Category Archives: Westchester NY

Mortage Rates Move Down as We Head Into Spring | #Armonk Real Estate

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Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates moving down across the board. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate continues its run below 4 percent — a good sign for the spring homebuying season.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.78 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending March 19, 2015, down from last week when it averaged 3.86 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.32 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.06 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.10 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.32 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.97 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.01 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.02 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.46 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, unchanged from last week. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.49 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.

Quotes
Attributed to Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 3.78 percent this week following mixed housing data. Housing starts dropped 17 percent to a seasonally adjusted pace of 897,000 units, below market expectations. However, housing permits increased 3 percent in February. As we head into spring, home builders remain positive about home sales in the near future although the NAHB Housing Market Index dropped another 2 points to 53 in March.”

Hidden Buildings | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Architects have made a virtue out of the need to hide buildings. London-based dRMMM stuck to stringent planning guidelines for rural development, creating an award-winning design in the process. Their Sliding House in Suffolk replaced a bungalow and some outbuildings with a building based on a traditional timber-framed barn. Yet the structure is mobile: a 50-ton roof and wall enclosure glides along recessed tracks, revealing the house, annexe and garage. (Credit: Alex de Rijke/Ross Russell/DRMM)

 

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http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150316-buildings-hidden-from-the-world

Feb. housing starts plunge 17% | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Builders broke ground on fewer new homes last month as starts plunged 17% from January, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Amid of harsh winter weather, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home construction fell to 897,000 from 1.08 million the month before, the government said. February was the first month since August when home building fell below an annual rate of 1 million units or better.

January’s rate was revised to 1.08 million from the previously reported figure of 1.06 million, the government said Tuesday.

Economists had expected a small decline in starts for February to an annual rate of 1.045 million units, according to Action Economics’ survey.

Snowstorms in parts of the country were presumed to have slowed construction. Commerce reported starts in the Northeast fell 56.5% and they were down 37% in the Midwest. The South was down 2.5% while starts in the Midwest slumped 9%.

Tuesday’s report shows single-family homes were started at an annual rate of 593,000, down 14.9% from January.

Permits, a gauge of future building activity, rose 3% to a rate of 1.09 million.

Just over 1 million housing units were started last year, the most since the recession. The National Association of Home Builders predicts builders will begin slightly more units this year and that new home starts will pick up this year as the weather and the economy continue to improve.

Home builders’ optimism is flagging slightly as the peak spring home buying season is nearing. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo home builders index for March dropped two points to 53, the NAHB said Monday. It was the third straight monthly decline. The index is seasonally adjusted.

 

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/03/17/feb-housing-starts/24890299/

Snow and Housing Starts | #Bedford Real Estate

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Construction on new homes in the United States slumped 17% in February, mostly because of heavy snowfall that sidelined builders in the Northeast and Midwest. But nationwide permits for future construction rose to the second highest level since the end of the Great Recession, suggesting construction will pick up in the spring.

So-called housing starts sank to an annual rate of 897,000 in February from a revised 1.08 million in January, the government said Tuesday. That was well below the estimate of analysts polled by MarketWatch, who predicted that starts would total a seasonally adjusted 1.03 million.

New construction in the Northeast tumbled 56% to mark the lowest rate since 2009, with the number of single-family houses being built slipping to a record low, the Commerce Department reported. Builders were frozen out in many major markets such as the Boston that was buried beneath a record nine feet of snow during the winter.

Starts also sank 37% in the frigid Midwest and 18.2% in the West, but just 2.5% in the South, where almost 50% of all new construction takes place.

At the same time, though, permits for new construction, a sign of future demand, rose 3% to an annual rate of 1.09 million. That’s the highest level since October and the second strongest increase since the end of the recession in mid-2009.

Permits rose in all major regions except for the Northeast, where they dropped 17.4%.

The biggest increase in applications for new construction once again involved multi-dwelling projects such as apartment buildings and townhouse rows. Permits for projects of five units or more jumped nearly 20%, reflecting a postrecession trend in which more people are renting instead of owning, especially younger people.

Permits for single-family homes, which make up three-quarters of the housing market, fell 6.2% compared to the prior month. They were up 2.8% from a year earlier, however.

 

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-starts-slump-on-winter-weather-2015-03-17?link=MW_Nav_NV

Most renters are not ready (or willing) to buy | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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The rent may be too damn high, but it’s not enough to turn most renters into buyers.

The gap between rental costs and household income is widening to “unsustainable levels” in many parts of the country, new research published Monday by the National Association of Realtors found, “and the situation could worsen unless new home construction meaningfully rises.” In the last five years, a typical rent rose 15% while the income of renters grew by only 11%, the study found. The top markets where renters have seen the highest increase in rents since 2009 are New York (51%), Seattle, (32%), San Jose, Calif., (26%), Denver, (24%) and St. Louis. (22%).

“Many of the metro areas that have experienced the highest rent increases are popular to millennials because of their employment opportunities,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist said in a statement. “With a stronger economy and labor market, it’s critical to increase housing starts for entry-level buyers or else many will face affordability issues if their incomes aren’t compensating for the gains in home prices.”

But most renters are reluctant to buy. Only 12% of current renters say they plan to buy a home within the next year, according to the latest “Housing Confidence Index” published last week by real-estate company Zillow, although this was up 25% on the previous year. On a scale of 1 to 100, with a reading of more than 50 indicating general confidence, the housing confidence index rose to 70.6 in January 2015, up 4.4 points over the previous year.

 

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-renters-are-not-ready-or-willing-to-buy-2015-03-14

Builders Sentiment Weakens Slightly | Chappaqua Real Estate

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The March NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped two points to 53 from February, the third consecutive monthly decline in the index. While softening during the winter months, the index has remained above 50 since July 2014. Furthermore, of the three components to the index, the expectations for future sales remained steady at 59 (from the downwardly revised February of 59).

The HMI decline was primarily driven by a decline in builders’ judgment of current sales where the index fell three points from 61 to 58. While a reading of 58 is well above the tipping point of 50 where more builders rate the market as good rather than poor, it is the lowest reading in that component since June 2014. New home sales up through January have been moving up.

New Home Sales & HMI Current Sales Component
Builders continue to face challenges finding labor and lots. Lot prices are rising and making it more difficult to remain within buyers’ expectations for the final new home price. Adding labor also means forcing up wage rates while potential buyers remain very price sensitive. Appraisals have also hindered sales particularly at lower price points where supply cost increases have the greatest impact on the final price. A number of comments in this month’s survey mentioned buyers’ desire for bargaining in the face of rising home prices.

Regional changes were in both directions. The three month moving average was down in the Northeast, South and West two, two and seven points respectively but up two points in the Midwest. Monthly regional indicators, often more erratic, were up 13 points in the Midwest but down seven points in the Northeast, two points in the South and 11 points in the West. The more dramatic declines in the Northeast and West align with the larger negative changes in existing home sales in January.

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/03/builders-sentiment-weakens-slightly/

Producer Prices in February – Falling Prices, Except for Gypsum | North Salem Real Estate

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for February. Inflation in prices received by producers (prior to sales to consumers) declined 0.5% in February. The decline was dominated by a decline in prices for services and within services prices for trade, transportation and warehousing. Prices for goods also declined led by falling food prices. Energy prices leveled off in February after declines accelerated through the second half of last year and reached -10.3% in January.

Softwood lumber prices declined 1.6% in February. The Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite Index points to further declines in March. Analysts point to softer than expected US single family construction in 2014, inventory management on the part of distributors, and softening overseas markets as factors. Additional declines will be tempered going forward by possible log shortages and continuing transportation bottlenecks.

Prices for OSB declined 2.9% after modest upticks in the prior three months. The return of mothballed capacity since 2013 has supply outpacing demand. Random Lengths indicates additional declines in March. The PPI for OSB indicates a 46% decline from the price peak in March 2013.

Prices for gypsum jumped 3.9% in February after a 4.3% increase in January reaching an all-time high. Gypsum prices are now 5.4% higher than their 2006 housing boom peak while single family housing starts remain depressed at roughly half the normal level of production.

blog ppi 2015_03

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/03/producer-prices-in-february-falling-prices-except-for-gypsum/

Prepare Your Credit for a Mortgage | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Applying for a mortgage soon? Consider this: Improving your credit health could limit how much you’ll need to pay in interest and potentially save you thousands of dollars.

According to Zillow, the median home value in the United States is $178,500. Let’s pretend that two people each want a $178,500 30-year fixed mortgage and have the same amount saved up for a down payment. However, one has an excellent credit score of 760 while the other has a poor score of 620.

How much more do you think the person with the poor credit score will have to pay?

In most cases, poor credit could cost that consumer tens of thousands of dollars. Even the seemingly minuscule difference between a 3.5 percent interest rate and a 5 percent interest rate could tack on an extra $59,000 or more over the life of the mortgage, according to FICO’s loan savings calculator. (Keep in mind, interest rates and savings can vary and are ultimately up to the lender.)

It’s clear that your credit is important. Let’s discuss a few ways to prepare your credit in the months or years leading up to your mortgage application:

1. Monitor your credit score.

Your credit score will likely be one of the most important aspects of the approval process. Don’t go into the mortgage process blind. Instead, check your score ahead of time so you can estimate what kind of rates you may get and whether your credit is good enough to get you approved. Then, identify areas of your credit history that need work, make steps to improve and continually monitor your progress.

2. Pull your credit reports and dispute errors.

A 2013 Federal Trade Commission study found that 1 in 4 consumers identified errors on their credit reports that might affect their credit scores. The same study found that 5 percent had errors on one of their reports that could lead to them paying more for products such as auto loans and mortgages.

Don’t let errors on your credit reports cause you to pay more than you should. Before looking for a mortgage, be sure to pull all three of your credit reports and dispute any errors that could affect your score, such an incorrect account or the wrong credit limit. The dispute process may not be instantaneous, but the time and effort you put into ensuring your reports accurately represent your credit history will be worth it if it saves you money on interest.

3. Pay off outstanding delinquent accounts.

Like other lenders, mortgage underwriters want to ensure you’re a reliable borrower who will make payments on time, so having outstanding delinquent accounts on your credit report can drastically hurt your chance of being approved. Before you apply, consider paying off any delinquencies. Also try to lessen the impact late payments may have on your score by burying them with months or years of timely payments first.

 

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http://news.yahoo.com/prepare-credit-mortgage-125500730.html

U.S. Household Balance Sheet Improves Again | South Salem Real Estate

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The balance sheet of U.S. households with real estate continues to improve – despite tight lending conditions – as increases in home prices continue. The real estate equity position of U.S. households (the difference between assets and liabilities) increased nearly 2.4% for the quarter according to NAHB tabulations of the fourth quarter Federal Reserve Flow of Funds.

The value household-owned real estate, including owner-occupied and second homes, totaled $20.6 trillion for the quarter. Total home mortgage debt outstanding stands at $9.4 trillion. The market value of real estate held by U.S. households increased $265 billion dollars during the quarter, while liabilities (home mortgages) remained virtually unchanged.

AssetLiability

Because the figures are not adjusted for inflation, it is useful to also examine the owners’ equity in real estate as a percentage of household real estate. The ratio is calculated by taking the aggregate equity position divided by the market value of owner-occupied real estate held by U.S. households. The higher the ratio the more favorable is the financial position of U.S. households with real estate. The current reading of 54.5% represents a significant improvement over the 39.1% registered as recently as the second quarter of 2011.

EquityPosition

The improvement in the balance sheet of U.S. households means fewer underwater homeowners, thereby unlocking housing supply and demand. This type of improvement in the balance sheet of U.S. households with real estate along with further improvements to job market could release pent-up housing demand.

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/03/u-s-household-balance-sheet-improves-again/

Mortgage Rates Up | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates moving higher amid a strong jobs report and bringing mortgage rates back to where they were at the start of 2015. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has averaged below 4 percent since the week ending November 13, 2014.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.86 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending March 12, 2015, up from last week when it averaged 3.75 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.37 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.10 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.03 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.38 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.01 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.96 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.09 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.46 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.44 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.48 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.

Quotes
Attributed to Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.86 percent for this week following a strong labor market report, essentially bring rates back to where they were at the start of the year. The U.S. economy created 295,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate dipped to 5.5 percent from 5.7 percent in January, both outperforming market expectations.