HousingWire reports that Moody’s Analytics says the federal government should do more to help the 14 million underwater mortgages before falling home prices lead to another downturn in the housing market. Analyst Mark Zandi says plummeting home values could be sufficient to induce more underwater borrowers to hand their keys …
HousingWire says fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) dropped to their lowest rate since last November, suggesting that another decline in the housing market may be coming. According to Bankrate, its survey of major lenders revealed the average 30-year FRM fell to 4.69 percent last week. The average 15-year FRM declined to 3.88 …
Falling Mortgage Rates May Signal Another Downturn Read More
Origination News reports a congressional hearing heard both sides of the aisle criticizing federal regulators for exempting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the five percent risk retention policy on non-qualified residential mortgages (QRMs). The Dodd-Frank Act (Dodd-Frank) exempts Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, but not …
Congress and Industry Suggest Altering Risk Retention Read More
Manufactured housing personal property (chattel) lenders state that unless amended, once rule making goes into effect on the Dodd-Frank Act (Dodd-Frank), loans on homes under $78,000 will become history due to the increasing fixed transactional costs per loan required by the law. MH lenders’ records reveal that most personal property …
Industry Pros Express Concerns over Dodd-Frank Implementation Read More
HousingWire reports that a survey of over 1,000 borrowers by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) revealed half could not afford the required 20 percent down payment under the qualified residential mortgage (QRM) plan, despite housing prices being at record lows. USA Today‘s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data …
Bloomberg says the S&P (Standard & Poor) Case/Shiller index of home prices fell in March 3.6 percent from March 2010, registering the biggest year-to-year decline since November 2009. Housing prices are the lowest since 2003 according to this survey of 20 U.S. cities. The first quarter of the year saw …
Foreclosures Provide Slippery Slope for Home Prices Read More
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that architect Michelle Kaufmann, termed “the Henry Ford of green homes” by the Sierra Club, says in order to attract people to energy efficient modular homes, we have to make it less expensive to live in than what people are paying now. She says we …
Price Modular Green Housing Reasonably, says Architect Read More
Yahoo! Finance reports the index that measures sales agreements for previously occupied homes fell 11.6 percent in April to 81.9, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). A count of 100 is considered healthy. The last time the index hit 100 was April 2010, the last month when people …
Sale of Previously Occupied Homes Half that of 1963 Read More
Bloomberg reports that manufactured housing shipments for March rose at a seasonally adjusted rate to 47,000, up 3,000 over February, and the highest in six months. On a seasonally adjusted rate, placements dropped 5,000 units February to March, and dealer inventory remained stable at 22,000. The average sales price increased …
Manufactured Housing Shipments Increased for March Read More
NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) First Vice-chairman Barry Rutenberg says while the NAHB supports modernizing the nation’s housing finance system, it opposes several bills in the House and Senate that would end Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without providing some type of government backstop. He says, “Maintaining a continuing …
National Mortgage News reports the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is cracking down on lenders it thinks have taken shortcuts, denying claims and even threatening lawsuits. Although much of the action results from the bubble years activity, it is giving pause to those seeking to make new FHA-backed loans. Foreclosure-related claims …
HousingWire reports the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recorded the largest quarterly drop in house prices since the last quarter of 2008, as prices fell 2.5 percent in Q1 2011 from the previous quarter. Based on the mortgages of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, house prices fell 5.5 percent over …
Bloomberg says that new home sales increased in April to a pace of 323,000 on the year, jumping 7.3 percent from last month, according to the Commerce Department, which followed February’s count of 278,000, the lowest monthly rate since record-keeping began in1963. The article attributes the increase to job growth …
The Palm Beach Post says the city of West Palm Beach, Florida, spent $3 million in federal stimulus funds to buy 60 lots and build 19 modular homes in an attempt to revitalize the Coleman Park neighborhood, spending between $105,000 and $230,000 on each home. The plan was to use …
Origination News reports different lenders have creative incentives to help deplete the glut of affordable houses on the market. Fannie Mae is offering 3.5 percent closing cost assistance for Fannie’s Owned HomePath Property loan as long as the deal is sealed before June 30, 2011. The borrower must use it …
Lenders Offering Different Incentives to Draw Borrowers Read More
The Daily Herald reports that Columbia, Tennessee, will buy and raze eight blighted homes with a $500,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and install four modular homes intended for low-to-moderate income residents to buy. Each home will have three bedrooms and two baths, and will …
HUD Grant to Replace Blighted Houses with New Modular Homes Read More
HousingWire reports that Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) unveiled two prototype mortgage disclosure forms intended to add transparency and simplification to consumers’ mortgage shopping process. Part of CFPB’s Know Before You Owe program, the samples will be tested in six different markets around the country this …
Bloomberg reports that Trulia, Inc., and RealtyTrac, Inc., say a survey of American homeowners and renters reveals that 54 percent do not expect the housing market to recover before 2014, an increase from 34 percent in November. According to 45 percent of the respondents, the government is not working hard …
Survey of American Residents Echos the Experts: Housing Market Floundering Read More
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says builders’ confidence in the market for new single-family dwellings has not changed in six of the last seven months, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe, “Asked to identify reasons that potential customers are …
Survey Says Builders’ Expectations for New Home Construction Flat Read More
Following up on a story we ran May 6, Bluffton Today reports that Beaufort Construction, Inc., got the nod for building the six modular homes planned for a Bluffton, South Carolina, affordable housing project, just west of Hilton Head. The town has also received bids for homeowner consultants to screen …
Builder Selected for Modular Units in South Carolina Read More
