Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Daily Real Estate News March 28th, 2007

Mortgage Demand Up Almost 17 Percent Year Over Year

Demand for mortgages fell slightly last week compared to the previous one with the Market Composite Index decreasing 0.2 percent from 672.1. But on an unadjusted basis compared with the same week one year ago, applications were up 16.6 percent.The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 45.1 percent of total applications from 45.3 percent the previous week.The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.04 percent from 6.06 percent.The average interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.77 from 5.79 percent.The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.84 from 5.88 percent.

—REALTOR® Magazine Online

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

FORECLOSURES LIKELY TO SET RECORD IN 2007

Foreclosures slipped 4 percent in February from the month earlier, but were 12 percent higher than the same time in 2006."Based on our numbers for the first two months of 2007, foreclosure activity is running at a rate that would project to a 33 percent increase over 2006," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.States with the highest foreclosure rates in February were Nevada, Colorado and Florida. Nevada had one foreclosure filing for every 278 households. Colorado reported one foreclosure for every 345 households, and Florida had one foreclosure filing for every 382 households. Nationwide, there was one foreclosure for every 884 households.

SOURCE­– REALTOR® Magazine Online

Monday, March 26, 2007

SUBPRIME FALLOUT

Home Owners vs. Banks Financially-strapped and bankrupt home owners are pointing the finger at banks and mortgage brokers for selling them on the idea of subprime mortgages. Doug Duncan, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., acknowledges that in some cases aggressive lenders obscured facts and made loans that borrowers couldn't afford. But he, like other lenders, says it was the responsibility of borrowers to read and understand what they signed.About 50 percent of the subprime mortgages were "stated income loans," with no verification of borrowers' incomes, says Paul Leonard, director of the California office of the Center for Responsible Lending.Last year, the Mortgage Asset Research Institute sampled 100 such loan applications and reported that 90 percent listed significantly higher incomes for borrowers than they had reported on their tax returns."Borrowers need to protect themselves and need to read what they're signing,” says Nick Larson, an assistant vice president at the Mortgage Asset Research Institute. “At the end of the day, bottom line, you can't stress this enough: The person who is signing the papers is committing themselves financially.


”Source: Associated Press, Alex Veiga (03/25/07)

Real Estate is looking up


UF: Residential Development May Have Bottomed Out

Survey of Emerging Market Conditions, Q1 2007 FindingsExecutive Summary & ConclusionsThe most important finding from the January round of our Survey of Emerging Market Conditions is that residential development may have bottomed out. Given the scale of the residential development market, this would be good news for all real estate markets and for Florida in general. Meanwhile, most other real estate markets are stable, if not improving, giving a sense that almost all is nearly well in the land. An exception may be condominium markets and apartments for condo conversion that continue to struggle, though they, too, are perceived to be improved.
In brief, leading observations include the following:- Residential absorption rates are expected to stabilize for both single family development and condo development.- Residential prices are expected to lag inflation, but fewer respondents look for actual declines than previously did.- Investment in single family residential development is no longer regarded as clearly a poor prospect, though condo development, while improving, has further to go.- All types of rental property except hospitality are viewed more favorably as investment opportunities than they were in the previous survey, and generally are viewed as positive opportunities.- The outlook for respondents' own business, which has declined steadily in the last year, remained stable relative to the previous quarter.
For more detail visit their website:http://www.cba.ufl.edu/fire/realestate/cres/findings.asp

South East Naples Real Estate Report

Welcome to my report these numbers are provided by the Sunshine Mls
NA 17 north of Davis Blvd
Homes on market 1123.
Avg List pric $363,937.
#of sales 422.
Sales price to list price 96%
NA 18 north of Rattlesnake Hammock south of Davis Blvd.
Homes on the market 925.
Avg List price$361,520.
# of sales305.
Sales price to list price 94%
NA19 south of Rattlesnake north of 41 east of 951.
Homes on the market 719.
Avg list price $505,783.
#of sales 155.
Sales price to list price 92%.
Call Me for more information
Bernie East 239.248.1966