Real Estate Investing News

The Construction spending among residential, government buildings and industrial segments rose 2.7 percent in April. Construction of offices and retail declined.

According to Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics the government tax credits drove residential increases and nonresidential activity is unreliable. “We expect a downward revision next month,” he said downplaying the figures. But home builders were optimistic.

Former CEO of luxury home builder Toll Brothers Robert Toll said, “It appears our business has finally emerged from the tunnel and into a bit of daylight.”

An increasing number of home owners in foreclosure ignore the foreclosure action and refuse to pay anything, continue to live in their homes.
According to LPS Applied Analytics, the average borrower in foreclosure is unlikely to be evicted for 438 days. LPS says more than 650,000 households haven’t paid their mortgage in 18 months, and in the case of 19 percent of those households, the lender hasn’t made any effort to repossess the property.
Lenders can foreclose without a say-so from the courts in some states like California and Texas. In those states, the action is likely to be quick. But the court must approve the foreclosure and resulting eviction and the process is slow in 19 states, including Florida and New York.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the sales of new homes jumped in April, climbing 14.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 504,000 last month, up from 439,000 in March. The department reported on Wednesday. Sales were up 47.8 percent over the same period a year ago.
Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo says that the surge was driven by the home buyer tax credit, which expired April 30. “We got two solid increases in March and April, We may see sales fall to a record low in the aftermath of the tax credit program, but any fallback should be short-lived.” The government estimates that there were 211,000 new homes on the market at the end of April, a five-month inventory.

According to mortgage analyst Holden Lewis the borrowers who are eager to lock in a very low-rate mortgage should apply in the next day or two. He says that Rates haven’t been this low since the 1950s. Rates are unlikely to fall further, Holden Lewis added.
“You can float, but that’s not a smart strategy. It’s like asking for another card when you have 19 in blackjack. Stand and take your chances,” he advises.