90 Seconds of News

Real Estate News – Monday, December 28, 2015

“30-yr FRM 3.96%”

— Mortgage Rates Survey, FreddieMac

“The housing bust left U.S. homeowners in a dire state: The value of their properties plummeted, while the mortgage debt they owed didn’t. By early 2009, the difference between the two — their equity — had fallen to an all-time low of $6.2 trillion, or just 37 percent of home values, according to U.S. financial accounts published by the Fed. Worse, more than one in four were “underwater,” meaning they owed more than their homes were worth.”

— The End of the Housing Hangover, BloombergView

“Expect the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to average below 4.5% for 2016 on an annualized basis”

— Here are Freddie Mac’s five housing predictions for 2016, HousingWire

“The year ahead will see healthy growth in home sales and prices, but at a slower pace than in 2015. This slowdown is not an indication of a problem—it’s just a return to normalcy.”

— The 5 Real Estate Trends That Will Shape 2016, Realtor.com

“Home prices are closing in on their records of the last decade, reigniting fears of bubbles. Time to panic? In most markets, probably not. A few look overvalued, but that may not necessarily be the same thing as a bubble.”

— Which Housing Markets Have the Most to Worry About, The Wall Street Journal

90 Seconds of News

Real Estate News – Friday, December 18, 2015

“Mortgage rates continued modestly lower today as financial markets continue sorting out their reaction to yesterday’s Fed rate hike.”

— Mortgage Rates Continue Lower Following Fed Hike, Mortgage News Daily

“‘That could get people to buy sooner rather than later, which could drive prices up even more next year, which is what I am worried about’”

— What a Fed rate hike could mean to mortgage borrowers, The Washington Post

“If mortgage rates rise, buyers of low-end homes may be more sensitive to the change than people seeking luxury abodes.”

— The Next U.S. Rate Hike: Mortgages, Bloomberg

“Yes, mortgage costs are a crucial factor in affordability. But bidding wars, cash-rich investors and dizzying price gains have homebuyers more spooked than a highly anticipated, inevitable and small increase in mortgage rates.”

— What’s Spooking Homebuyers? Hint: It’s Not the Fed, Redfin Blog

“The prime working age population peaked in 2007, and appears to have bottomed at the end of 2012. The good news is the prime working age group has started to grow again, and should be growing solidly by 2020 – and this should boost economic activity in the years ahead.”

— The Future’s so Bright…, CalculatedRisk

90 Seconds of News

Real Estate News – Saturday, November 21, 2015

“Today’s Best-Execution Rates

30YR FIXED – 4.0%
FHA/VA – 3.75%
15 YEAR FIXED – 3.25%
5 YEAR ARMS – 2.75 – 3.25% depending on the lender
”

— Mortgage Rates Back to Unchanged After Stronger Start, Mortgage News Daily

“Federal Reserve officials Wednesday continued to flag December as a likely time for interest rates to rise after seven years near zero, with two expressing confidence they will be able to pull off a rate hike smoothly despite fears of an abrupt market reaction.”

— Fed Officials Again Flag December; See Smooth Rates Liftoff, DailyFinance

“The bursting of an enormous credit-fueled housing bubble during the mid-2000s resulted in a severe recession, the effects of which are still evident more than six years after the episode officially ended. Since bottoming out in 2011, the median U.S. house price has rebounded strongly. However, the latest boom exhibits a less-pronounced increase in the house price-to-rent ratio and an outright decline in the ratio of household mortgage debt to personal disposable income—a pattern that is very different from the prior episode.”

— What’s Different about the Latest Housing Boom?, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter

“Soaring commercial real estate valuations have returned in some markets to levels not seen since before the 2008 financial crisis”

— Commercial real estate looking ‘frothy’, Mortgage Professional America

“Rent Jumps Year/Year
Up 4.5% in Oct.
Up 5.3% in Sept.
Up 6.6% in July”

— Signs of rent relief?, CNBC

90 Seconds of News

Real Estate News – November 16, 2015

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is getting closer to moving over 4 percent, as mortgage rates climb for the second week in a row.”

— Mortgage Rates are Inching Up, RealtorMag

“Rates aren’t going get any better than they are right now and are likely to climb in the near future.”

— Act Now While Rates Are Low, Zing! by Quicken Loans

“… there’s no question the housing market in the third quarter had its best quarter in nearly a decade.”

— Housing Has ‘Best Quarter in Nearly a Decade’, RealtorMag

““That may be a good decision because the data points to a plateauing market going forward. Home price appreciation is slowing, a trend that will continue if interest rates rise in the coming months as expected. Meanwhile the threat of rising interest rates combined with lowered premiums for buyers using FHA loans is spurring more demand.””

— Q3 2015 Home Sellers Realize Average Price Gain of 17 Percent From Purchase Price, Highest in Eight Years, RealtyTrac

“The data show a housing market that remains in recovery, with concerns about rental affordability alongside longer-term issues like declining homeownership. As always, underlying the national trends are huge differences among local markets.”

— Housing Highlights From The 2014 American Community Survey, Terner Center Blog

“The average age for a first-time homebuyer is 31. So in six to eight years, this bulge will become prime candidates for home sales and mortgages”

— Demographic Bulge to Drive Long-term Home Sale and Rental Markets, CoreLogic: Insights Blog

90 Seconds of News

Real Estate News – November 6, 2015

“Mortgage rates started to rise amid market expectations of a possible rate increase by the Federal Reserve”

— Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates start to move higher, HousingWire

“The October jobs report left little doubt the U.S. labor market is back with a vengeance after a two-month lull… Such improvement will probably mean a green light for Fed officials, who last month held out the possibility of a December rate increase.”

— Now a 70% chance of a rate rise next month, Mortgage Professional America

“As China’s economy shows signs of weakness, the country’s wealthy are sending money overseas at unprecedented levels to seek safer investments which is often in violation of currency controls.”

— Money Exodus: How Chinese Secretly Send Billions Abroad, Bloomberg Business

“San Francisco homes are still some of the priciest in the nation, but sales of those houses are showing significant weakness. September sales were down 19.5 percent in the city from a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors.”

— San Francisco in housing ‘correction’, CNBC

“So the most dangerous part of this program is the potential of clustering a lot of low-down payment, high debt-to-income loans in underserved communities supported by borrowers that have little or no traditional credit experience.”

— Will Fannie loan lead to more foreclosures?, The Orange County Register

90 Seconds of News – Real Estate News
October 31, 2015

“Today’s Best-Execution Rates

  • 30YR FIXED – 3.75-3.875%
  • FHA/VA – 3.5%
  • 15 YEAR FIXED – 3.125%
  • 5 YEAR ARMS – 2.75 – 3.25% depending on the lender”

— Mortgage Rates Only Modestly Higher Despite Market Volatility, Mortgage News Daily

“The U.S. economy only grew 1.5% between July and September, according to the Commerce Department. Growth slowed a lot from the 3.9% pace recorded in the second quarter this year. It is also much lower compared to the third quarter of 2014, when the economy grew 4.3%.”

— U.S. economy only grows 1.5% as global slowdown hits, CNN Money

““After a lull late last year and early this year, home sales volume and average sales prices picked up dramatically again in the second and third quarters of this year, resulting in a substantial drop in seriously underwater homeowners,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “On the other hand, the number and share of equity rich homeowners also dropped dramatically between the second and third quarters — continuing a trend from the previous two quarters — evidence that more homeowners in this category are leveraging their equity through a refinance, move-up sale or by completely cashing out of the housing market.””

— Number of Seriously Underwater Properties Drops 525,000 in Q3 2015 From Previous Quarter, Down 1.2 Million From Year Ago, RealtyTrac

“Also, I’ve been expecting some increase in inventory this year, but it hasn’t happened yet. Inventory is still very low (down 3.1% year-over-year in September). More inventory would probably mean smaller price increases and slightly higher sales, and less inventory means lower sales and somewhat larger price increases.”

— A Few Random Comments on September Existing Home Sales, CalculatedRisk

“But what if rates increase? How would that impact real estate sales? What would happen to home prices?”

— Why Real Estate Markets Could Quickly Stall, RealtyTrac

“After solid GDP growth of 3.9% in the second quarter, nearly all economic indicators in recent months have pointed to a sizable slowdown… In short there is plenty of pent-up housing demand to keep the positive momentum rolling. Home sales, new construction, and home prices have all been rising and will continue to rise. In fact, it will be housing market gains that will enable the broad U.S. economy to avoid a recession.”

— Housing Will Still Expand Despite Economic Weakness, Forbes

90 Seconds of News – Real Estate News
October 23, 2015

“30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.79 percent… A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.92 percent.”

— Fixed Mortgage Rates Move Lower, Freddie Mac

“Housing starts were at an annual rate of about 1.206 million units as of September – an increase of 6.5% compared to a slightly adjusted August rate of 1.132 million units and an increase of 17.5% compared with the September 2014 rate of 1.026 million units”

— Housing Starts Up 6.5% In September, MortgageOrb.com

“Existing-home sales bounced back very strongly in September, up 4.7% to nearly reverse the prior month’s revised decline of 5%, a decline that now looks like an outlier on a steadily rising slope.”

— Home sales beat expectations in September, HousingWire

“Prices may be up on a yearly basis, but Schnapp said that price appreciation in many parts of the state has slowed or stopped entirely. In fact, on a monthly basis, prices were lower in 21 of California’s 26 largest counties, Schnapp said.”

— Are we seeing the end of California’s housing juggernaut?, HousingWire

“But the second line of defense is macroprudential manipulation of capital requirements, to be applied across the board or to selected market segments, such as mortgages.”

— Why central banks should try to prick housing bubbles, Financial Review

90 Seconds of News – Real Estate
October 17, 2015

“Assuming a borrower gets the average 30-year conforming fixed rate on a $417,000 loan, last year’s rate of 3.97 percent and payment of $1,984 is $36 more than this week’s payment of $1,948.”

— Mortgage rates up slightly, but still under 4%, The Orange County Register

““From my perspective, what we’re seeing is a marked slowdown tied to the strengthening of the dollar,” said Alicia Cervera, managing partner at the brokerage Cervera Real Estate. “The foreign buyers responded to the stronger dollar by stopping in their tracks. That’s fairly common when there’s a significant adjustment in currency.”

— Miami’s downtown building boom drawing to a close, Miami Herald

“Mortgage applications tumbled 27.6% from last week, obliterating the prior week’s drastic jump in applications due to the implementation of the new TILA-RESPA integrated disclosure rule, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Oct. 9, 2015.”

— Mortgage applications tumble more than 25% due to TRID, HousingWire

“The new policies in the handbook impose additional responsibilities and liability on the appraiser, which has led many appraisers to increase their prices to reflect the added work and risk involved and some appraisers have even chosen not to do FHA appraisals. I say risk because appraiser’s are being asked to perform a level of inspection similar to what a home inspector would do, however I believe that we should not have to do this because we are not qualified in this area.”

— How new FHA guidelines could cause appraisal costs to increase, Birmingham Appraisal Blog

“Speers elaborates that many banks refuse to lend money to the marijuana industry, which means some entrepreneurs are moving to Colorado to begin their own “extralegal” marijuana farms, buying up homes to grow weed and pushing the prices up.”

— Is marijuana to blame for Denver’s housing crisis?, Realty Biz News

90 Seconds of Real Estate News
October 10, 2015

“Fixed-mortgage rates drastically decreased following a more than disappointing September jobs report… The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.76% for the week ending Oct. 8, 2015, down from last week when it averaged 3.85%. Last year, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.19%.”

— Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates plumment further below 4%, HousingWire

“World economic growth this year will be the weakest since 2009, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.”

— Global growth is weakest since the crisis, IMF says, CNN Money

“It just got a little easier to navigate the complicated mortgage process.”

— How the mortgage process just changed, CNN Money

“Markets with a higher share of foreign cash buyers may expect to see a stronger upside in the short term given the continued global economic instability,” Blomquist continued. “But those markets are also more susceptible to a downside in the longer term when demand from foreign cash buyers dries up.”

— Share of Chinese-Speaking Buyers Paying Cash for U.S. Homes Increased 229 Percent in the Past 10 Years, RealtyTrac

“The hottest markets this year do have a tech sector relationship,” Jonathan Smoke, our chief economist, said. “In places like San Francisco, San Jose, and Denver, prices have been supported by higher-paying jobs and resulting higher household incomes.”

— What Happens to Housing if a Tech Bubble Bursts?, Realtor.com

Top 5 U.S. Real Estate News Stories
Week Ending 10/2/15

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.85% for the week ending Oct. 1, down from last week when it averaged 3.86%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.19%.”

— Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates below 4% ten weeks straight, HousingWire

“The first new disclosure is called the Loan Estimate. This document clearly shows your rate quote, loan term, line-item fees, and cash needed to close.”

“The second new disclosure, called the Closing Disclosure, looks almost exactly the same as the Loan Estimate, which makes it easy for buyers to review the closing terms and compare them to the originally quoted terms.”

— Will the New Mortgage Disclosure Laws Delay Your Home Purchase?, Zillow

“The least likely to own homes are people who have student debt, but no degree. In fact, a couple who borrowed more than $30,000 for school but never graduated has a less than 40 percent chance of homeownership.”

— Student Debt Not Holding Back Housing Market, Zillow

“The number of homes nationwide losing value on a monthly basis has more than tripled over the past year…”

— More Homes are Losing Value, Real Estate Economy Watch

“Zillow is predicting that the rate of home value appreciation in the San Francisco metro area will fall sharply over the next year.”

— Zillow Anticipating Home Value Appreciation Falls in San Francisco, Realty Biz News

Top 5 U.S. Real Estate News Stories
Week Ending 8/28/15

“After fears that China’s economic slowdown has worsened and global stock markets have nosedived, a rate hike appears “less compelling,” said New York Fed President William Dudley on Wednesday.”

— NY Fed: September rate hike ‘less compelling’ now, CNN Money

“Against expectations, existing home sales rose once again in July, to their highest level since the start of 2007.”

— Existing Home Sales (Jul.), Capital Economics

“The housing market is slowing down, with home values seeing the first negative monthly change since the market began its recovery nearly four years ago.”

— Home Values Slip After Nearly Four Years of Growth, Zillow

“Over the next five years, the housing market will see around 1.5 million eligible return buyers jump back into home ownership.”

— 1.5M boomerang buyers set to return in next 5 years, Realty Biz News

“The Mortgage Bankers Association believes that between 13.9 and 15.9 million additional households will be formed by 2024, making the next decade one of the strongest in housing in U.S. history.”

— MBA: Housing demand to surge over next 10 years, HousingWire

Top 5 U.S. Real Estate News Stories
Week Ending 8/22/15

“For the fifth consecutive week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has averaged below 4 percent, as home buyers and refinancers rush to lock in low rates.”

— 30-Year Mortgage Rates Remain Below 4%, RealtorMag

“China’s central bank devalued its currency Tuesday, a move that could delay a Fed interest rate hike, according to economists.”

— Analysts predict Fed may delay rate hike, Mortgage Professional America

“Everyone is feeling good about housing,” Weisenthal says, “there a lot of different data points here but they are all going in the right direction.”

— Bloomberg TV: Here’s proof that real estate and housing are hot in one chart, HousingWire

“Builders are feeling more confident as sentiment over the new single-family home market rose to its highest level since November 2005…”

— Builders Feel Like It’s the Housing Boom Days, RealtorMag

“The market sell-off took on an especially nasty tone Friday as stocks dropped for a fourth straight day with the Dow plunging more than 500 points and dropping into correction territory…”

— Sell-off turns nasty: Dow plunges 531 points, USA Today

Top 5 U.S. Real Estate News Stories
Week Ending 8/15/15

“Most lenders continue to quote conventional 30 yr fixed rates of 4.0% for top tier scenarios. Several of the more aggressive lenders continue to quote 3.875%.”

— Mortgage Rates Pull Back as Overseas Drama Subsides, Mortgage News Daily

“Prices are rising just too fast,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of REALTORS®. “And certainly far ahead of people’s income.”

— San Francisco Realtor association hopes to bring visibility to off-MLS deals, Inman News

“Nearly a quarter of homes sold in San Francisco never make it to the MLS”

— Yun: ‘Prices Are Rising Just Too Fast’, RealtorMag

“… the percentage of buyers who could afford to buy a median-priced existing single-family home fell… to 30 percent… prospective buyers need to be earning a minimum income of at least $95,980 a year to be able to purchase a $485,100 home, which is the current median price for a single-family home in the state. For such a purchase, the monthly payments, including tax and insurance on a 30-year fixed rate loan would be $2,400.”

— Housing affordability declines sharply in California, Realty Biz News

“Want to make money in real estate?… you’ll want to team up with a home-reno celebrity or a successful real estate tycoon and go into the real estate seminar racket.”

— How to make money in real estate, MoneySense

Top 5 U.S. Real Estate News Stories
Week Ending 8/8/15

“30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.91 percent… for the week ending August 6, 2015, down from last week when it averaged 3.98 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.14 percent.”

— Fixed Mortgage Rates Remain Below Four Percent, Freddie Mac

“CoreLogic reported today that national home prices in June 2015 increased 6.5 percent year over year and 1.7 percent month over month.”

— June 2015 National Home Prices Increased 6.5 Percent Year Over Year, Corelogic

“Vancouver International Airport is the major port of entry for millions in hidden cash being smuggled into North America by mostly Chinese citizens, a federal document investigation by The Province reveals. And according to money laundering investigators, the amounts identified in Canada Border Service Agency cash seizure data, obtained by The Province under freedom of information law, is only the tip of the iceberg.”

— Chinese money launderers snap up Vancouver real estate because of lenient border laws, loose regulations, The Province

“Find out what building materials are trending in new homes, from garage enhancements to flooring and kitchen sinks.”

“Quartz/engineered stone is gaining popularity”

— 5 Popular Trends in New-Home Construction, REALTORMag

“House flipping returns on investment increased to nearly 36 percent, up from 24 percent one year ago. But there are fewer flips.”

— Housing flipping: It’s riskier but more lucrative, CNBC