Average rate on 30-year mortgage at 4.22%

WASHINGTON (AP) – Nov. 22, 2013 – Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages declined this week after two weeks of increases, keeping home buying affordable.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan fell to 4.22 percent from to 4.35 percent last week. The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage dipped to 3.27 percent from 3.35 percent.

Rates had spiked over the summer and reached a two-year high in July on speculation that the Federal Reserve would slow its bond purchases later this year. But the Fed held off in September and now appears poised to wait at least a few more months to see how the economy performs. The bond purchases are intended to keep long-term interest rates low.

Mortgage rates tend to follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. They have stabilized since September and remain low by historical standards.

Still, mortgage rates are nearly a full percentage point higher than in the spring. The uptick has contributed to a slowdown in home sales. The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes fell 3.2 percent in October, the second straight monthly decline.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage was unchanged at 0.7 point. The fee for a 15-year loan also was steady at 0.7 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage held at 2.61 percent. The fee was unchanged at 0.4 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable mortgage fell to 2.95 percent from 3.01 percent. The fee rose to 0.5 point from 0.4 point.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299725

U.S. homes sell 30 days faster year-to-year

SEATTLE – Nov. 14, 2013 – Nationwide, homes listed for sale on real estate marketplace Zillow sold a month faster in September 2013 than they did in the same month on year earlier – 86 days compared to 116 days in September 2012.

The fastest home turnover markets in the U.S., according to Zillow, include the San Francisco Bay Area (48 days); Sacramento, Calif. (59 days); and Dallas (60 days).

Homes sold faster this September compared to last September in all 30 of the largest metros. Large metros that saw the greatest gain in turnover rate include Las Vegas (44 days faster), Sacramento (43 days) and San Antonio (37 days).

In order to correct for homes that are listed, removed and re-posted with new prices, Zillow considered multiple listings within 40 days at the same address as one listing. Since the beginning of 2010, homes nationwide have spent a median of 119 days listed before being sold or taken off the market.

“Home shoppers in today’s environment need to be prepared to move quickly, with pre-approvals in place and an established sense of what they’re willing to pay for a home,” says Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries.

Source: http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299318

Average rate on 30-year mortgage at 4.16%

WASHINGTON – Nov. 8, 2013 – Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages rose slightly last week but remained near historically low levels.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan increased to 4.16 percent from 4.10 percent last week, which was the lowest level in four months. The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 3.27 percent from 3.20 percent.

Rates have been falling since September when the Federal Reserve surprised investors by continuing to buy $85 billion a month in bonds. The purchases are intended to keep long-term interest rates low.

Slower hiring in recent months has many analysts predicting that the Fed will maintain the current pace of the bond purchases into early next year, which should keep mortgage rates low for the time being.

The recent drop in mortgage rates could help boost home sales, which slowed in September after rates reached their highest averages in two years.

The decline in sales has also affected price gains. Real estate data provider CoreLogic said Tuesday that a measure of U.S. home prices rose only slightly in September from August, a sign that prices are leveling off after big gains earlier this year.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage rose to 0.8 point from 0.7 point. The fee for a 15-year loan was unchanged at 0.7 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 2.61 percent from to 2.64 percent. The fee remained at 0.5 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable mortgage was steady at 2.96 percent. The fee edged up to 0.5 point from 0.4 point.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299138

Fannie, Freddie move closer to repaying bailouts

WASHINGTON – Nov. 8, 2013 – Federal taxpayers have nearly recouped their $188 billion investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants taken over by the government in 2008.

Third-quarter profit rose sharply at both companies, each reported Thursday, letting Freddie Mac finish reimbursing taxpayers for its bailout and bringing Fannie within about $2 billion of repaying what it received.

Their recovery owes much to an improving housing market, legal settlements and tax benefits.

Fannie said net income more than quadrupled compared with last year’s third quarter, reaching $8.7 billion. Freddie said it earned $30.5 billion, as a $6.5 billion operating profit was combined with a $24 billion tax benefit.

Freddie said it will be profitable enough over time to eventually use all of the massive tax benefits it built up while losing tens of billions of dollars during the financial crisis.

Freddie said it will finish reimbursing the government for its $71.3 billion bailout by year’s end, including a $30 billion payment it will make by December.

The total of its payments will exceed the amount it received from the Treasury by $9 million. Fannie said it will pay $8.6 billion in December, leaving it about $2 billion short of the $116.1 billion it got from the government.

The milestone in the USA’s recovery from the 2008 financial crisis comes as a rising housing market has put Fannie and Freddie, which are still in federally supervised conservatorships, back on their feet. Fannie and Freddie together buy or guarantee most U.S. mortgages, and by taking them over, the government has expanded its role in housing since the crisis.

Ideas for how to eventually replace them with a system that relies more heavily on private capital are still at an early stage. Fannie’s and Freddie’s agreements with the Treasury call for them to gradually shrink their operations.

For now, the two entities will keep operating under 2012 agreements with the Treasury Department that require them to pay much of their profits as dividends to the government. That means taxpayers will begin reaping multibillion-dollar returns by next year. The requirements will be reduced gradually until 2018, reflecting the Obama administration’s intention to phase out Fannie and Freddie’s role in the market.

Already, payments from the two government-sponsored enterprises reduced the 2013 federal deficit by more than $140 billion.

“It’s going to challenge the convictions of policymakers about reforming Fannie and Freddie,” said Tim Rood, a former Fannie executive who is a partner at a Washington-based consulting firm that helps businesses work with the mortgage entities and the government. “You can have all the principles in the world, but with legislators flipping couch cushions looking for change, it’s hard to shoot the two-headed monster that’s spitting out $10 bills.”

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299146

More banks offering loans for 5% down?

NEW YORK – Nov. 7, 2013 – For the last few years, buyers have been hard-pressed to land a mortgage if they didn’t have a 20 percent down payment, unless they turned to the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) low down-payment loans.

But a growing number of banks now offer loans with just 5 percent down, CNNMoney reports. For example, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and TD Bank are among the lenders reportedly offering mortgages with down payments as low as 5 percent.

TD Bank is offering a “Right Step” loan product that allows borrowers to get a loan with a 5 percent down payment while also allowing borrowers to get up to 2 percent of the sales price as a gift from a relative or third party. In actuality, then, borrowers would only need to come up with a 3 percent downpayment themselves.

Banks offering 5 percent down payment loans, however, also require borrowers to buy private mortgage insurance (PMI). Borrowers must keep PMI until they build up 20 percent equity in the home.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299084

Fla. Senate’s Lake Okeechobee plan: $220 million

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Nov. 6, 2013 – A Florida Senate select committee backed a $220 million Everglades cleanup package yesterday.

If enacted by the Florida Legislature and signed by the governor, the proposal would reduce pollutants in Lake Okeechobee, and generally support the eventual redirection of water so more flows south through the Everglades.

The Select Committee on Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin added $30 million worth of projects on Tuesday to its initial short- and long-term recommendations released last week. The committee was created because polluted water released north of Lake Okeechobee – redirected into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers on the east and west coasts – created problems for nearby property owners.

The additions Tuesday increased the price tag of the C-43 reservoir project along the Caloosahatchee River basin – a system to clean and filter water before it’s fully released – from $5 million to $15 million. It also designated $20 million for “scientifically-based” environmental muck removal in the central and northern regions of the Indian River Lagoon in the Treasure and Space coasts.

“This is very, very important, but I want us to be cognizant that expenditures are going on solid science,” said Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla.

The total for the next budget year from the plan is $160 million.

“We’re stewards of the taxpayers’ money; but equally as important, we are stewards of our resources of this great state,” said Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach.

The fiscal package and other recommendations must still get support from the Legislature during the 2014 session as well as Gov. Rick Scott, who has a couple of items among the recommendations, including $90 million that would be spread over three years to bridge a 2.6-mile section of the Tamiami Trail west of Miami.

Other provisions include: $40 million to speed construction of the state’s portion of a C-44 reservoir and stormwater treatment area for the Indian River Lagoon-South Restoration Project; $32 million for projects tied to ensuring that all surface water discharges into the Everglades Protection Area meet water quality standards; and a request for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to give the Florida Department of Environmental Protection authority to regulate releases when the risk of dike failure is less than 10 percent.

Committee Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, has long criticized the Army Corps management of the dike system around Lake Okeechobee, particularly the releases.

The Army Corps tries to maintain the water level of the lake between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet to lessen stress on the Herbert Hoover Dike, and it does so in large part by redirecting a significant amount into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. The Army Corps, which declined to comment on the latest recommendations, estimates that when the Lake Okeechobee water level rises above 18.5 feet, the Herbert Hoover Dike has a 45 percent risk of failure.

The report notes that when the water level is low, the Army Corps generally defers on water release decisions to the South Florida Water Management District.

Negron, who also chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee that oversees the budget, said each funding request would require an offset in the budget.

“I would expect that in order to fund these new initiatives, including lots of other initiatives that legislators will have, that we’ll have to go into the base of the budget and make reductions,” said Negron, who called the package his top priority for the 2014 session. Where those cuts come from, Negron said, has yet to be determined.

Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida, complimented Negron for being able to quickly cobble together the fiscal package.

Janet Bowman of The Nature Conservancy supported the recommendations for expanding storage of water north of Lake Okeechobee and addressing the use of agricultural and public lands in the northern Everglades area for storage.

“In all my years in working, lobbying and working for the Legislature, this is one of the most thoughtful processes I’ve seen,” Bowman added.

The report also recommends increasing the funding for the C-43 and C-44 reservoirs that link the lake with the estuaries; cleaning water that comes into the lake from the Kissimmee River; evaluating means to reduce nutrients from septic tanks; and raising the allowed water levels in canals by a few inches. Among the additions on Tuesday was a general call to support projects that would eventually shift releases of water to the south through the Everglades.

The proposal to move more water through the Everglades, estimated at more than $1 billion and requiring a massive federal partnership, has been rejected three times, in 1994, 1999 and 2009. In 2009, the South Florida Water Management District concluded the proposal was not the most cost-effective or viable way to increase flows south due to the changing landscape of South Florida – it would require an extensive network of pumps to recreate the historic sheet flow.

“The report makes clear we support moving water going south, and support any plan, project or technology that will move water south,” Negron said.

In September, the committee approved $2.77 million to improve pump stations, reducing the flow of polluted waters that have negatively affected the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. The money will also go to a build a channel to aid the flow of water from the Florida Everglades across the barrier of the Tamiami Trail in Miami-Dade County.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299007

Americans prefer mixed-use, walkable communities

WASHINGTON – Nov. 6, 2013 – Research by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has consistently showed that Americans prefer walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods and shorter commutes.

According to NAR’s 2013 Community Preference Survey, 60 percent of respondents favor a neighborhood with a mix of houses, stores and other businesses within walking distance, rather than neighborhoods that require more driving.

And while the size of a property matters, buyers are willing to compromise size for a preferred neighborhood and less commuting. For example, although 52 percent of those surveyed prefer a single-family detached house with a large yard, 78 percent said that the neighborhood is more important than the size of the house.

Fifty-seven percent would forego a home with a larger yard if it meant a shorter commute to work, and 55 percent were willing to forego a home with larger yard if it meant they could live within walking distance of schools, stores and restaurants.

“Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach, smart growth is typically characterized by mixed-use development, higher densities and pedestrian friendly streets that accommodate a wide diversity of transportation modes,” says NAR President Gary Thomas.

When asked to identify their ideal community, the most popular choice was a suburban neighborhood with a mix of houses, shops and businesses. The least popular was a suburban neighborhood with just houses.

When considering transportation concerns, 41 percent of those surveyed said better public transportation is the top solution; 29 percent prefer communities where people don’t have to drive long distances to work or shop; and 20 percent would prefer to build new roads.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299019

Fla.’s housing market continues upswing in 3Q 2013

ORLANDO, Fla. – Nov. 6, 2013 – Florida’s housing market continued to improve in third quarter 2013 with more closed sales, higher median prices, more pending sales and a stabilizing supply of homes for sale compared to the same quarter in 2012, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®.

“Data from the third quarter of 2013 shows that Florida’s housing market continues to grow and gain strength,” said 2013 Florida Realtors President Dean Asher, broker-owner with Don Asher & Associates Inc. in Orlando. “The housing sector is vital to the state’s economy, and Realtors across the state are reporting increased activity in their markets.

“At 7.0 percent, Florida currently has a lower unemployment rate than the nation, according to the August unemployment figures (the latest state data available.) More jobs will provide more stability for future growth in the state’s housing market and overall economy.”

Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 60,661 in 3Q 2013, up 17.3 percent compared to the year-ago figure, according to data from Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis department in partnership with local Realtor boards/associations. Closed sales typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Meanwhile, pending sales – contracts signed but not yet completed or closed – for existing single-family homes rose 17.9 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in 3Q 2013 was $175,000, up 18.6 percent from the same quarter a year ago. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.

Looking at Florida’s year-to-year comparison for sales of townhouse-condos, a total of 27,200 units sold statewide in the third quarter, up 11.3 percent from the same three-month period in 2012. Pending sales for townhouse-condos in 3Q 2013 increased 12.4 percent compared to a year ago, while the statewide median for townhouse-condo properties was $130,000, up 23.8 percent over the same quarter last year.

In 3Q 2013, the median days on market (the midpoint of the number of days it took for a property to sell that month) was 48 days for single-family homes and 54 days for townhouse-condo properties.

“What’s remarkable for the third quarter data is that all metro areas in Florida show year-over-year increases in both prices and sales for single-family homes, and year-over-year increases in sales for condo-townhome properties,” says Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. John Tuccillo. “Inventories have begun to pick up a little bit, which may be consistent with cash sales declining as a percentage of overall sales. We’re alert to the fact that it may signal a trend, which could be good for the long-term stabilization and health of Florida’s housing market.”

The inventory for both single-family homes and for townhouse-condo properties stood at a 5.3 months’ supply for the third quarter, according to Florida Realtors.

According to Freddie Mac, the interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.44 percent for 3Q 2013, up from the previous year’s average of 3.54 percent, according to Freddie Mac.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=299023

How to sell a local home to overseas buyers

NEW YORK – Nov. 5, 2013 – More people are buying houses without setting foot inside the door because they live overseas. And with limited inventory of for-sale homes, they’re forced to become more aggressive. Technology that helps them understand what a home and community feels like can close absent-buyer sales.

Agents handling these purchases can accomplish it by shooting community and neighborhood videos that showcase the area’s lifestyle. They can direct house-hunters to school and demographic information, answer questions about commute time and encouraging clients to use Google Street View to explore a neighborhood from afar.

Agents also need to help buyers feel like they’re actually inside the house, taking advantage of prerecorded video or live streaming video tours and tools like MagicPlan to create accurate floor plans.

Once an overseas buyer settles on a home, digital signature software, phone calls and emails can help agents coordinate and complete the transaction.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=298967

Average rate on 30-year mortgage at 4.1%

WASHINGTON – Nov. 1, 2013 – Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell for the second straight week and are at their lowest levels in four months.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan declined to 4.10 percent from 4.13 percent last week. The average on the 15-year fixed loan eased to 3.20 percent from 3.24 percent.

Rates have been falling since September when the Federal Reserve surprised investors by continuing to buy $85 billion a month in bonds. The purchases are intended to keep long-term interest rates low.

Rates had spiked over the summer when the Fed indicated it might reduce those purchases later this year. But hiring has slowed since then. Many now expect the Fed won’t taper until next year.

The average on the 30-year loan has now fallen about half a percentage point since a hitting two-year high over the summer. The lower rates appear to be sparking a surge in activity by prospective homebuyers and homeowners looking to refinance.

Mortgage applications jumped 6.4 percent in the week ended Oct. 25 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for purchases rose 2 percent from a week earlier, while refinance applications soared nearly 9 percent.

U.S. home prices rose in August from a year earlier at the fastest pace since February 2006, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index. But the price gains slowed in many cities from July, a sign that the spike in prices over the past year may have peaked.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage declined to 0.7 point from 0.8 point. The fee for a 15-year loan rose to 0.7 point from 0.6 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage increased to 2.64 percent from 2.60 percent. The fee eased to 0.4 point from 0.5 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable mortgage dipped to 2.96 percent from 3.00 percent. The fee was unchanged at 0.4 point.