MDA DataQuick reports 19,412 houses and condos sold in Southern California last month. Freddie Mac believes home sales will rise 5% in 2011. President Barack Obama revealed the White House’s deficit reduction plan, which aims to reduce the nation’s deficit by $4 trillion in 12 years. Home Depot sales show Americans are doing more home improvement.

In The News:

MDA DataQuick – “Southland Home Sales Still Slow, Prices Edge Down” (4-13-11)

“A total of 19,412 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in March. That was up 35.1 percent from 14,369 in February, and down 5.2 percent from 20,476 in March 2010, according to DataQuick of San Diego.”

NAR - “Realtors® Applaud Bill to Speed Lender Response to Short Sales” (4-13-11)

“A new bill to improve the process for approving short sales may soon bring relief to distressed home owners who are unable to keep their homes and hope to avoid foreclosure. The bill, introduced in the U.S. House yesterday and strongly supported by the National Association of Realtors®, would impose a deadline of 45 days on lenders to respond to short sale requests.”

Los Angeles Times – “Americans doing more home improvement projects” (4-13-11)

“Home Depot Inc., the largest home improvement retailer, in February reported its first annual sales increase since 2006, before the housing market crashed. The home improvement business is stabilizing despite the continued weakness of the housing market, Home Depot Chief Executive Frank Blake said at the time.”

Bloomberg - “Banks Must Pay Victims of Botched Foreclosures, Regulators Say” (4-13-11)

“The 14 largest U.S. mortgage servicers must pay back homeowners for losses from foreclosures or loans that were mishandled in the wake of the housing collapse, the first of a set of sanctions regulators are seeking against the companies. ”

Bloomberg - “JPMorgan Says Foreclosure Accord With Federal Reserve, OCC May Come Today” (4-13-11)

“The bank took a $1.1 billion charge and may add as many as 3,000 employees to comply with the consent agreement, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and Chief Financial Officer Doug Braunstein told reporters on a conference call today after the bank reported a 67 percent increase in net income. The accord involves the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, the bankers said.”

Housing Wire – “Freddie Mac expects strong spring home buying” (4-13-11)

“Freddie Mac said home sales will increase 5% in 2011 compared to 2010 — a projected 4.9 million home sales. The agency estimates that number will rise 12.2% to 5.5 million homes sales in 2012.”

Housing Wire – “Obama deficit reduction plan would impact tax itemization of home purchases” (4-13-11)

“President Barack Obama revealed the White House’s deficit reduction plan Wednesday, saying his administration aims to reduce the nation’s deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years by using a mix of higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans, reductions in defense spending, tax code changes and health care savings.”

Housing Wire – “Fitch: Increasing interest rates bad for investors, home affordability” (4-13-11)

“Elevated rates would expose trading-oriented investors to heightened price volatility, particularly those that are highly leveraged, funded through repo markets or mark-to-market their holdings, according to the report. In a rising rate scenario, U.S. banks’ current MBS holdings of roughly $1.3 trillion would face either mark-to-market losses or, if held on a long-term basis, lower net interest income.”

Orange County Register – “Forecast: Irvine rents to rise in ’11″ (4-13-11)

“Irvine experienced positive net absorption in 2010 of 2,930 units, more than doubling the total net absorption from 2009. This increase in demand helped boost occupancy 2.9 percentage points to 95.5 percent, the third-highest among Orange County submarkets. Average monthly rental rates increased 1.8 percent to $1,699 per month. Same-store rents, however, declined 0.1 percent.”

Orange County Register – “Most volatile U.S. home market? Not O.C.!” (4-13-11)

“Orange County’s best appreciation rate was 21.2 percent in Jan. 2005. CoreLogic’s national index best year-over-year mark? Plus 17.6 percent in March 2005. Biggest loss among the 45 towns since ’05? Miami, off 34.9 percent year-over-year in Feb. 2009.”

Looking Back:

One year ago, MDA DataQuick reported 20,476 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties sold in March. Schwarzenegger signed a bill allowing taxpayers to be exempt from paying for forgiven mortgage debt. In 2008 and 2009, the income needed to buy a median-priced home decreased in 93 percent of U.S. markets. According to IAS, national house prices fell 0.6% in February 2010.

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.

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.

 A study from NAR shows that realtors are seeing a 13.6 percent decline in their median income. According to the MBA’s weekly survey, the mortgage loan application volume increased 12.8 percent from the previous season. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to announce the end of the recession, and plans to keep rates at the record low. A report shows that state foreclosure prevention programs have failed to keep borrowers from losing their homes.

In The News:

NAR – “Realtors® Weather the Commercial Real Estate Market” (9-23-09)

“The study’s results represent Realtors® who practice commercial real estate; these Realtors® comprise more than 81,000 of NAR’s 1.2 million members. The survey shows that the median sales volume in 2008 was down nearly 10 percent since 2006, resulting in a 13.6 percent decline in median income. However; the results also showed a 33 percent increase in commercial leasing volume during the same two-year period.”

Mortgage Bankers Association – “Mortgage Refinance Applications Increase as Rates Drop in Latest MBA Weekly Survey” (9-23-09)

“The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 18, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 12.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, which was a holiday shortened week. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 24.6 percent compared with the previous week and 14.0 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.”

Los Angeles Times – “To foster recovery, Fed likely to leave rates at record-low, economic supports in place” (9-23-09)

“Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues, who resumed meeting Wednesday morning, are expected to announce in the afternoon that the recession is likely over and that America’s economic and financial climate is improving. But they’ll also warn that rising unemployment, and still hard-to-get-credit for many people and companies, will make for a plodding rebound.”

Bloomberg – “Apollo and Colony Mortgage REITs Cut Stock Sales by 50 Percent” (9-23-09)

“Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc. and Colony Financial Inc., both formed to invest in debt backed by commercial property, halved the size of their initial public offerings.”

Bloomberg – “Marriott to Write Down $760 Million in Timeshares” (9-23-09)

“Marriott International Inc., the largest U.S. hotel chain, plans to take a third-quarter pretax charge of $760 million in its timeshare business as the economic slowdown cuts leisure travel and investing.”

Bloomberg – “State Foreclosure Prevention Programs Ineffective, Study Shows” (9-23-09)

“State foreclosure prevention programs have failed to save borrowers from losing their homes and haven’t improved their chances of modifying loans, a consumer advocacy group’s study found.”‘

Orange County Register – “Calif. renters face nation’s 2nd highest financial strain” (9-23-09)

“No matter how you slice it — well, how the Census Bureau slices it — California is a pricey place to be a renter. And those huge costs are certainly no help when family checkbooks get stretched by a recession.”

Orange County Register – “More south coast homes in escrow over prior months” (9-23-09)

“Laguna Beach saw 27 closed sales in the last 30 days, improving just slightly over the previous report (26 homes sold in that period). Dana Point also saw 27 closed sales in the last 30 days, which is an improvement over the last report’s 25 sold homes.”

Orange County Register – “Help for first time home buyers in Huntington Beach” (9-23-09)

“The home buyers program involves a silent second mortgage with an equity share. Principal payments are deferred and due in the 30th year. The loan term is 45 years.”

Looking Back:

One year ago, the MBA reported that the level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt had grown to $3.44 trillion.  The FHFA announced that home prices had fallen to 2005 levels. Lennar Corp. reported its six straight quarterly loss.