, a 37% increase from the $8.8bn done in all of 2009 and more than four times the $354m modified in 2008, according to Trepp.”
Housing Wire – “Government Refi Wave Could Cost GSE Bondholders $350bn: KBW” (8-2-10)
“Recent record-low mortgage rates have sparked fears amongst investors that a government-driven refinancing wave would boost prepayment speeds back to 2003 levels. According to KBW, there is a cost to such a policy shift, contrary to what supporters of action have said. The agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market trades a premium of almost seven basis points. If all borrowers refinanced into the current mortgage rates, roughly $350bn would transfer from bondholders to borrowers, equaling $75bn annually.”
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