Mortgage rates still falling
Thursday, August 26, 2010, 1:54pm EDT
Interest rates on long-term mortgages fell again this week, and remain at the lowest levels since Freddie Mac started keeping track.
A 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to an average 4.36 percent in the week ended Aug. 26 from 4.42 percent last week. A year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 5.14 percent. The average rate on the increasingly popular 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.86 percent from 3.9 percent last week.
A one-year, adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.52 percent this week, down from 3.53 percent.
Reports this week showed significant declines in sales of both new and existing homes in July, but Freddie Mac (OTC BB: FMCC) suggests the homebuyer tax credit, which ended in June, has altered normal buying patterns by pulling future home purchases into the first half of the year.
“For instance, average home sales over the first seven months of 2010 were nearly 8 percent higher than over the same period a year ago,” Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said.
Earlier this week, Florida Realtors reported existing home sales fell in metro Orlando, down 2.8 percent with 2,277 homes sold compared with 2,343 a year ago.
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Real Estate: New-home buyers seeking signs of market recovery
August 22, 2010|By Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel
Metro Orlando's annualized pace of new-home construction was up 14 percent as of June 30, compared with the same 12 months a year ago, according to a second-quarter report by Metrostudy, which counts new-home units within its markets.
Single-family starts totaled 1,116 units in the second quarter, up 39 percent from the first quarter. Sales have slowed since April 30, the deadline for a federal home-buying tax credit, and that will likely reduce demand in the current quarter as well. Second-quarter closings totaled 1,216 units, down 4 percent from the same 2009 quarter.
The inventory of single-family homes stood at 3,757, or a nine-month supply. Metrostudy considers six to seven months of supply to be healthy. Finished-but-vacant units accounted for nearly 70 percent of inventory, when 25 percent to 30 percent is considered healthy.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010, 1:54pm EDT
Housing values level off, sales grow in 2Q
Orlando Business Journal
Existing home sales were still on the rise in the Orlando area, while the drop in values tapered off in the second quarter,
Florida Realtors reported.
The Orlando area saw single-family home resales grow by 29.6 percent in the period, from 6,074 closings in second-quarter 2009 to 7,874 closings in the second quarter of this year. Median home values fell just 5.6 percent in the second quarter, from $144,400 in 2009 to $136,300 this year.
A total of 2,485 existing condo units also sold in the second quarter of this year, a 78 percent increase from the 1,395 units sold in the same period a year prior. The median condo sales price in the second quarter of this year fell to $51,300, just 1.5 percent less than the $52,100 reported in second-quarter 2009.
Condo resales in the state rose 45.4 percent in the second quarter — the seventh straight quarter to see a jump in sales — from 14,430 units sold in second-quarter 2009 to 20,986 units sold in this year’s second quarter. The median sales price for a Florida condo was $98,900 in second-quarter 2010, a 10.3 percent drop from second-quarter 2009’s $110,300.
Florida Realtors, formerly known as the Florida Association of Realtors, provides programs, services, continuing education, research and legislative representation to 115,000 members in 67 boards/associations throughout the state.
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August 10, 2010
15-year rates slide below 4%, hitting historic low - AP- A plunge in mortgage rates is giving homeowners a rare opportuninty to lock in a 15-year fixed rate loan for less than 4 percent.
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August 6th, 2010
FHA Update: To Lower Up Front MIP and raising Monthly MIP.
FHA intends on lowering upfront mortgage insurance premiums, but raising the monthly mortgage insurance premium. This will make an impact for those who are looking to purchase a home but are down payment sensitive.
This announcement below came from the desk of David H. Stevens, Assistant Secretary for Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner earlier today. It was sent to mortgage lenders around the US. It highlights the efforts going on in congress to stabilize the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.
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