Today’s News Synopsis:
MDA DataQuick reports 30.9% of all houses and condos sold in California during January were bought without a mortgage. The NAR claims pending home sales fell 2.8% in January. Approximately 25% of homeowners who sought assistance from Obama’s mortgage assistance program successfully had their payments reduced. A survey from Fannie Mae shows 19% of delinquent borrowers are considering a strategic default.
In The News:
MDA DataQuick – “Record Portion of California Homes Bought With Cash” (2-28-11)
“Last month 30.9 percent of all new and resale houses and condos sold statewide were bought without a mortgage – the highest level in at least 23 years, according to San Diego-based DataQuick Information Systems, whose statistics go back to 1988. Last month’s cash figure was up from 28.9 percent of sales in December and 28.5 percent a year earlier.”
NAR – “Pending Home Sales Decline in January” (2-28-11)
“The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator, declined 2.8 percent to 88.9 based on contracts signed in January from a downwardly revised 91.5 in December. The index is 1.5 percent below the 90.3 level in January 2010 when a tax credit stimulus was in place.”
The Wall Street Journal – “Only 1 in 4 Got Mortgage Relief” (2-28-11)
“Just one in four of the 2.7 million homeowners who sought to participate in the Obama administration’s signature mortgage assistance program have succeeded in getting their monthly payments reduced.”
Housing Wire – “Fannie Mae’s mortgage portfolio, delinquency rate decline in January” (2-28-11)
“Fannie Mae’s gross mortgage portfolio dropped at a compound annualized rate of 16.4% in January, according to the latest monthly report from the government-sponsored enterprise.”
Housing Wire – “Fewer distressed borrowers consider defaulting on mortgage debt” (2-28-11)
“Only 19% of delinquent borrowers polled by Fannie in January said they are ‘seriously considering’ a strategic default. That compares to 25% in January of 2010.”
Housing Wire – “Fitch Ratings: Lack of new CMBS leads to limited master servicers” (2-28-11)
“The number of loans in commercial mortgage-backed securities handled by master servicers and rated by Fitch Ratings rose by 5.2% in 2010, although the total amount of the loans fell by 1.2% to $1.51 trillion.”
Housing Wire – “Warren Buffett sees housing recovery to start within a year” (2-28-11)
“Warren Buffett anticipates a recovery in the housing market to begin within one year and the investment guru said in his biennial letter to investors that mortgages written by his subsidiaries performed better than most of the competition through the financial crisis.”
Realty Times – “Closing Costs Explained” (2-28-11)
“Loan Origination and Points: You may have agreed to pay ‘points’ in order to get a lower interest rate. Think of this as pre-paid interest. For each point purchased, the loan rate is typically reduced by 1/8%. An origination fee is what you must pay the lender to write and process your loan. This can be up to several thousand dollars.”
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California Real Estate Investing News is a post from: The Norris Group
