Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Federal Reserve’s Announcement Spurs Refinance Activity in Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (3-25-09)

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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 20, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 1159.4, an increase of 32.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 876.9 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 31.4 percent compared with the previous week and 18.0 percent compared with the same week one year earlier."

CAR - "
February sales and price report" (3-25-09)

"Existing, single-family home sales increased 83 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted rate of 620,410 on an annualized basis. The statewide median price of an existing single-family home decreased 40.8 percent in February to $247,590."

Bloomberg - "Bank Charges May Surge as Mortgages Marked to Market" (3-25-09)

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One in five borrowers in the $10.5 trillion U.S. mortgage market owes more than their property is worth, according to First American CoreLogic Inc., a real estate data company based in Santa Ana, California. Just one in 10 have received the principal reductions that research demonstrates is more effective at preventing defaults than the temporary payment reductions promoted by banks and the federal government."

Voice of San Diego - "San Diego Home Prices Reasonable At Last" (3-25-09)

"Both graphs show that while prices became completely severed from economic reality during the boom, they are now solidly in the middle of the range that prevailed in the years before the world went mad. By these metrics, San Diego housing has still been cheaper in the past. The price-to-income ratio would have to fall 15 percent from this level to equal the all-time low it hit in 1997. And the price-to-rent ratio, which actually set its worst levels in 1986, would have fall 22 percent from here to hit its record low."

Bloomberg - "Fed to Start Purchasing Treasuries to Unfreeze Credit" (3-25-09)

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The Federal Reserve starts purchasing long-term Treasuries today, aiming to bring down borrowing costs by employing tools last used in the 1960s. The first operation in the $300 billion effort is targeted on notes maturing from February 2016 to February 2019, the New York Fed Bank said in a statement yesterday. In the coming eight days, the central bank plans to buy debt maturing between March 2011 and February 2039, according to the tentative schedule."

Bloomberg - "New-Home Sales in U.S. Rose 4.7% to a 337,000 Pace" (3-25-09)

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Purchases of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in February from a record low as plummeting prices and cheaper mortgage rates lured some buyers. Sales increased 4.7 percent to an annual pace of 337,000 after a 322,000 rate in January, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The median sales price fell 18 percent from February 2008, the biggest year-on-year drop since records began in 1964, and the glut of properties on the market dwindled."

Orange County Register - "O.C. lender getting back into home loan biz" (3-25-09)

"Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bancorp reported a fourth-quarter loss of $12.5 million vs. a profit of $1.2 million a year earlier, but said things are looking up in housing and it plans to get back into the home lending business. It said demand for commercial loans should remain flat."

Orange County Register - "Do loan mod companies help or hurt?" (3-25-09)

"The California Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit consumer advocate, recently criticized the state Department of Real Estate for issuing approvals to private companies so they can collect advance fees from consumers seeking help getting a modification. The coalition argues the state is endorsing companies that will take advantage of homeowners by taking their money and not getting them a modification."

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