The Big Orange Press Blog
Foreclosure filings rose 4 percent nationwide last month versus June, according to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac.com. For the 17th straight month, total filings topped 300,000. 6 states dominated activity levels.
Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, between April and May 2010, home prices rose in 19 of Case-Shiller's 20 tracked markets. It's the second straight month of strong Case-Shiller findings.
June's New Home Sales data is a major improvement over May, but gains are relative. It's possible that the true "new home market" may be softer than the statistics suggest.
The New York Times ran an important story this week concerning pregnancy and mortgage approvals. Titled "Need a Mortgage? Don't Get Pregnant", the article discussed the difficulties that expecting and recently-expanded families are having with their mortgage financing.
Consistent with most post-home buyer tax credit housing news, Existing Home Sales eased lower last month. The 5 percent drop in sales was expected, but a closer look at the month's data reveals some interesting trends.
Single-family Housing Starts eased lower last month, falling by 0.7 percent from May, or 3,000 units nationwide.
CNNMoney.com recently ran a piece titled "Where Homes Are Affordable", listing 25 communities around the U.S. in which median incomes are relatively high and median homes are relatively low. It's a housing market "bank for your buck" list.
Remember, it wasn't too long ago that most builders were flush with home inventory, unable to find willing buyers. To help move product at that time, builders dropped prices and offered incentives including free upgrades. If confidence continues to sag going forward, home purchase deals of that nature may return -- especially as the foreclosure market gets larger.
Conforming mortgage rates may be posting all-time lows this week, but that doesn't mean you'll be eligible for them. You may have already called your loan officer and found this out the hard way. It's because of a federally-mandated mortgage-pricing scheme known as "loan-level pricing adjustments".