Today’s News Synopsis:
The NAR said existing home sales rose 2.7% in January. The FHA’s REO inventory has increased 47% year over year. A California judge upheld the rights of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems to the trust deed, granting MERS the right to foreclose. A Federal Reserve economist predicts the government will soon provide an alternative to the national homebuyer tax credit
In The News:
NAR - “Existing-Home Sales Rise Again in January” (2-23-11)
“Existing-home sales1, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 2.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in January from a downwardly revised 5.22 million in December, and are 5.3 percent above the 5.09 million level in January 2010.”
Mortgage Bankers Association – “Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey” (2-23-11)
“mortgage loan application volume, increased 13.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 14.8 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 17.8 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5.1 percent from one week earlier.”
Inman - “New CoreLogic market reports incorporate MLS data” (2-23-11)
“CoreLogic’s Listing and Market Activity Report — the first in a series of new products the company is developing to generate revenue from the data it receives from cooperating MLSs — provides key information including updated listings, comparable sales, property valuations, days on market, price trends and inventory.”
Housing Wire – “FHA REO inventory up 47% from one year ago” (2-23-11)
“The Federal Housing Administration held 60,739 properties repossessed through foreclosure on its books as of December 2010, up 47% from the year before.”
Housing Wire – “Freddie Mac finalizing major revamp of mortgage servicers” (2-23-11)
“Freddie Mac is in the final stages of changing how its 1,400 mortgage servicing companies handle its loans, and will implement a new scorecard measuring their performance. Furthermore, the government-sponsored enterprise is announcing that it will case review the way servicers treat delinquent borrowers, in order to ensure quality control.”
Housing Wire – “Bank failures hit 18-year high in 2010″ (2-23-11)
“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. held 884 financial institutions on its ‘Problem List’ as of the end of 2010, and the 157 insured banks that failed was the highest amount since 1992.”
Housing Wire – “MERS rights upheld in largest foreclosure state” (2-23-11)
“An appellate judge in California last week upheld the rights of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems to the deed of trust, giving MERS the right to foreclose, according to court documents.”
Housing Wire – “Fannie Mae to start grading mortgage servicers” (2-23-11)
“Fannie Mae will launch a new program for evaluating the performance of its mortgage servicers over the next 30 days. The Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) program will gauge how servicers support the housing recovery and keep homeowners out of foreclosure.”
Housing Wire – “Fed economist pushes homebuyer tax credit alternative” (2-23-11)
“A Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland research economist predicted Wednesday that the government would soon provide an alternative to the national homebuyer tax credit that expired in April.”
Bloomberg - “Existing Home Sales in U.S. Probably Fell in January From Seven-Month High” (2-22-11)
“Sales of U.S. previously owned homes probably dropped in January from a seven-month high, showing any recovery will take time to develop, economists said before a report today. Purchases decreased 1.1 percent from December to a 5.22 million annual rate, according to the median forecast of 73 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.”
Looking Back:
The NAR predicts that the commercial real estate market will not recover until after 2011. In California, single family home sales decreased by 3 percent during January. The Standard & Poor’s index shows that national home prices increased slightly during December. 702 banks made the ‘Problem List’ for the FDIC in 2009.
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