Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss
• NY TimesIn an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.
Contents Pages by Subject
Housing
Detroit Homes Sell for $1.00
• GuardianSome might say Jon Brumit overpaid when he stumped up $100 for a whole house. Drive through Detroit neighborhoods once clogged with the cars that made the city the envy of America and there are homes to be had for a single dollar.
Existing Home Pending Sales Index Declines 7.6%
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comThe Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in January, fell 7.6 percent to 90.4 from an upwardly revised 97.8 in December ...
We're #3, We're #3: Arizona mortgage delinquencies ranked 3rd at 18.6 percent
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comThere definitely is a relationship between delinquency rates and the unemployment rate, although some states stand out (like Florida), because of state specific foreclosure laws. Arizona and Nevada also have higher than expected foreclosure rates...
Foreclosures now are just ‘tip of the iceberg’
• mortgage.freedomblogging.com/Despite some reports that suggest the housing crisis may be hitting bottom, foreclosures so far represent the “tip of the iceberg,” real estate analyst, investor and lender Bruce Norris says.
Barney Frank Calls for Elimination of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac in 2011
• nuwireinvestor.com/A hearing scheduled for next week before a Congressional subcommittee that could shed light on the future of the two lending giants was canceled. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the Obama administration will delay any proposal to reform
Obama to Extend the Home Affordable Refinance Program till June 2011
• ZeroHedge.comLest someone think the market is all safe and sound, here comes the FHA to remind that without government subsidies we are all staring at the sub 666 S&P abyss.
Freddie Mac: Delinquencies Increase Sharply in January
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comFreddie Mac reported that the rate of serious delinquencies - at least 90 days behind - for conventional loans in its single-family guarantee business increased to 4.03% in January 2010, up from 3.87% in December - and up from 1.98% in Jan. 2009.
Existing Home Sales Decline Sharply in January
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comExisting-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – dropped 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.05 million units in January from a revised 5.44 million in December...
Duck and Cover: Watch out for falling home prices
• finance.yahoo.com/tech-tickerThe main reason for continued decline, according to Mark Zandi, economist and co-founder of Economy.com, is foreclosures -- the same thing that's plagued markets for the past three years.
Obama's Plan to Kill the Mortgage Industry
• Market-ticker.denninger.net/Contract rights don't matter, law doesn't matter, we'll just ignore all of that pesky stuff when we don't like it.
Housing Demographic Hell: Boomers Downsizing for the Next 35 Years
• ZeroHedge.comRemember the baby boomers? You know, the ones with all the money? As they downsize from McMansions to condos to assisted living facilities, their net shrinkage in demand for housing is going to be in the tens of millions of square feet per year.
How Long Does it Take A Homebuilder to Scrounge Up a Buyer?
• businessinsider.com/Suddenly the collapse in lumber prices is making more and more sense.
Late FHA Loans Spike 62% - But It's Not As Bad As It Sounds
• wibw.com/Seriously delinquent FHA loans, those 90 days or more late, jumped 62.1% in the past year to 558,944, or 9.4% of FHA loans, as of the end of January, according to agency statistics released on Friday. The FHA, however, insists its finances are sound.
Case-Shiller December: Home Prices Fall -3.1%
• businessinsider.com/The other big theme: If you're waiting for the market to come "back," then you're going to have to wait for years.
Housing Cheerleaders: 6.1 Million New Foreclosures Won't Effect Home Prices
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comOf the 7.7 million delinquent homeowners, we actually think that only about 1.6 million will be able avoid losing their homes, and that the remaining 6.1 million will lose their homes.
Man Destroys Home to Keep the Bank From Taking it in Foreclosure
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comThere is a deep well of angry sweeping across the land.
Massive Shadow Inventory Of Troubled Mortgages
• Ritholtz.comLoan modifications and the observed extension of time distressed loans remained as such may simply have delayed the inevitable, creating the demonstrated shadow inventory of troubled loans.
Mortgage Purchase Applications Decline
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comThe Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 2.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. ...
Mortgage Delinquencies Rise for 12th Straight Quarter: Up 50 Percent Y.O.Y.
• HousingWire.comMortgage delinquencies of 60 or more days rose for the 12th straight quarter, hitting a record high 6.89% in Q409, according to market research by credit bureau
5 Million More Foreclosures: 7.7 Million Homes Inpre-Default Delinquency
• Ritholtz.comThe latest estimates are for another five million delinquent mortgages to go through foreclosure (or alternatively, short sales) over the next few years. Currently, there is an estimated 7.7 million households in some stage of pre-default delinquency
U.S. looks to reluctant foreign investors to help fund the housing market
• Washington PostAs the U.S. housing market boomed in the past decade and fueled a bull market in mortgage investments, Norway's government-owned fund went along for the ride -- and the fall. After that fund recorded its worst-ever year in 2008, managers cited invest
More Homeless Americans Living in Cars and Campers
• Time magazineTim Barker never thought he'd have to live in his truck. Four months ago, the plumber was in a one-bedroom apartment in California's San Fernando Valley, with a pool and a Jacuzzi. Then, on his birthday in October, he and 199 other plumbers were laid
American Sharecroppers : Strategic Non-Foreclosure Becomes Official Policy
• Ritholtz.comCitigroup, to announce a pilot program on Thursday that would allow delinquent borrowers who don’t qualify for or decline mortgage relief the opportunity to stay in their homes without making payments for up to six months before turning over the keys
Did Housing Begin A Double-Dip In December?
• HousingDoom.comIf these declines are sustained, as we expect to happen in many markets, the result will be a “double dip ” in home values, defined as two periods of sustained declines in home values separated by a brief period of stabilization or recovery.
One-Fifth of U.S. Homeowners Owe More Than Properties Are Worth
• Bloomberg.comMore than a fifth of U.S. homeowners owed more than their properties were worth in the fourth quarter as the number of houses and condominiums lost to foreclosure climbed to a record, according to Zillow.com.
Giant Sucking Sound: Mortgage Loss Severity, Subprime First-Lien
• aleablog.com/This chart shows the loss severity for subprime first-lien mortgage loans in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut). Loss severity is defined as the average size of a loss if one occurs. Minus 70 percent.
On The Rise: U.S. Prime Jumbo RMBS Delinquencies Approach 10%
• businesswire.com/California: 11.3%, up from 10.8% (44% share of the market); Florida: 16.6%, up from 16% (6% share); New Jersey: 7.4%, up from 7.1% (4% share).
Ownership Society Year 8: Homeownership Rate Declines to Early 2000 Level
• CalculatedRiskBlog.comThe homeownership rate increased in the '90s and early '00s because of changes in demographics and "innovations" in mortgage lending.
New-Home Sales: ‘The industry has been basically obliterated’
• chicagobusiness.com/Citing the grim job market, high foreclosure rate and tight lending climate, Mr. Bigelow doesn’t foresee a near-term recovery for the housing market. “It’s like the perfect storm.”
Watch Streaming Broadcast Live:
