Tag Archives: Confidence

Single family starts increased 28,000 in August to 535,000, the highest level since April 2010, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Wednesday. Despite the increase total, housing starts improved just 17,000 as multi-family starts fell. Despite the increase total, housing starts improved just 17,000 as multi-family starts fell. Housing permits meanwhile dropped 9,000 to 802,000. Economists had expected total starts to increase to 768,000 and permits to slip to 803,000.

According to a recent report by J.D. Power and Associates, home buyer satisfaction with national real estate companies fell to its lowest level in the history of the five-year-old survey, a record low on par with mortgage rates. The firm said that overall satisfaction slipped to 789 on a 1,000-point scale, down from 797 in 2011. Seller satisfaction followed the trend by averaging 768, down from 779 from the same time frame. The study tied real estate companies viewed more favorably by buyers and sellers to the frequency with which these companies capture a sizeable proportion of the listing price.

Strong employment reports boosted mortgage rates back up for the second week in a row, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The GSE's Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows the 30-year fixed averaging 3.59 percent for the week ending August 9, an increase from 3.55 percent the previous week. The 15-year fixed also posted gains, averaging 2.84 percent for the week, up from 2.83 percent a week ago. The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage followed, increasing to 2.77 percent from 2.75 percent the week before.

Higher asking prices drove off foreign homebuyers and investors over the last year, with real estate firm citing a 10 percent decline in foreign interest for the U.S. housing market. Releasing its International House Hunter Report Thursday, Trulia found that asking prices rose 0.3 percent year-over-year, nixing helpful influence from still-falling home prices. The housing bust attracted a number of foreign and cash buyers interested in low prices and the safe haven of U.S. real estate investment, according to Trulia.

Financial reform advocates have two birthdays to celebrate on Saturday. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the two-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, the sweeping financial reform law that spawned it. Their stories run parallel to each other ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and rightly so. The consumer bureau squeaked past partisan gridlock this time last year, just one year after Democrats, then in the majority of both houses of Congress, cleared Dodd-Frank for the president├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós signature.

The housing recovery is strengthening and turning onto a sustainable path, Barclays said in a report Wednesday. According to the firm's U.S. Housing report, single-family housing starts are expected to trend upward, matching the strength of multi-family starts that has driven the housing recovery over the past year. Barclays also anticipates that home price indices will close out the year strong, suggesting a broadening and lasting recovery. The rising supply and steady sales pace of single-family starts apparently encouraged homebuilders.

Speaking before Congress Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted a slow and fragile economic recovery in the United States, one that is vulnerable to financial markets abroad as well as fiscal policy at home. Amid the uncertain economic atmosphere, the Federal Reserve will continue its maturity extension program through the end of this year. The program calls for the Fed to purchase short-term Treasury securities and long-term Treasury securities of equal amounts. Bernanke said that the housing market reveals modest recovery.

Rising home prices and sales signal that the housing recovery may finally be underway, according to RE/MAX. The real estate company released a housing report Tuesday that found closed transactions up 2.1 percent from May and 5 percent from June year-over-year. These figures made June the twelfth straight month for higher transactions. Of 53 metro areas surveyed by the company, 31 offered up increases for both sales and prices. Available homes for sale fell 5 percent from May and 27.4 percent from June last year.

Rallying investors by end of day Friday, JPMorgan Chase posted strong earnings from the second-quarter, with Home Affordable Refinance Program modifications helping boost income for the laggardly mortgage servicing unit year-over-year. For mortgage production and servicing, the financial institution fielded $604 million in net income over the second quarter, a figure that trumps a net loss of $649 million from the past year. Mortgage production rose to $931 million in pretax income for the lender.

Downturns in economic confidence hasn├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ót shaken consumers├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ó optimism in the housing market, Fannie Mae├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós National Housing Survey for June showed. According to the survey, the average home price expectation rose to 2 percent in June, up 0.6 percent from May and the highest recorded value since the survey began two years ago. In addition, 35 percent of respondents expect that home prices will go up in the next year, the highest level recorded since the survey├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós inception. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they think mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months.