March 21, 2011 (Jeff Alan) The Federal Housing Administration reports that the serious delinquency rate for mortgages in its portfolio in the first quarter of 2011 has dropped to 8.29 percent from 8.9 percent a year ago. FHA attributes the decline to higher quality mortgages that were originated from 2009 through 2011. Read more...
March 18, 2011 (Jeff Alan) California home sales continued to slide with an estimated 27,320 new and resale homes and condos sold statewide in February according to DataQuick. It was the lowest amount of sales since February 2008. Sales were down 1.4 percent from January and 2.8 percent from February of 2010. Read more...
March 18, 2011 (Chris Moore) U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill that would force the largest banks and hedge funds to pay for two programs that provide mortgage assistance and vacant property cleanup. Meanwhile in California, State Assembly member Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley) has introduced a bill that would require mortgage [...]
March 18, 2011 (Shirley Allen) Home prices continued to decline in February according to the RE/MAX National Housing Report. Prices dropped 5.9 percent compared to February 2010 which was the largest yearly drop since April 2010. This also follows a drop in year-over-year prices in January of 4.6 percent. The median sales price for a [...]
March 17, 2011 (Chris Moore) Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which shows the 30-year fixed-rate dropping to 4.76 percent while the 15-year fixed-rate hit its lowest rate at 3.97 percent since December 2010. Read more...
March 17, 2011 (Jeff Alan) The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to end the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) Termination Act (HR 861) cuts the last $1 billion of a federal program in which the government helps buy and develop foreclosed homes. The House also voted to postpone the vote on [...]
March 17, 2011 (Jeff Alan) Housing starts nosedived in February by 22.5 percent compared to January 2011, the lowest in two years and marking the second lowest level on record according to the New Residential Construction Report released by the Commerce Department. Read more...
March 17, 2011 (Chris Moore) Although the purpose of LoanRateUpdate is to provide our readers with the latest news on mortgages and the housing industry, every once in awhile a story comes along about a federal official who just seems to be totally out of touch with the economic realities being faced by everyday Americans. [...]
March 16, 2011 (Chris Moore) The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 11, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from last week. Read more...
