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Housing construction fell 4 percent in December which is 557,000 down from 580,000 in November, the commerce Department said Wednesday. Decline was due to bad weather. Applications for new building permits rose 11 percent in December to an annual rate of 653,000, the highest level of activity since October 2008. But if you notice, new-home construction is down 75 percent from the peak four years ago.
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Nearly 65,000 borrowers have benefited from President Obama's plan, the treasury department said last week. About 45,000 are dropped out of the program as they are not eligible for the program. Most of the borrowers are waiting for approval. Nearly 200,000 borrowers applied for this program in Bank of America, out of which 2 percent borrowers loan have been approved. The most successful lenders include Ocwen Financial Corp. and Carrington Mortgage services, which have modified loans for 40 percent of their enrolled borrowers.
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There is decline in the number of home sellers which has lowered asking prices to 21 percent as on Jan 1 from 22 percent in December and 25.6 percent in November, marking the lowest level since April. Based on region, there has been 20 percent price cut in south and 22 percent in the west, Midwest and Northeast. CEO of Trulia Pete Flint says "expect reductions to rise again as the tax credit extension deadline approaches but I also expect mortgage rates to rise, so they may cancel out the savings from list price reductions."
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Certain cheap homes are available in Alexandria, a city near the Red river in Louisiana to lower income residents. A non profit agency named as AURA (Alexandria Urban Renewal Association) will work with city office of Community Development to rejuvenate neighborhoods and help lower income families own homes. In Alexandria, Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) uses bulk of its funding for building affordable apartments and single family homes. Alexandria has received a total of $3.9 million in NSP funds. The city has planned to spend $1.25 million for converting the Dominique Miller barn into 56 apartments, $1.65 for building 33 affordable houses and $ 1 million for acquiring distressed properties for its land bank program.
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30 year fixed long term mortgage interest rates again feel in the second week at an average of 5.06 percent compared to 5.09 percent a week ago, according to Freddie Mac. Other rates that decreased were fifteen fixed loan dipped from 4.50 to 4.45 percent and five yea ARMs sank from 4.44 percent to 4.32 percent.
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Some thought provoking predictions according to Forbes are as follows: - wealthy investors may increase their investment in real estate market in 2010. - people who are facing foreclosure problem may opt for loan modification process. - like Omaha, Buffalo and New York, who was avoiding housing bubble and most of the bust, will be models for cities trying to avoid another bubble. - market may create buzz in the real estate market. Bookmark &
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There has been slight reduction in interest rates of long term mortgages this week, after rising in the four previous weeks. 30 -year fixed mortgage rates averaged 5.09 percent, down from 5.14 percent a week ago.
Other mortgage rates are as follows:
- 15-year, fixed loans fell 0.4 percent to 4.5 percent.
- Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages stayed flat.
- One-year ARMs declined 0.03 percent to 4.31 percent.
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