Tag Archives: Home Prices

A troubled year for housing surfaced in a February housing scorecard from the Obama administration Friday, underscoring a still-unsteady pace for home prices, mortgage origination volume, and housing supply. Jointly released by HUD and the Treasury Department, the scorecard reflects an industry still in transition from crisis to recovery. The scorecard cited a National Association of Realtors Home Affordability Index, showing that it moved from 179.1 February last year to 194.9 this year, not far from the level seen in January.

A hearing held by House lawmakers Wednesday with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recast housing and the Dodd-Frank Act as issues critical to the economic recovery. The central banker said that 30 percent of home sales recently consisted of foreclosures and properties in distress, reflecting ongoing trouble for a market underpinned by high home vacancy rates and downward pressure for home prices. The underwriting process, down payments, and pending regulations also took center-stage during the discussion, with House members spotlighting recent servicer consent orders.

Overall economic activity continued to increase at a modest to moderate pace in January and early February, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in the Beige Book. The report ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô an anecdotal review of conditions in each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô showed economic improvement varying across the country. Residential real estate activity increased modestly in most parts of the country, while home prices declined or held steady in many areas. Reports on banking conditions were generally positive across the country. Demand for residential mortgage loans increased in New York and Richmond.

Home prices reached fourth-quarter lows not seen since 2002, with the Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós/Case-Shiller Index yielding 3.8 percent in declines for December last year. The index found that prices fell 4 percent year-over-year, alongside 1.1 percent in month-over-month declines for 10- and 20-city composite measures. Eighteen of 20 metropolitan areas monitored by S&P bore the brunt of monthly price declines, with figures up 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent for only Miami and Phoenix, respectively. Atlanta slouched into the negatives at 12.8 percent. Detroit offered the only positive annual return at 0.5 percent.

Existing-home sales rose in January for the third time in the last four months, according to the National Association of Realtors. January sales ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô completed transactions ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô were up 4.3 percent from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million. December├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós total was revised downward to 4.38 million from 4.61 million. The January 2012 sales pace was up 0.7 percent from January 2011. The median price of an existing-home was $154,700 in January, down 2.0 percent from January 2011, falling to lows from 2001.

Revealing results from its predictive modeling survey of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoneix, Arizona, Carwin Advisors is forecasting the recovery timeline for both metropolitan areas. According to Carwin, Las Vegas will have a longer wait for housing market improvement, while Phoenix is expected to be well on the way to recovery by 2013. Carwin predicts that the housing market will eventually normalize to levels of new and existing home sales that were average for the metro area during the early 2000s.

Home sales climbed 3.4 percent year-over-year in January, hitting a stride for the seventh consecutive month, according to RE/MAX. The real estate company released a National Housing Report that shows a sudden sales jump by yearend 2011, with homes for sale down 19.3 percent month-over-month. The company attributed falling inventory numbers to a shortfall in foreclosed properties, with home prices declining by 0.8 percent in 53 metropolitan areas. Home prices leapt forward in 15 metro areas year-over-year, with figures increasing by 23.8 percent in Miami, among many other cities.

Negative equity, tight mortgage credit, and an overhang of foreclosed properties conspire to delay a full-fledged housing rebound and economic recovery, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday. He said that the inability ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô or unwillingness ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô of lenders to lend puts the brakes on much-needed activity by first-time and repeat homebuyers. He cited a contraction in mortgage credit outstanding for U.S. homes by about 13 percent, with mortgage originators reluctant to lend to otherwise eligible borrowers.

A House subcommittee cleared a bill Tuesday that would shore up the Federal Housing Administration's ailing Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund by setting annual premiums for mortgage insurers and reworking the agency├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós financial controls. Lawmakers seated on the Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity subcommittee approved by voice vote the FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act, fronting it for a full vote by the House. The FHA continues to alarm policymakers for failing to keep adequate capital on hand.

More Americans expect that home prices will recover over the course of 2012, just as they believe that mortgage rates will remain at all-time lows and more think the economy will enter an upswing. Mortgage giant Fannie Mae said in a January National Housing Survey that 28 percent of Americans believe that home prices will rise over the next year by 1 percent, up from 2 percent last month. Of the survey respondents, 8 percent said that interest rates for mortgage loans will decline in 2012, down 2 percent from December.