HousingWire reports housing starts fell by 30,000 units on an annualized basis comparing July to August. August numbers show 571,000 starts, a drop of 5%, and a 5.8 percent decline from a year earlier when they hit 606,000 units on an annualized basis. Single-family unit starts dropped 1.4% for August, …
Housing Starts Fall in August, but Building Permits Rise Read More
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says its monthly survey of builders’ confidence in the new home market showed a decline of one point from August’s rating of 15. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) has not gone above 16 nor dropped below 13 …
Origination News reports the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is continuing to test the new mortgage disclosure forms, this time with actual consumers in Springfield, MA. The agency wants to make certain that consumers understand the differences between two distinct but competing adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs): One that adjusts every …
WNDU-TV reports from Elkhart County, Indiana, that Hi-Tech Housing, Inc. will double its employee roster to meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) demand for 500 additional emergency housing units for North Dakota residents routed by the flooding of the Souris River this past spring. Based in Bristol, IN, this …
Northern Indiana factory builder gets temporary shot in the arm Read More
Bloomberg News reports that Bank of America (B of A), the nation’s largest mortgage servicer, has a solution for disposing of the worst abandoned and foreclosed homes. B of A will work with a local agency in Cleveland to demolish 100 homes. Gus Frangos, president of the Cleveland-based Cuyahoga County …
Proven Method of Ridding the Market of Unwanted Foreclosed Homes: Bulldoze Read More
LinkedIn reports Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), projects previously-occupied homes sales will slowly rise through 2012. Yun says the rising path will be uneven. Speaking at the Realtors® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo, he says, “If we just hold at the first-quarter sales …
The Merced Sun-Star of California says a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program may assist eligible homeowners with mortgage payment relief. If 15 percent of their income has been lost because of the economic downturn or a medical emergency, they are three months delinquent, and the mortgage …
HUD Mortgage Relief Plan Assists Homeowners Suffering Income Loss Read More
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) reports that builder confidence in July for newly-built, single-family homes rose two points in July over June. While the June number had dropped three points from the previous month, this marks the ninth time out of the last …
From industry sources reporting to MHMSM.com and Housing Wire, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) opened for business July 21 with a budget estimated at $550 million, the debate in and out of Congress continues to rage over the authority one person will have over all mortgages and other …
HousingWire says the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports its market composite index for the week ending July 15 saw mortgage applications climb 15.5 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from the previous week, as refinancing increased. On an unadjusted basis the index rose 44 percent. Of all mortgage applications, refinancing made …
Refinancing Mortgage Applications Increase as Rates Fall Read More
Business Insider reports the U.S. is on track this year for the lowest number of total housing completions since the Census Bureau started keeping records of completions. In 2005, 1,878,200 single family and multifamily dwellings were added to the nation’s housing stock, including 146,800 manufactured houses. This figure included an …
National Mortgage News reports the nation’s largest residential mortgage originator saw a decline of 31 percent from the first quarter, funding only $64 billion new home loans in the second quarter 2011. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage non-interest income fell $397 million from the first quarter to $1.6 billion in the …
Mixed News from Largest Residential Mortgage Originator Read More
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department show housing starts for single and multifamily homes increased in June 14.6 percent to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 629,000. Bob Nielsen, chairman of NAHB, called it an encouraging sign, but also noted that lack of …
HousingWire reports that Freddie Mac says its market outlook expects home sales to increase over last year by three to five percent. Freddie downplays the negative aspects of the economy, unemployment and the debt ceiling issues, not a foreboding of worse news. The rental housing market for the first-quarter 2011 …
Freddie Mac Expects Slow but Steady Housing Market Return Read More
NPR News says a nasty ancillary result of the housing crisis is the growth of mold in foreclosed houses, exacerbated by the drawn out process of paperwork, causing many houses to sit closed up for years. Normal comings and goings in a house ventilate the interior, drawing moisture up to …
As Foreclosed Houses Grow, So Grows a Costly By-product Read More
Financial Planning says Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reports household growth should be in the 15 million range between 2010 and 2020. But if history teaches us anything, the real key to housing market recovery is job growth. Eric Belsky, Executive Director of the Center, says, “If employment …
HousingWire says foreclosure sales fell seven percent in May from the previous month to 68,000, the second straight month that figure has declined, according to the Hope Now consortium of lenders, counselors and insurers. Approximately 2.67 million mortgages stayed in 60-day delinquency in May, an increase of one percent over …
Foreclosure Sales Fall in May, but Foreclosures Initiated Rise Read More
The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) says the number of manufactured homes shipped in May declined by 10.9 percent over May 2010. The 4,475 homes represent a 23.8 percent decrease in multi-section homes and a 9.6 increase in single section homes. Year-to-date shipments are 18,125 as opposed to 20,972 houses for …
Yahoo! Finance says unemployed borrowers with Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans will be able to remain in their homes for up to a year without making a payment and stave off foreclosure. T he goal is to allow people to remain in their homes, and thereby reduce the number of …
Government Trying to Ease Burden of Jobless Homeowners Read More
HousingWire reports rising interest rates in response to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program caused mortgage applications to fall 5.2 percent for the past week on a seasonally-adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) went from 4.46 percent to 4.69 percent, and the …
