Nation’s Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.1%

June 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The national unemployment rate edged up to 9.1 percent in May from 9.0 percent in April, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The economy added just 54,000 jobs last month, the worst showing in eight months. Employment increases averaged 220,000 over the prior three months.

Freddie Mac’s chief economist Frank Nothaft says the economy needs to add over 250,000 new jobs per month, on a sustained basis, to reabsorb all the jobs lost since the recession.

Nothaft says the labor market has “a long way to go before the unemployment rate moves sharply lower. And ditto for seriously delinquent rates on mortgages.”

He notes that the large number of workers unemployed for an extended period of time remains the predominant force behind the industry’s high volumes of seriously past-due mortgages.

According to Keith Hall, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 13.9 million persons unemployed as of the end of May. The number of those jobless for 27 weeks or more rose to 6.2 million last month and accounted for 4.0 percent of the civilian labor force.

May’s results fell far below market expectations. Economists were expecting job growth in the range of 150,000 to 190,000 and a drop in the unemployment rate to 8.9 percent.

SOURCE: DSNews.com

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Robert Shiller Interview on U.S. Housing Market – Video

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment


May 31, 2011
Robert Shiller, an economics professor at Yale University and co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index, talks about the outlook for home prices. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities fell 3.6 percent from March 2010, the biggest year-over-year decline since November 2009, the group said today in New York. At 138.16, the gauge was the weakest since March 2003. Shiller speaks with Carol Massar and Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.”

SOURCE: Bloomberg

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The Rules: Initiative Gives Homebuyers 15 Days to Buy Without Investor Competition

March 12, 2011 By

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD all have programs designed to give individuals looking to buy a home as an owner-occupant a chance to purchase prior to allowing real estate investors to buy these REO properties. All programs are similar with links at the bottom of this page too the specifics of the various programs.

Here are the guidelines for the “Freddie Mac First Look” program

Initiative

Freddie Mac will offer homebuyers and select non-profits an exclusive opportunity to purchase HomeSteps homes prior to competition from investors through the Freddie Mac First Look Initiative.

[pullquote_right]The Fannie Mae First Look program is pretty much the same as it is designed to promote owner occupancy and provide both owner occupants and public entities an advantage in submitting offers on Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed properties without competition from investors. Only offers from owner occupants and participants of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program are considered during the initial period a property is on the market. Offers from investors are considered after the First Look window has passed.[/pullquote_right]This on-going initiative offers owner occupant homebuyers, Neighborhood Stabilization Program NSP grantees and non-profits engaged in community stabilization efforts the ability to purchase HomeSteps homes during their initial 15 days of listing, without competition from investors. The purchaser does not need to be a first time homebuyer to be eligible provided, however, that they are buying the home as their primary residence.

The initiative supports Freddie Mac’s mission to stabilize communities and support housing recovery through the creation of affordable homeownership opportunities. Please read the following section below to familiarize yourself with the initiative.

First Look Eligibility and Identification

During the first 15 days 30 days in Nevada, a home is listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service “MLS”. HomeSteps will consider purchase offers from owner-occupants, public entities or their designated partners. Buyers intending to purchase the property for investment, vacation, second home or similar purposes may submit offers to the listing broker and HomeSteps will consider them after the initial 15 listing days have expired.

Eligible Homes

All HomeSteps homes listed on or after September 17, 2010, are eligible for inclusion in the First Look.Agents may contact the HomeSteps listing broker with questions regarding the eligibility of a home; this information will also be included in MLS home listing information.

15-Day Window for Offers

Buyers must have their broker check the MLS or contact the listing broker to determine how many days are left under the First Look.

Applies to Primary Residence Only

The buyer and their selling agent must sign an affidavit affirming that the buyer will occupy the home as their primary residence. Parties that fraudulently sign the affidavit may be subject to criminal or civil liability.

Important Notes:

Multiple offers received during the 15-day Initiative time period are processed in the same manner as a normal transaction using the multiple offers procedure. Second home purchasers do not qualify for the First Look.

SOURCES:

Freddie Mac – HomeSteps.

Fannie Mae – Home Path

HUD – First Look Initiative

Filed Under: Buying, Marketing, REOs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Freddie Mac: U.S. home prices drop 4.3% in fourth quarter

February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

February 28, 2011

U.S. home prices fell 4.3% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter as foreclosures and slowing sales buoyed inventory levels, Freddie Mac said Monday in its Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index.

“Foreclosed-property and short sales remain a big part of the market. However, new foreclosures will begin to gradually slow,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Delinquency rates reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association continue to recede from their peaks but remain high, particularly in distressed areas of the country.”

Home prices fell in every U.S. geographical region in the fourth quarter, with the steepest declines occurring in the Mountain region, where home values fell more than 4%. The region includes the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

News Facts
  • The Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI) Purchase-Only Series for the United States registered a 2.6 percent decrease (-10.1 percent annualized) in the fourth quarter relative to the third quarter on a not-seasonally-adjusted basis. U.S. home values fell 4.3 percent relative to the fourth quarter a year ago.
  • Home values fell in all nine Census Divisions.
  • The revised change in home values for the third quarter of 2010 is a decline of 2.2 percent (-8.5 percent annualized) relative to the second quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 3.3 percent relative to the third quarter of 2009.
  • The CMHPI Classic Series, which includes data on both home purchase values and appraisals, indicated that average U.S. home values fell 0.8 percent (-3.3 percent annualized) during the fourth quarter. Comparing the fourth quarter of 2010 with the fourth quarter of 2009, the Classic Series shows 1.1 percent depreciation.
Quotes

[pullquote_right]“Low mortgage rates and home prices have combined to push homebuyer affordability to levels not seen in decades in most places. This high affordability will likely translate into an increase in 2011 home sales relative to last year.”[/pullquote_right]Attributed to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac Chief Economist

  • “Low mortgage rates and home prices have combined to push homebuyer affordability to levels not seen in decades in most places. This high affordability will likely translate into an increase in 2011 home sales relative to last year.”
  • “Foreclosed-property and short sales remain a big part of the market. However, new foreclosures will begin to gradually slow. Delinquency rates reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association continue to recede from their peaks but remain high, particularly in distressed areas of the country.”
Regional Summary

The CMHPI Purchase-Only Series had the following regional house-price changes:

  • Middle Atlantic Division (NJ, NY, PA): decreased 1.1 percent (−4.4 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 1.7 percent, and during the last five years, home values decreased 0.6 percent.
  • East North Central Division (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI): fell 2.2 percent (−8.3 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 2.9 percent, and during the last five years, home values decreased 12.4 percent.
  • East South Central Division (AL, KY, MS, TN): fell 2.2 percent (−8.5 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 3.9 percent, and during the last five years, home values increased 1.5 percent.
  • West South Central Division (AR, LA, OK, TX): fell 2.4 percent (−9.2 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 2.1, and during the last five years, home values increased 8.4 percent.
  • New England Division (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT): decreased 2.3 percent (-8.8 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 1.8 percent, and during the last five years, home values declined 11.7 percent.
  • South Atlantic Division (DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV): declined 2.8 percent (−10.6 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 5.7 percent, and during the last five years, home values fell 16.9 percent.
  • West North Central Division (IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD): decreased 2.8 percent (−10.9 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 3.8 percent; over the last five years, home values fell 5.3 percent.
  • Pacific Division (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA): fell 3.8 percent (−14.4 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Over the last 12 months, home values decreased 6.3 percent, and during the last five years, home values have decreased 26.7 percent.
  • Mountain Division (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY): decreased 4.3 percent (−16.0 percent, annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2010. In the last 12 months, home values decreased 9.6 percent; during the last five years, home values declined 20.0 percent.
Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index Announcement
  • The CMHPI will be discontinued after this release. In its place, the Freddie Mac House Price Index (FMHPISM) will be released each quarter. The FMHPI release is planned to be coincident with, or shortly after, Freddie Mac’s release of its quarterly earnings.

via Home Values Decline in Fourth Quarter – News Archive – Freddie Mac.

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