Daily Archives: July 2, 2015

Employment Situation in June for Housing | Cross River Real Estate

Leave a reply

Strong job gains in April and May were revised downward by 60 thousand and the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points based on a reversal of the labor market expansion in May. Overall, the employment situation in June was decent, but the recovery from the weakness in March was less vibrant than originally estimated.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that payroll employment expanded by 223 thousand in June. This brings average monthly payroll gains to 208 thousand in the first half of 2015 compared to 239 thousand in the first half of 2014 and 260 thousand for all of 2014. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.3% in June from 5.5% in May despite a decline in employed persons in the household survey and based on a reduction in the labor force of 432 thousand. The labor force expanded by 397 thousand in May.

blog emp 2015_06

 

read more…

 

http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/07/

A Recovery Tipping Point for Housing | South Salem Real Estate

Leave a reply

It’s official. It took six grueling years since the Great Recession ended, but now, the housing recovery enters the second half of 2015 as a fundamentals-driven rebound.

What does it mean now that housing—and its infinite mosaic of geographical fiefdoms down to the submarket and lot-line level—has healed its gravest wounds? What does it mean to developers and builders that buyers and sellers of home properties are people to people, not desperate people to institutions? What does it mean when we say that a housing cycle’s trajectory has moved decisively from a focus on investors’ resources to an exchange of values from owner-occupier to someone who wants to be an owner-occupier of a primary residence?

As we note from RealtyTrac’s latest U.S. Home & Foreclosure Sales Report for May, all of the benchmarks for abnormal residential real estate behavior—cash sales, distressed sales, bank-owned sales, and in-foreclosure sales—dramatically subsided in the past month and, even more dramatically so in the past 12 months.

Here are a few of the highlights of the RealtyTrac May Foreclosure report, noted by Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

As distressed and cash sales declines, normalized housing transactions represent a larger share of the market.
  • 24.6 percent of all single family home and condo sales in May were all-cash purchases, down from 28.5 percent in the previous month and down from 30.4 percent a year ago to the lowest level since November 2009
  • The share of distressed sales dropped to a new low of 10.5 percent in May, down from 15.4 percent in April and down from 18.3 percent a year ago
  • Bank-owned sales accounted for 3.9 percent of all residential property sales in May, down from 6.9 percent in the previous month and down from 9.0 percent a year ago

Properties that sold while in the foreclosure process — but not yet bank-owned — accounted for 6.6 percent of all residential property sales in May, down from 8.5 percent the previous month and down from 9.2 percent a year ago

The market has spoken. It’s no longer rewarding investor opportunism, short-term gains for cash-flush buyers, nor quick flippers, nor even global “safe-haven” buyers who buoyed the marketplace as deterioration switched to resilience three years ago.

 

read more…

 

http://www.builderonline.com/builder-100/strategy/a-recovery-tipping-point_o?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=Opinion&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BP_070215%20(1)&he=bd1fdc24fd8e2adb3989dffba484790dcdb46483

30 Year Mortgage Rates Average 4.08% | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates reaching new 2015 highs heading into the holiday weekend and ahead of the June jobs report.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.08 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending July 2, 2015, up from last week when it averaged 4.02 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.12 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.24 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.21 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.22 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.99 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.98 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.98 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.52 percent this week with an average 0.3 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.50 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.38 percent.

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for theRegional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Quote
Attributed to Sean Becketti, chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“Overseas events are generating significant day-to-day volatility in interest rates. Nonetheless, the week-to-week impact on most rates was modest — the 30-year mortgage rate increased just 6 bps, to 4.08 percent. The MBA composite index of mortgage applications fell 4.7 percent in response to what is now three consecutive weeks of mortgage rates over 4 percent. Other measures, however, confirmed continued strength in housing — pending home sales rose 0.9 percent, exceeding expectations, and the Case-Shiller house price index recorded another solid increase.”