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California Real Estate Headline Roundup

Posts Tagged ‘Mark Zandi’

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 6/15/11

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Today’s News Synopsis:

Fannie Mae announced that it will be extending its offering of money to partially cover the closing cost of a house that they earlier repossessed now back on the market.  According to Inman News, economists have adjusted their predictions of the economy, now not expecting a recorver until 2012.  The median price of homes in the Bay Area fell drastically from a year ago, according to DQ News.

In The News:

Housing Wire – “Risk retention may slow return of private-label mortgage finance” (6-15-11)

“Banking executives believe private capital will rebuild the mortgage finance market, but don’t expect non-agency funding to flood the market anytime soon, according to panelists at Standard & Poor’s recent “Housing Summit: Boom, Bust and Beyond.”

Inman – “Economists revise forecasts for real estate recovery” (6-15-11)

“In what has become a mid-year ritual, housing economists have quietly trimmed their annual forecasts after a lackluster start to the year, pushing back a housing recovery until 2012. ”

Bloomberg - “Homebuilder Confidence in U.S. Slides to Nine-Month Low on Sales Outlook” (6-15-11)

“Confidence among U.S. homebuilders slumped in June to the lowest level in nine months as executives turned more pessimistic on the outlook for sales, a sign that any pickup will take time to develop.”

DSNews - “Phoenix-Area Foreclosures Sales Drop for Third Straight Month” (6-15-11)

“Foreclosures are claiming a smaller share of the Phoenix sales market.  The ratio has dropped for three straight months, according to a new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.”

RisMedia - “HUD, VA to Provide Permanent Housing and Case Management to Homeless Veterans” (6-15-11)

“ U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced recently that HUD will provide $5.4 million to public housing authorities in 18 states to supply permanent housing and case management for 676 homeless Veterans in America. This is the fourth and final round of the FY 2010 Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) funding to support homeless Veterans.”

Inman – “Fannie matches Freddie’s $1,200 agent bonus on REOs” (6-15-11)

“Fannie Mae is extending through October an offer to provide closing-cost assistance to buyers of homes it’s repossessed, and will also match a $1,200 bonus that rival Freddie Mac is currently paying agents who bring buyers to transactions that help reduce its real estate owned (REO) inventory.”

Housing Wire - “Shiller wants pre-planned workouts on future mortgages” (6-15-11)

“Economist Robert Shiller called the Home Affordable Modification Program a failure and said lawmakers and regulators should provide an incentive to create private mortgages with a pre-planned workout.”

The Wall Street Journal - “Pittsburgh Is Remade as Steal City” (6-15-11)

“Pittsburgh, once written off as a dying steel town, has turned into one of the most resilient office-rental markets in the U.S., prompting a flurry of building sales as some longtime owners take profits.”

Orange County Register - “SoCal rents in biggest jump in 2 years” (6-15-11)

“Rents in Southern California rose at an annual rate of 1.7% in May — as measured by the regional Consumer Price Index.”

Mortgage Bankers Association - “Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey” (6-15-11)

“Mortgage applications increased 13.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 10, 2011.”

DQ News - “Bay Area May Home Sales, Median Price Inch Up from April; Fall below 2010″ (6-15-11)

“The Bay Area housing market in May posted modest month-to-month gains in sales and median prices, but those same measures fell sharply from year-ago levels, which had been pumped up artificially by homebuyer tax credits. Move-up buying and new-home sales were especially weak last month, while the share of sales involving distressed properties, cash buyers and investors remained far above normal, a real estate information service reported.”

Looking Back:

MDA DataQuick reported a total of 22,270 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in Southern California the prior month. According to the NAHB, builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family decreased in June of 2010. Having a home with a view was on the top 10 list of preferences for 44.5 percent of men. Morgan Stanley’s research lead the company to conclude that low mortgage rates would prevent a double dip in prices.

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.

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The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 10/28/10

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Today’s News Synopsis:

Research shows the national election years tend to be bad for housing. Wells Fargo said that up to 55,000 of their foreclosures had mistakes.  The 30-year mortgage rate increased to 4.23%, according to Freddie Mac.

In The News:

Wall Street Journal - “Mortgage Rate Edges Up Again, to 4.23%” (10-28-10)

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.23% for the week ended Thursday, up slightly from the prior week’s 4.21% average but down from 5.03% a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed were at 3.66%, up from 3.64% in the previous week but down from 4.46% a year earlier.”

Inman - “New credit score tailored for lenders” (10-28-10)

“The FICO 8 Mortgage Score does a better job identifying accounts that are overdue by 90 days or more, pushing more high-risk borrowers into lower score ranges, the company says in promotional materials. The FICO 8 Mortgage Score uses the same 300-850 scoring range as the all-industry FICO score most widely used, but is better at predicting whether a borrower will default on a mortgage”

Los Angeles Times – “Foreclosure activity up across most US metro areas” (10-28-10)

“California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona remain the country’s foreclosure hotbeds, accounting for 19 of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates between July and September, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.”

Bloomberg - “Wells Fargo Will File More Foreclosure Affidavits After Lapses” (10-28-10)

“Wells Fargo & Co., the biggest U.S. home lender, said it will file supplemental foreclosure affidavits to courts in about 55,000 proceedings after finding some statements ‘did not strictly adhere to the required procedures.’”

Housing Wire – “Federal Reserve closer to TILA final rule on appraiser coercion” (10-28-10)

“Regulation Z or TILA was enacted on July 21 as part of the Dodd-Frank bill. It forces lenders to disclose costs and terms of mortgage loans and better inform consumers. This final rule, one of the many the Fed must draft after the passage of Dodd-Frank, seeks to ensure appraiser independence much like the replacement to the final rule replacing the Home Valuation Code of Conduct for appraisers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.”

Housing Wire – “Moody’s economist sees ample optimism in housing market” (10-28-10)

“Mark Zandi, chief economist, Moody’s Analytics said that he expects home prices to be depressed into 2012. He adds that the knock-on effect from the robo-signing debacle will be minimal.”

Housing Wire – “Mortgage delinquencies are in ‘serious trouble,’ says LPS analyst” (10-28-10)

“Kyle Lundstedt, managing director of the applied analytics division at LPS said the housing market remains in “serious trouble” as current mortgage delinquencies are above 7 million distressed homeowners.”

Orange County Register - “National election years bad for housing” (10-28-10)

“Election years (both presidential and mid-terms) seem bad for housing. When national power is at stake, U.S. home prices averaged 5.2% gains per year. Compare that to the 5.8% average gain found in non-election years since 1969. That modest performance gap is decent proof that election years aren’t so hot for housing. Just to be sure, though, I checked with the median price change for these periods, too. Again, non-election years outperformed: 6.3% annual gains vs. 5.1% for election years.”

Bloomberg - “Banks `Want to Sit Down’ With States to Discuss Foreclosures” (10-27-10)

“A 50-state task force investigating U.S. foreclosure practices may meet with lenders as early as this week, less than a month after JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. suspended some home seizures.”

Naked Capitalism – “NYC Judge Foreclosure Smackdown Shows Problems With Bank ‘Technicalities’ Defense” (10-28-10)

“A story at the New York Daily News on a foreclosure case dismissed by Judge Arthur Schack illustrates that the problems that banks are having with foreclosures, which they are characterizing as ‘technical’ or ‘paperwork’ run deeper than that. And that is before you get to the issue that we have discussed at length on this blog, namely, the failure to convey promissory notes and related liens as stipulated by the contract governing mortgage securitizations, the pooling and servicing agreement.”

Looking Back:

One year ago, according to the MBA, mortgage application volume decreased by 12.3 percent within a week. Sources confirmed that the Senate did intend to extend the home buyer tax credit with some modifications. The Commerce Department reported that the pace of new home sales decreased by 3.6 percent in September 09.

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 event 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.

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The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 5/14/10

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Today’s News Synopsis:

Mark Zandi expects sales of new and existing homes to grow from between 5.5 million and 6 million this year to between 6 million and 6.5 million next year, and hit about 7 million in 2012. According to the IPD Quarterly Property Index, returns on commercial real estate investments reached 1.2% in Q110. Trulia reports real estate sellers made at least one price reduction on 22% of listings currently on the market in the US through April.

In The News:

NAR - “Commercial Market Still Struggling, But Realtors® Focus On Positive Trends” (5-14-10)

“While the commercial real estate market may not have fully recovered, National Association of Realtors® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun identified some developing, positive trends in the market that could eventually lead to recovery”

Inman - “Economist: Expect home-price weakness to persist” (5-14-10)

“With the economy on the mend, home sales could bounce back to their historical levels by 2012, although the bulging foreclosure pipeline is likely to keep prices in check, economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics told Realtors holding their annual midyear meeting in the nation’s capital. Zandi said he expects sales of new and existing homes to grow from between 5.5 million and 6 million this year to between 6 million and 6.5 million next year, and hit about 7 million in 2012.”

Housing Wire – “Congress Rejects Call to Axe Consumer Financial Protection Oversight” (5-14-10)

“Senators voted against an amendment by Sen. John Thune (R-SD), that would sunset the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, as the Senate rounds out its week tweaking the financial reform bill.”

Housing Wire – “Commercial Real Estate Delivers First Positive Return in 18 Months” (5-14-10)

“Returns on commercial real estate investments reached 1.2% in Q110, the first positive return in 18 months, according to the IPD Quarterly Property Index. The report monitors the trends in the underlying market value and returns of $76bn of assets held by real estate fund managers in the US. Returns fell to a record low in the 2009, bottoming out in Q109, according to IPD. Since then, US real estate has shown steady quarterly improvement. Pricing competition is even beginning to turn more aggressive amongst returning investors over the last two years, as the supply of prime real estate remains limited, according to IPD.”

Housing Wire – “Senate Votes to Impose Leverage and Risk-Based Capital Requirements” (5-14-10)

“As Congress continues to work through a growing list of amendments to S 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senators approved on Thursday a measure to impose minimum leverage and capital requirements on both banks and nonbank financial firms. Senators unanimously consented to an amendment, sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), that mandates minimum leverage and risk-based capital requirements for insured depository institutions, depository institution holding companies, and nonbank financial companies under Federal Reserve supervision.”

Housing Wire – “Sellers Reduce Nearly 25% of List Prices on Trulia in 2010″ (5-14-10)

“Real estate sellers made at least one price reduction on 22% of listings currently on the market in the US through April, according to the real estate listings site, Trulia.com. The discounted listings through April increased 10% from March, when 20% of the properties received a price reduction. The average discount held at 10%, totaling $25bn in reductions.”

Housing Wire – “In California, Rates of Delinquency Vary, Mostly Driven by Negative Equity” (5-14-10)

“Mortgage performance in California — although not substantially different than that of the US — varies dramatically among regions within the state, according to a study of all securitized non-agency mortgages in the state by credit-rating agency Fitch Ratings.”

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.

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The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 5/13/10

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Today’s News Synopsis:

According to RealtyTrac, the total number of national foreclosures decreased by 9 percent in March. Economists Lawrence Yun and Mark Zandi predict that mortgage rates will remain historically low over the next few years. CAR reports the minimum household income needed to purchase an entry-level home at $246,270 in California in the first quarter of 2010 was $41,540. Statistics from Freddie Mac show the average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dipped to 4.93 percent.

In The News:

The Atlantic – “Foreclosures Declined 9% in April” (5-13-10)

“Fewer Americans lost their homes in April, though the numbers are still alarmingly high at 333,837 foreclosed properties nationwide, according to foreclosure data specialist RealtyTrac. This number was 9% lower than the record high hit in March. So April’s decline, while relatively good news, doesn’t quite get foreclosures back down to pre-March levels.”

NAR - “Two Economists Project Improving Housing Market but Timing Uncertain” (5-13-10)

“Both Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, and Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of Moody’s Economy.com, agreed that job creation is key to an economic and housing recovery, with job creation expected as the year progresses, but they differed somewhat on the impact that foreclosures will have on home price stabilization. Both project that mortgage interest rates will remain historically low, the availability of jumbo loans will improve and home sales will rise over the next few years.”

CBIA - “California New-Home Sales Rise From February, CBIA Announces” (5-13-10)

“The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (HWMI) New-Home Sales and Pricing Report showed that sales in new-home communities of 10 units or more were 13 percent above February, but fell 31 percent below March 2009. During March, 2,189 new homes and condominiums were sold in the subdivisions tracked by Costa Mesa-based HWMI, compared to 1,938 in February and 3,192 in March 2009. Sales of single-family homes were up by 5 percent from the previous month, but down 36 percent from the same month a year ago. Sales of townhomes and ‘plexes’ – duplexes, triplexes, etc. – rose 24 percent from February but were off by 32 percent from March 2009, while sales of condominiums were up 37 percent from the previous month, but were 16 percent lower than a year ago.”

CAR - “Entry-level housing affordability stood at 66 percent in Q1 2010″ (5-13-10)

“The minimum household income needed to purchase an entry-level home at $246,270 in California in the first quarter of 2010 was $41,540, based on an adjustable effective interest rate of 4.33 percent and assuming a 10 percent down payment. First-time buyers typically purchase a home equal to 85 percent of the prevailing median price. The monthly payment including taxes and insurance was $1,380 for the fourth quarter of 2010. At $41,540, the minimum qualifying income was $3,910 greater than a year earlier when households needed $37,630 to qualify for a loan on an entry-level home.”

Sign On San Diego – “Mortgage rates drop to lowest level this year” (5-13-10)

“Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level of the year, as rates fell on U.S. government securities. Fixed mortgage rates closely track interest rates paid on long-term Treasury bonds. The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dipped to 4.93 percent this week from 5 percent a week earlier, Freddie Mac said Thursday. It was the lowest level since mid-December, when rates averaged 4.81 percent.”

Housing Wire – “RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist Calls for Shadow Inventory Clearance” (5-13-10)

“I think the year-over-year decrease in national foreclosure activity in April is a definite sign that there is an end in sight, but on the other hand the record REO numbers show that we’ve got a lot of backlogged inventory stopped up in the foreclosure process that needs to be cleared before we can return to a balanced, healthy market.”

Housing Wire – “Dodd Bill Amendment Will Assign Credit-Rating Agencies to Deals” (5-13-10)

“The US Senate today approved in a 64-35 vote an amendment by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) on credit ratings to be added to S 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT). The amendment would instruct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish a self-regulatory organization to assign credit-rating agencies (CRAs) to provide initial credit ratings on financial products. It essentially creates a board to assign CRAs to securities, to prevent firms from ‘shopping around’ for the highest ratings.”

Orange County Register – “O.C. construction recovery 6 years away” (5-13-10)

“Orange County won’t get back to pre-recession levels of employment in the construction business until 2016, according the Cal State Long Beach’s 2010 forecast released today. Construction employment hit 107,175 at the peak in 2006. The forecast projects employment in the sector will drop to 66,691 this year before bottoming at 65,312 in 2011.”

Looking Back:

One year ago, the national share of home sales above $750,000 fell from 4.4 percent in 2007 to approximately 2.3 percent in 2009. The number of U.S. households faced with losing their homes to foreclosure jumped 32 percent in April 2009. General Growth Properties received approval for a $400 billion dollar loan to aid their recovery from bankruptcy. Fitch Ratings predicted that home prices would by 36 percent within 18 months of May 2009.

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