Posts about Mortgage Market Report as of August 21, 2009

The National Association of Realtors just announced that existing home sales rose to the highest level in the last two years. This is obviously a good sign. What drove the increase and what is going on within the housing market broadly speaking? Can we assign a clean bill of health to the entire housing market based upon this report? Let’s dig deeper. Bloomberg looks into this morning’s report and highlights the following in writing  Existing Home Sales in U.S.

The US Treasury Department’s Comptroller of Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision reported a 176% increase in short sales nationally from the 1Q 2008 to 1Q 2009, from 5,523 in 1Q 2008 to 17,036 in 1Q 2009. The numbers of foreclosures are still far higher than short sales and are expected to spike once again after federal and state moratoriums expire.

« PreviousGovernment work: how safe a bastion? The good and bad news of existing-home sales Posted by Barbara KiviatFriday, August 21, 2009 at 11:57 am Submit a Comment • Trackback (0) The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its monthly tally of home sales this morning. The headline figure was pretty cheery. The number of existing homes sold in July increased 7.2% from June. Sales in July were also up 5% when compared to July 2008—the first year-over-year gain we’ve seen since November 2005.

Photo by Benjamin Craig The Mortgage Bankers Association released stats on the second quarter this week and they’re pretty grim. The percentage of loans in foreclosure, and the percentage of loans with delinquent payments both set records. Illinois was higher than the national average. More than 9 percent of loans had payments past due, and 4.7 percent of loans were in foreclosure. The comparable national numbers were 8.86 percent for delinquent loans and 4.3 percent for loans in foreclosure.

The currency markets were a bit more volatile than usual yesterday, but really didn’t do much until Europe got trading this morning and decided to punish the US dollar. The data released yesterday morning was a mixed bag, as the leading indicators climbed for a fourth straight month and the Philadelphia fed reported a big jump in their gauge of activity, but the initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose. Unemployment in the US will continue to be a drag on the economy, slowing any recovery and possibly pushing the US back into recession (or as some predict a depression).

More news from Dibben and Dibben . As widely reported in the UK national press this week – mortgage lending continues to rise, according to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Gross lending in July stood at £16bn, 26% higher than in June, though still more than a third lower than in July last year. Mortgage lending, house sales and property prices have all picked up in the past few months after a dramatic slump caused by the banking crisis.

Filed under: Market matters , Regions Financial (RF) , Cramer on BloggingStocks , Financial Crisis From TheStreet.com Network Morgan Stanley on Hiring Spree: Report China to Tighten Bank Capital Rules The Street.com’s Jim Cramer says that now it is all about who is going to take advantage of the opportunities. Did anyone listen to Bill Isaac yesterday? Did anyone listen to the man that was instrumental in solving the banking crisis of 1987-1991 when he was on “Squawk Box?” I don’t think they did.

  Where is the ICBA sending ex-Taylor Bean clients? Check out http://www.icbamortgage.com/news/index.cfm?ItemNumber=61467#faqs What is AMI? It stands for “ area median income ”. In the old days, HUD issued the median income estimates, but now the Federal Housing Finance Agency does them. What good are they? Well, for starters, anyone who specializes in low and moderate income borrowers uses them , especially for Freddie Mac’s Home Possible Mortgage.

Thanks to Calculated Risk for the great charts! One of the things that I found really interesting about this chart is that FHA is the only loan type where the delinquencies appear to be similar to the percentage of total loans.   VA and Conventional are smaller and Subprime is bigger. Hmmm….. Tom Calculated Risk: U.S. Mortgage Market and Seriously Delinquent Loans by Type A little more information from the MBA Q2 delinquency report: This graph shows the U.S. mortgage market by type.

Today’s tough economic times are making some families choose the lesser of the two evils when deciding which bills they can afford to pay.  Many struggling families are making the tough choices about which bills to pay and which they will have to leave for the next month if possible. So, if you were in trouble, which bills would you choose to pay if you could only afford one….

WASHINGTON – A mixed bag of economic news Thursday shows a record number of U.S. homeowners having problems repaying their mortgage loans and more troubles in the job market. The American Bankers Association, an industry group, says more than nine percent of home loans are one month or more behind in their payments. Other measures of housing problems also hit record highs.   A separate report showed more U.S. workers applied for unemployment compensation last week.

by Adam Whazzer Mortgage and home loan help is available and theres practically nothing more aggravating and more heart breaking than the thought of losing your home since you can no longer keep up with your mortgage payments. One out of seven of homeowners in the United States are living with this agony,the sad part is many already think its too late and end up losing their home since the did not get the mortgage help that could have stopped the foreclosure. Most of the time however thats not the problem.

by Adam Whazzer Mortgage and home loan help is available and theres practically nothing more aggravating and more heart breaking than the thought of losing your home since you can no longer keep up with your mortgage payments. One out of seven of homeowners in the United States are living with this agony,the sad part is many already think its too late and end up losing their home since the did not get the mortgage help that could have stopped the foreclosure. Most of the time however thats not the story.

Live in with your payment each month can help you avoid bad credit. If you study the market before deciding to buy, you and your way to avoid bad credit and [spin]repair|patch up[/spin ]credit problems. To take into account all of the applications, including credit cards, student loans, mortgages and car loans carefully to avoid too high. Wise decision-making decision-making before the game, the ultimate solution in order to maintain good credit. Most people, taking into account the mortgage do not know can make the choice.

30-year fixed-rate mortgage: Averaged 5.59 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 11, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 5.29 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.32 percent. The last time the 30-year FRM was higher was the week ending November 26, 2008, when it averaged 5.97 percent. 15-year fixed-rate mortgage: Averaged 5.06 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.79 percent.

By Kevin G. Hall McClatchy Newspapers Thursday, August 20, 2009 WASHINGTON — Delinquency and foreclosure rates for U.S. mortgages continued to rise in the second quarter, with loans to the most qualified borrowers going bust at an unnerving clip, especially in hard-hit states such as Florida and California. The numbers reported Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association show clearly that rising job losses are worsening the nation’s housing troubles and threaten the Obama administration’s efforts to keep owners from losing their homes.

Independent property research firm IPD has issued a report which suggests that  capital values of Australian property have reached nearly two decade lows for the year ending June 2009 as investment fund managers mark down the value of their real estate assets. The IPD and Australian Property Council index suggests that capital values across all real estate sectors plunged 13.3 per cent during the period, the largest drop in asset values since the 1991 recession.

US stocks rose on Thursday after a rebound in Chinese equities and a surprise expansion in US regional manufacturing overshadowed rising jobless claims. The rally in the Chinese stock market, which had fallen as much as 20% in the last two weeks, helped eased fears about a key driver of the global economy. The US earnings picture was mixed as packaged food makers H.J. Heinz Co and Hormel Foods Corp both beat Wall Street estimates while retailer Sears Holding Corp posted a surprise loss, sending its shares down 12%.

Home owners are still finding themselves in trouble with their mortgages.  Some are anticipating being in trouble because they can see what is coming, financially, in the future.  The problem can seem complex but at some point you have to decide, do you want to go through a short sale or do you want to foreclose on your home?

30-year fixed-rate mortgage: Averaged 5.59 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 11, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 5.29 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.32 percent. The last time the 30-year FRM was higher was the week ending November 26, 2008, when it averaged 5.97 percent. 15-year fixed-rate mortgage: Averaged 5.06 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.79 percent.

The explosive stock market rally since early March has fueled hopes that the worst is really over and that the economy is no longer on the brink of a prolonged deep plunge. The recent tenth of a point drop in unemployment sealed the optimism. The President and his party spent a few days bragging about the success of their Porkulus plan (even though the week before they were telling people to be patient because very little of the stimulus bill had been spent).

We can’t say we weren’t warned. Summarizing his pre-White House political career the Arkansas Democrat Gazette highlighted his gas bag tendencies and demonstrated eagerness to suck up to power: “A purely rhetorical approach to issues that may please all, coupled with a tendency to side with those interests powerful enough to do him some political good . . . his tax policy in Arkansas has been to hand out exemptions to large corporations and soak the middle class.” Like other leaders of his party, Governor Clinton had no problem with Washington’s terrorist war against Nicaragua, so long as Democrats were kept properly informed.

Jump to CommentsNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans who have fallen at least 30 days behind on their home loan payments jumped 44% in the second quarter from a year ago, according to an industry report.That puts delinquencies at a record 9.24% of mortgages, according to the National Delinquency Report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). That represents more than 4 million of the 45 million borrowers covered by the report.What the rate does not include, however, are loans already in foreclosure.

August 20, 2009 Government scales back deficit projections… chart, Bill Bonner show why it hardly matters “Cash for clunkers” to wind down… how this government fiasco could end with a bang Switzerland coughs up client secrets… Doug Casey identifies new global safe havens Steer clear of this renewable energy investment, says Byron King Plus, John Williams with a worthy health care reform conspiracy theory     Here’s a small victory, worthy of breaking out some Andre Brut: The U.S.

Quick update for now on the news and what’s happening in mortgages: Index of Leading Indicators showed some signs of a good report. The Conference Board said that the recession is at the bottom right now. Mortgage delinquencies continue to go up. Unemployment claims went up. So we’ve got two good and two not so good reports.   What does that mean?   Pretty much the status quo.   No change on rates at this point. My recommendation remains to lock.   Grab what you can get while it’s there.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Annual Mortgage Bankers Performance Report (formerly the MBA Cost Study series) the average loan written in the second half of 2008 brought in a modest profit of $184 or 8.75 basis points compared to net losses of $50 in 2006 and $560 in 2007. This was in spite of lower net warehousing income and higher production operating expenses.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Annual Mortgage Bankers Performance Report (formerly the MBA Cost Study series) the average loan written in the second half of 2008 brought in a modest profit of $184 or 8.75 basis points compared to net losses of $50 in 2006 and $560 in 2007. This was in spite of lower net warehousing income and higher production operating expenses.

Wed Aug 19, 5:43 PM ET The New York office of Swiss banking giant UBS. UBS will reveal the identities of some 4,450 American account holders in a landmark out-of-court settlement Wednesday of a US tax-evasion case that challenged Switzerland’s sacrosanct banking secrecy.

  Roughly 11:00am ET this morning, the Treasury will announce another huge amount of Treasury Securities to be auctioned off next week.  Prior announcements have ignited a selloff in Mortgage Bonds, but yesterday, some reassuring words from Goldman Sachs have helped to calm Bond investors.  The respected investment banking house said that there was adequate demand to meet the new supply of Treasury issuance.  We’ll find out soon enough what the market reaction is.

Stein’s Law, named for presidential economic advisor Herb Stein who coined it, holds that if something cannot go on forever it will eventually end. If that sounds like an obvious conclusion remember that, Freakonomics aside, most of what economists do is point out the obvious to people who somehow fail to see it. Think about everyone who was surprised that the housing bubble imploded and that credit crashed. Everyone knew that rising housing prices and expanding mortgage debt couldn’t go on forever, but many acted like it would never end.

In the past even individuals with bad credit were often able to get the financing they needed so long as they owned one important asset: a home. The current mortgage and housing market collapse has made it tougher than ever to get a bank loan even if you own a home for collateral. This leaves many people asking a very important question: Is it possible to get refinance loans for bad credit? There are many reasons to refinance. A new car, home repairs, even paying off high interest credit cards are all good reasons to seek refinancing options.

Hello from Rainy New Orleans!!! Okay, I will fess up!!!  I slept right through the morning alarm.  I’m completely exhausted from getting youngest daughter back into university mode, me back into teaching mode, and me into maligned husband forced into shopping errands with visiting friend mode.  (Have I mentioned that I HATE shopping?) So, I’m having my coffee now and you can see what I’ve dug up to read!!!  It’s raining here in muggy New Orleans but we’re safe under the big green and white awning at Cafe Du Monde.

by Dario Dingwall Even in the toughest of economies, people need places to live. The basic need for food and shelter is inherent to human life. And honestly, most of us would like to have a nice single family home to come home to. Residential real investing can not only be a good investment, but done correctly can be very profitable as well. Investing in residential real estate does not necessarily require one to be a financial intellect, although being a genius can be helpful in other markets.