MND NewsWire : housing market

S&P Says Home Prices Improve for Fourth Straight Month

Patrick McGee — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:25:00 GMT

Home prices across the nation improved for their fourth consecutive month in May but remain about 17% lower than one year ago, according to the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The 10-City and 20-City Composites are 16.8% and 17.1% lower, respectively, compared to May 2008. Historically, those are major declines, but in the current context they represent the slowest annual price drops in close to a year. Just one month before, the figures were -18.0% and -18.1%....(read more)

Freddie Mac Survey: Rates Take Big Jump

Jann Swanson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:52:15 GMT

After months of low rates some of which broke long-time records, mortgage interest rates shot up drastically during the week ended June 4. Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market survey this morning, showing that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) for the week averaged 5.29 percent with 0.7 point. This is the highest rate for the 30-year FRM since the week ended December 18, 2008 when the average was 5.19 percent. The new number is an increase of 37 basis points over last...(read more)

Small Loss in Pending Home Sales Somewhat Encouraging, Economists Say

CEP News Feed — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:13:33 GMT

Economists had mixed reactions about the housing market following the release of some October data showing that while fewer people planned to purchase an existing home compared to the previous month, the decline was not as great as expected my markets...(read more)

Paulson Says New Initiatives to Assist Housing, Lending

CEP News Feed — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:17:45 GMT

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that additional measures announced by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Tuesday morning are aimed at aiding the U.S. housing market and restoring affordable bank lending to consumers and small businesses. It was announced...(read more)

NAR Presents Four-Point Stimulus Proposal

Jann Swanson — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:53:44 GMT

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) stayed right on message as it proposed a four-point plan for Congress to enact to resuscitate the housing market and including yet another plea to keep banks out of the real estate business. The plan, revealed in a statement made late last week and in the NAR President's Podcast released on October 21, calls for a special "lame-duck" session of Congress and asks that it consider the following, what it calls "consumer-driven"...(read more)

Survey Suggests U.S. House Prices Decline from Dual Processes

CEP News Feed — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:40:28 GMT

More evidence of a well-known trend emerged on Thursday when it was reported that U.S. house prices across the country continue falling as a result of foreclosure sales. Yet traditional logic in buying and selling is also taking its toll on prices, suggests...(read more)

Case-Shiller Home Price Index Continues to Decline in July

CEP News Feed — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:20:01 GMT

The S&P Case-Shiller home price index fell more than expected in the July as the 20-city composite index posted an annual decline of 16.3%, extending the prior month's 15.9% decline. The Case-Shiller index has fallen every month since peaking...(read more)

Double-Digit Decline in New Home Sales Suggests Turnaround is Months Away

CEP News Feed — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:01:13 GMT

August recorded a substantial decline in the pace of new home sales , even with the median price for a home falling 5.5% in the month. The pace of sales fell 11.5% over the month, pushing the annual rate of sales down to 460k from the 520k pace in July...(read more)

Plunging U.S. Housing Starts a Necessary Step on Road to Recovery, Analysts Say

CEP News Feed — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:04:15 GMT

Housing starts, an index looking at the number of homes being built, fell to their lowest level in 17 years in the August report, but economists say that, while the monthly decline was steeper than anticipated by markets, a drop in construction is a precondition for the housing sector to stabilize.

The U.S. Department of Commerce report showed starts fell 6.2% to an annualized pace of 895k, down from 954k in the prior month. Building permits, an index looking at plans to construct new homes in the coming months, fell by an even steeper 8.9% in the month, pushing the annual pace down to 854k from July's 937k.

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist from HFE, said the decline, while "undoubtedly grim," isn't as bad as it appears because of how volatile the multi-family unit is. "Multi-family starts and permits rose ahead of new building codes in NYC effective July 1 and the steep declines since then represents a give-back of those gains," he added.

The decline in multi-family starts was a whopping 15.1% in the month, compared to a 1.9% decline in single-family units, which represent four-fifths of the sector.

Jennifer Lee, economist at BMO Capital Markets, noted that starts have fallen 33.1% from year-ago levels and are down a dramatic 61% from peak levels in January 2006.

However, she said the August decrease is actually a good thing. "t's akin to having a teaspoon of Buckleys for your cough," she said. "It tastes bad, but it will work to get rid of the still-huge oversupply of unsold homes sitting out there."

In the most recent new home sales report, the level of overhang at the current sales pace was 10.1 months, or 416k homes for sale.

Shepherdson also said the cuts homebuilders are forced to make are "the essential precondition for stability."

The lower-than-anticipated headline was also partly attributed to an 11k downward revision to the July index.

On a positive note, TD Securities' economics strategist Millan Mulraine said the government rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appeared to have provided "some semblance of normalcy" to the mortgage insurance and securitization business, though he expects construction activity to remain "tepid" in coming months.

Also released on Wednesday, MBA mortgage applications for the week ended Sept. 12 spiked 33.4%, likely as a result of the 30-year fixed mortgage rate having fallen by 75 basis points since early August.

According to Bankrate.com, the current rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 5.73%.

By Patrick McGee and edited by Sarah Sussman
©CEP News Ltd. 2008

Freddie and Fannie Buck Market Trend

Glenn Setzer — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:00:00 GMT

In spite of the beating the stock market took on Monday with the Dow Jones down 242 points and even though financial stocks were among the biggest losers, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae shares came roaring back from their awful performance on Friday.

Jim Cramer said on NBC news Tuesday morning that Wall Street was actually anticipating that Freddie and Fannie would be taken down by regulators over the past weekend. When that didn't happen, investors came flocking to the GSE stocks...

...(read more)

Expect Two More 'Waves' of U.S. Foreclosures, Economist Warns

Glenn Setzer — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:00:00 GMT

While the U.S is currently in the midst of the largest bout of home foreclosures in at least 30 years, at least one economist says two more 'waves' are likely on the way.

Patrick Newport, a housing economist at Global Insight, said the next round of foreclosures could come over the next several months as a result of...

...(read more)

Drop in U.S. Housing Starts Due to Inflated June Figure, but Trend Still Downward

Glenn Setzer — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:00:00 GMT

Despite coming in slightly higher than was expected, housing starts still slid 11% to 965k in July, though economists say the drop is misleading given the artificially high reading in June.

Last month, economists unanimously agreed that the headline index was misleading due to a change in the housing code of New York City which propelled the jump.

...(read more)

Still No End in Sight for Falling U.S. House Prices, Says Scotiabank Report

Glenn Setzer — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:00:00 GMT

U.S. house prices still have room to fall, according to a report on real estate trends issued by Scotiabank economists.

The report notes that while the rate of decline has moderated since the spring, sales in the month of June fell to 5.4 million units, a 35% decline since prices hit their peak in 2005.

"The potential for a meaningful turnaround in home sales is limited when..."

...(read more)

Foreclosures Loom as Possible Public Health Menace

Glenn Setzer — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:00:00 GMT

It seems hard to believe, but there appears to be yet one more thing for which we can blame the mortgage crisis. And this is not a financial problem; it is a public health concern.

Several cable networks have reported over the last few weeks that the hundreds of foreclosed houses covering suburban neighborhoods may be contributing to the spread of the West Nile virus.

...(read more)

Foreclosures Continue To Climb in July, Says Realty Trac Report

Glenn Setzer — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:00:00 GMT

U.S. home foreclosures jumped by 55% from the previous month's year-over-year results, according to RealtyTrac's July 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

There were 272,171 foreclosure filings in the month of July, an 8% increase from the prior month. According to RealtyTrac, one in every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing...

...(read more)