Calif. median home price: March 2012: $291,080 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by region/county March 2012: San Mateo, $677,900 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by region/county March 2012: Tehama, $108,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: March 2012: 143.7, an increase from the revised 126.5 recorded in February.
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: First quarter 2012: 56 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates: Week ending 5/10/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.83% fees/points: 0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 3.05 fees/points: 0.7% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.73% Fees/points: 0.5% (Source: Freddie Mac)
CNN Money
While analysts debate when the housing market will hit bottom, for a surprising number of cities the turnaround has already begun. In December, prices rose in 109 of the 384 metro areas tracked by data firm CoreLogic.
Making sense of the story
- There are certain signs to help determine if a particular neighborhood is on the verge of a rebound. For instance is local employment on the upswing? That’s a critical factor for a region to get itself on the path to recovery. Improving jobs picture has led to shrinking housing stock across the country, as investors and bargain hunters have started buying up foreclosures that have been preventing a recovery.
- For years, buyers were scared of overpaying for a home, but less so now. Many buyers have grown accustomed to thinking they’ll score deals, so they tend to act slowly, and typically start bidding around 10 percent to 15 percent below list price. However, a growing number of buyers are beginning to realize that if they wait too long in this market, they may miss out.
- Sellers can hold firm on price if they’re patient. The days of having to deal with low-ball offers are coming to an end. The higher the price, the more patient the seller must be. Cheaper homes are affordable to more buyers and appealing to investors, so recoveries usually start there.
- Sellers should keep in mind that while they don’t have to placate low-ball offers anymore, they also can’t shoot for the moon either. Working with a REALTOR® and setting a realistic price from the get-go is key.
- Sellers should know what they’re competing against. Homeowners should let their home’s value dictate the price. While this may seem self-evident, some owners may have lost sight of it during the bust. On the one hand, some sellers clung to the false hope of a return to boom prices, so they set prices unrealistically high. Others may have gone too far the other way, and set their price too low.
- It’s also important that sellers understand they’re no longer competing with gutted foreclosures. Buyers are tired of looking at worn-down, neglected, distressed properties and often don’t have much extra money to do a lot of fixing up. REALTORS® often report their clients are willing to pay a little more for a home that’s ready to move into.
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http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/19/real_estate/housing-market.moneymag/index.htm?iid=HP_River
Freddie Mac reported this week that 79 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either maintained about the same loan amount or lowered their principal balance by paying-in additional money at the closing table in the first quarter of 2012.
Of these borrowers, 58 percent maintained about the same loan amount, and 21 percent of refinancing homeowners reduced their principal balance; the share of borrowers that kept about the same loan amount was the highest in the 26-year history of the analysis.
“Cash-out” borrowers, those who increased their loan balance by at least five percent, represented 21 percent of all refinance loans; the weighted average cash-out share during the 1985 to 2008 period was 50 percent.
The median interest rate reduction for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was about 1.5 percentage points, or a savings of about 27 percent in interest rate, the largest percent reduction recorded in the 27 years of analysis. Over the first year of the refinance loan life, the median borrower will save about $2,900 in interest payments on a $200,000 loan.
http://www2.realtoractioncenter.com/site/R?i=1w8sWhgcjEnVkWSmcc_UQQ
CNNMoney
The Federal Housing Finance Agency laid out new rules aimed at speeding up the short sale process, a move that could keep many homes from falling into foreclosure.
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http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/19/real_estate/short-sales/index.htm?iid=HP_LN
National vacancy rates in the first quarter of 2012 were 8.8 percent for rental housing and 2.2 percent for homeowner housing, according to the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau. The rental vacancy rate of 8.8 percent was 0.9 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in first quarter 2011 and 0.6 percentage points lower than the previous quarter. The homeowner vacancy rate of 2.2 percent was 0.4 percentage points lower than first quarter 2011 and 0.1 percentage point lower than the fourth quarter rate.
The homeownership rate of 65.4 percent was 1 percentage point lower than the first quarter 2011 rate (66.4 percent) and 0.6 percentage points lower than the rate fourth quarter 2011 (66 percent).
In the first quarter of 2012, the median asking rent for vacant rental units was $721, and the median asking sales price for vacant for-sale units was $133,700.
The homeowner vacancy rates in principal cities (2.5 percent) and outside MSAs (2.6 percent) were higher than in the suburbs (1.9 percent). The homeowner vacancy rates in principal cities and in the suburbs were lower than a year ago, while the rate outside MSAs was not statistically different from the corresponding first quarter 2011 rate.
For the first quarter of 2012, the homeowner vacancy rate was higher in the South than the Northeast, but not statistically different from the rates in the Midwest and West. The homeowner vacancy rates in the Midwest, South, and West were lower than a year ago, while the rate in the Northeast was not statistically different from first quarter 2011 rates.
Approximately 86.1 percent of the housing units in the United States in first quarter 2012 were occupied, and 13.9 percent were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 56.3 percent of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 29.8 percent of the inventory in first quarter 2012.
http://www2.realtoractioncenter.com/site/R?i=lhkhWdZXmt2I-ONdajSXew
Los Angeles Times
A year ago, 1 out of 10 REALTORS® surveyed said houses were receiving low-ball offers. In the latest survey, there were hardly any. Instead, the focus ha shifted to declining inventory levels.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20120422,0,7259627.story
Data through February 2012, released Tuesday by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed annual declines of 3.6 percent and 3.5 percent for the 10- and 20-City Composites, respectively. This is an improvement over the annual declines of 4.1 percent and 3.9 percent posted in January, respectively. In addition to the two Composites, 15 of the 20 MSAs posted better annual returns in February compared with January. Five of the 20 MSAs saw positive annual returns.
http://www2.realtoractioncenter.com/site/R?i=5ySvdoMw1TMG6k3bmynLbQ
Los Angeles Times
A new statistical analysis, based on a large sample of all mortgage applications approved and denied in recent months, offers valuable benchmakers for anyone thinking about refinancing a home purchase or refinancing an exisiting loan.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20120415,0,7325165.story
Late yesterday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop enhanced and aligned strategies for facilitating short sales, deeds-in-lieu, and deeds-for-lease in order to help more homeowners avoid foreclosure. The effort will come in stages with the first taking place this June. The new, aligned timelines include the requirement that mortgage servicers review and respond to requests for short sales within 30 calendar days from receipt of a short sale offer.
“C.A.R. applauds the FHFA for taking this important step to streamline the short sale process so that the housing market can begin a full recovery,” said C.A.R. President LeFrancis Arnold. “We have long called for similar improvements to help ensure successful short sales and look forward to hearing about additional enhancements to further reform the process.”
The FHFA’s directive calls for servicers to:
Review and respond to requests for short sales within 30 calendar days from receipt of a short sale offer and a complete borrower response package;
Provide weekly status updates to the borrower if the short sale offer is still under review after 30 calendar days;
Make and communicate final decisions to the borrower within 60 calendar days of receipt of the offer and complete borrower response package
By the end of this year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will announce additional enhancements that address borrower eligibility and evaluation, documentation simplification, property valuation, fraud mitigation, payments to subordinate lien holders, and mortgage insurance.
http://www.car.org/newsstand/newsreleases/2012releases/fhfastreamline
The New York Times
Mortgage rates are near historic lows, but they are rising, leading some borrowers to consider locking in their rate. When borrowers lock in their interest rate, it freezes the terms of the loan while it is being processed, potentially saving borrowers thousands of dollars over the life of the mortgage.
Making sense of the story
- Locking in a rate may be especially important for those who are refinancing, where even a quarter of a percentage point could skew a borrower’s calculations and make a refinancing less financially desirable.
- Rate locks can provide buyers with some peace of mind, not to mention one less thing to think about in an otherwise onerous application process.
- Lenders typically will give loan rate guarantee agreements when a borrower has a purchase agreement, but a few will provide them to those who are preapproved for a mortgage.
- The cost of reserving an interest rate depends both on the duration of the lock and the amount of the loan. The longer the lock, the more costly it is. Most locks are for 30, 45, or 60 days, but some lenders will go as long as six months.
- Most lenders offer some version of a free lock, though it may be only for 30 days. Others charge points – or fractions thereof – based on the loan size, which could amount to several hundred dollars. One point is equal to 1 percent of the loan amount. Sometimes these charges are refundable at closing.
- Borrowers may want to skip a rate lock, or delay taking one, if they are unsure when their home purchase will close.
- Knowing how long to lock in a rate requires a clear picture of the mortgage process, and a good estimate from the lender on how long it will take to approve the loan and complete all the paperwork and other requirements. For some lenders handling refinancing, this can be 15 or 20 days; others take longer.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/realestate/mortgages-locking-in-peace-of-mind.html?_r=1&ref=realestate
