You are here: Home \

Housing Starts and Permits Rise in March

by John TayebApril 17, 2010 commercial real estate

Housing starts rose 1.6 percent in March to an annualized rate of 626,000, the Commerce Department said Friday. Building permits, which are considered a leading indicator, were up 34 percent compared to March 2008. Permits for single-family homes rose 5.6 percent compared to March 2009. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index rose [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Investors Urge Broad Solutions for Foreclosures

by Tayeb Realty GroupApril 17, 2010 Foreclosures

The Association of Mortgage Investors (AMI) reacted to Thursday’s news that foreclosures hit record highs by commenting that this was an indication that the causes of homeowner defaults aren’t being addressed. In a statement, the organization said: “Any solution will be incomplete if it does not give homeowners a way to reduce debt payments on [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

More Single Buyers Opt for Suburbs

by Tayeb Realty GroupApril 15, 2010 Foreclosures

More singles are buying homes in suburbia, reports Coldwell Banker, which conducted a nationwide survey of single home owners on the factors that motivated them to buy. Here are some figures that reflect the reasoning behind their choices: 52 percent chose the suburbs over urban or rural areas. 53 percent of single home owners said [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Affordable Housing Goals Didn’t Doom Fannie

by John TayebApril 15, 2010 Foreclosures

Federal affordable housing goals weren’t responsible for the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr said Tuesday in a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association. “This claim simply is not supported by the facts,” Barr said. Instead, Barr said management’s decision to lower standards in order to compete with Wall [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Loan Delinquency Rate Takes a Notable Dip

by Tayeb Realty GroupApril 15, 2010 Foreclosures

The percentage of delinquent mortgages declined to 6.57 percent in the first quarter from 6.60 in the last quarter of 2009, according to Equifax and Moody’s Economy.com. This is the first decline in the delinquency rate since the first quarter of 2006. “It portends a peaking of the foreclosure crisis,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist [...]

Read the full article →

Reasons Vacant Homes Are a Tough Sell

by John TayebApril 14, 2010 Housing Market News Update

The argument for staging a house to get it ready for sale is largely based on what are perceived as the shortcomings of vacant, or unstaged, properties. For one, advocates of the staging process say a vacant home distracts would-be buyers from focusing on the actual real estate. Instead, they allow themselves to speculate on [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Bankers Say Writing Down Principal Is Risky

by Tayeb Realty GroupApril 14, 2010 Foreclosures

Executives from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and J.P. Morgan Chase argued before the House Financial Services Committee that reducing mortgage principal only makes sense for a few borrowers with high-risk loans. Otherwise, reducing principal will only lead to many other borrowers demanding the same treatment. More than 11 million households are underwater, estimates First [...]

Read the full article →

Housing Inventory Is Rising Again

by John TayebApril 13, 2010 Housing Market News Update

Housing inventory is rising again, increasing the odds that prices will take another dip, says real estate data company Altos Research. Housing inventory fell steadily beginning in April 2009 until the end of the year. In January 2010, it began rising in the 10 cities that Altos tracks: Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Interest in Owning a Home Remains Strong

by Tayeb Realty GroupApril 13, 2010 Housing Market News Update

Interest in purchasing a home as an investment has more than tripled in the last year, according to a survey released today by Move Inc., which operates Move.com and REALTOR.com. More than 17 percent of potential home buyers say they plan to purchase a home in the near future as an investment, compared to just [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

More Wealthy Home Owners Face Foreclosure

by John TayebApril 12, 2010 Foreclosures

Houses costing more than $5 million will be part of the next foreclosure boom, according to a study by RealtyTrac for The Wall Street Journal. In 2009, 1,312 homes costing more than $5 million faced foreclosure auctions. In February 2010 alone, 352 homes were on the auction block. First American CoreLogic tracks 1,700 homes nationwide [...]

1 comment Read the full article →
Page 40 of 60« First...102030«3839404142»5060...Last »