Posts Tagged ‘Estate Writer’
Home prices up 1% in June
U.S. home prices rose in June for the third straight month amid a burst of homebuying due to tax incentives that have since expired. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index posted a 1 percent increase in June from May and was up 4.2 percent from a year ago. Home prices nationally were up 4.8 percent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, largely due to government tax credits of up to $8,000 that caused sales to surge. Seventeen cities showed price gains on a monthly basis. Prices in Seattle and Portland (Oregon) were flat from a month ago, while prices in Las Vegas fell. Nationally, prices have risen 6 percent from their April 2009 bottom. But they remain 28 percent below their July 2006 peak. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, Alan Zibel, AP real estate writer.
FEMA flood insurance seeks bailout
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is seeking $19 billion in federal bailout funds to cover a flood insurance program observers call badly flawed. "If this were a private insurer, it would be bankrupt," said Insurance Information Institute President Robert Hartwig, USA Today reported Thursday. Flood safety specialist David Conrad, an environmentalist with the National Wildlife Federation, said FEMA's flood insurance "does seem to fit Albert Einstein's definition of insanity – to somehow expect something different when you do the same thing over and over again." The program is flawed by a lack of political willpower to force homeowners repeatedly making claims to move or to elevate their homes, the newspaper said. As a result, thousands of homeowners have received benefits that were many times over the value of their home. Owners of a home in Mississippi worth $69,900 have been awarded $663,000 in benefits since 1978 on 34 separate flood claims, the newspaper said. The program also "artificially inflates the value" of older homes – on average by $24,000 – by providing discounts to owners of homes built before 1975, a FEMA report from 2006 says. While the program losses an average of nearly $1 billion each year, "there's always been a few in Congress that have had enough political muscle" to keep rates low and restrictions loose, former FEMA Assistant Administrator David Maurstad said. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, Alex Veiga, AP real estate writer
Number of underwater mortgages in U.S. fell in 2nd Quarter
Real estate data provider CoreLogic says the number of U.S. homes with mortgages that exceed what the property is worth declined slightly in the second quarter versus the first three months of this year. The firm said Thursday there were 11 million homes with so-called underwater mortgages at the end of June. That's down from 11.2 million at the end of March. The firm attributed the decline primarily to homes being repossessed by lenders. In all, 23 percent of U.S. homes with mortgages were underwater at the end of June. Nevada had the highest rate of underwater mortgages of any state at 68 percent, followed by Arizona at 50 percent and Florida at 46 percent. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, Alex Veiga, AP real estate writer.
Mortgage rates hit low of 4.36%
Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 10 weeks as concerns grow that the economy is weakening. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 4.36 percent this week, down from 4.42 percent last week. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. The average rate on a 15-year fixed loan dropped to 3.86 percent from 3.90 percent the previous week. That’s the lowest on records starting in 1991. Rates have fallen since spring as investors shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds, lowering their yield. Mortgage rates tend to track those yields. The low rates have fueled borrowers to refinance their home loans. Refinancing is at its highest level since May 2009 and made up 82.4 percent of all new loan activity. However, low rates haven’t budged home sales, Those have been stymied by high unemployment, slow job growth and strict credit standards, and have dropped sharply since the expiration of homebuying tax credits in April. To calculate the national average, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day. Average rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were unchanged at 3.56 percent. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to an average rate of 3.52 from 3.53 percent. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year and 1-year mortgages. They averaged 0.6 of a point for 15-year and 5-year mortgages. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, J.W. Elphinstone, AP real estate writer
Average mortgage rates hit low of 4.42%
Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the eighth time in nine weeks, a sign that investors are concerned about the weak economy. The average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week was 4.42 percent, down from 4.44 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. The average rate on 15-year fixed loans dropped to 3.9 percent, down from 3.92 percent last week and the lowest on records dating back to 1991. Rates have fallen since spring as investors sought the safety of Treasury bonds, lowering their yield. Mortgage rates tend to track those yields. Falling rates have pushed refinancing of home loans to the highest level since May 2009. But it’s still lower than during the first three months of that year, when rates first fell to around 5 percent. Low mortgage rates, however, have failed to spark home sales. They remain hobbled by the weak economy and tight credit standards. Rates have fallen since spring as investors sought the safety of Treasury bonds, lowering their yield. Mortgage rates tend to track those yields. To calculate the national average, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day. Average rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were unchanged at 3.56 percent. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages also were unchanged at an average of 3.53 percent. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year and 1-year mortgages. They averaged 0.6 of a point for 15-year and 5-year mortgages. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, Alan Zibel, AP real estate writer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Senate approves higher gov’t mortgage fees
Higher monthly fees are coming for consumers who take out home loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, the primary source of mortgages for first-time homebuyers. The Senate late Wednesday unanimously approved legislation giving the FHA the power to hike monthly premiums it charges to consumers. The measure now goes to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it. The new law would affect new loans and not ones that already have been made. Officials say the agency needs the authority to stabilize its finances, which have deteriorated because of the foreclosure crisis. The fees are projected to bring in an extra $3.6 billion per year, according to the FHA. The agency does not make loans, but offers insurance against default. People who take out FHA-backed loans pay a smaller downpayment, as low as 3.5 percent of the home price. But they are subject to two additional fees – one at the start of the loan and an annual fee. Both fees are typically spread out in monthly installments over the life of the loan. Borrowers who take out loans through FHA pay an annual fee of 0.55 percent of the total loan. FHA officials expect to raise that to 0.9 percent, though the bill would give them the power to hike it as high as 1.55 percent. Earlier this year, the FHA raised the upfront fee to 2.25 percent of the total mortgage amount from 1.75 percent. Agency officials want to lower that to 1 percent. The combined impact of lowering the upfront fee and raising the monthly fee would mean a borrower taking out a mortgage of $170,000 at an interest rate of 5 percent would pay an extra $38 a month. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, Alan Zibel, AP real estate writer.
