Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
Some of the systems used by the Federal Housing Administration’s single-family insurance program are vulnerable to security breaches, an investigation by the agency’s watchdog uncovered recently. Details on the nature of the “vulnerabilities” are limited at this point, as the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development chose not to share the full results of its investigation with the public. Click headline to learn more. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Oil futures climbed in electronic trading Wednesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported a 12.1 million-barrel drop in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended Sept. 2, according to sources. That contradicted expectations for an increase of 425,000 barrels from analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. The analysts said refinery utilization was expected to fall amid disruptions from Hurricane Hermine in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Platts. The closely watched Energy Information Administration report will be released Thursday, a day late due to last Monday’s U.S. holiday. October crude was at $46.14 a barrel in electronic trading, up from the contract’s settlement of $45.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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From:: Stock Market News
Liberty Media will buy racing league Formula One, starting with a 18.7% stake that will evolve into a full purchase, CNBC reported late Wednesday, citing the company. Liberty, which owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team, had not made this information available as of late Wednesday. Legendary Formula One Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone will remain in his position, CNBC said.
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From:: Stock Market News
A growing shortage of lots for new homes will push up home prices in many U.S. markets.
That’s the word from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which says the availability of new-home lots is at a historic low. In the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey for May, 64 percent of home builders reported the supply of new-home lots in their areas was “low” or “very low.” That’s the highest percentage since NAHB started collecting this data in 1997.
“As long as the supply remains constrained and demand remains strong, new-home prices will continue to rise,” says David Brown, regional senior vice president at Metrostudy, which tracks U.S. housing trends.
In April 2016, the average price of a new home in the U.S. was $379,800, up 13.5 percent from April 2015, according to NAHB.
Brown attributes the lot shortage to a tight market for real estate loans and high land prices in popular areas.
NAHB says the record-high shortage comes as new homes are being started at a rate of less than 1.2 million a year. In 2005, when housing starts climbed past 2 million, the share of builders reporting a lot shortage stood at 53 percent.
“The lack of availability of buildable lots has quickly become one of the biggest issues facing our members,” says NAHB Chairman Ed Brady, a home builder in Bloomington, Ill. “While labor shortages and regulatory burdens remain struggles as well, lot shortages are preventing our builders from responding to growing demand for housing.”
NAHB’s Chief Economist Robert Dietz says the lack of lots for new homes “will have negative impacts on housing affordability in many markets.”
While the lot shortage is affecting markets across the country, the deficit is most acute in the West, according to NAHB. In that region, 39 percent of builders surveyed indicated the lot supply was “very low,” compared with 23 percent in the South and 18 percent in the Midwest and North.
Brown, the Metrostudy executive, says the areas where lot shortages are especially acute are:
Each of those markets has a less than two-year supply of lots available for new homes, Brown says.
“Since 2010, lot inventory has dropped 25 percent at the same time that housing starts have increased 90 percent,” Brown says. “Development activity has grown but still has not caught up with the pace that lots are getting absorbed.”
John Egan is editor in chief at LawnStarter, an Austin, Texas-based startup online platform that helps people find, schedule, pay for and manage lawn care services.
This post was originally published on RISMedia’s blog, Housecall. Check the blog daily for top real estate tips and trends.
From:: Finance and Economy
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. announced Wednesday afternoon that it is spinning off software assets and merging them with U.K. software company Micro Focus in a deal that values the assets at $8.8 billion. HPE said that the divestiture would allow it to focus solely on data-center operations with a focus on hybrid cloud and on-premises storage and computing. “We believe that the software assets that will be a part of this combination will bring better value to both our customers and shareholders as part of a more focused software company committed to growing these businesses on a stand-alone basis,” Chief Executive Meg Whitman said. HPE will own 50.1% of the new combined company, which will continue to be called Micro Focus and be led by that company’s CEO, Kevin Loosemore. The former Hewlett-Packard, which split into HP Inc. and HPE last year, built its enterprise software offerings through acquisitions such as the purchase of U.K. software company Autonomy, which cost more than $10 billion and led to accusations of fraud. HPE expects to incur one-time after-tax costs of $700 million in the separation if it is approved by Micro Focus shareholders and regulators. HPE, which also announced earnings Wednesday, fell 1% in late trading.
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From:: Stock Market News
The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) fell 1.5 points to 85.0 in August but continued its gradual climb upward from the same period last year. Four of the six HPSI components decreased during the month, most notably the share of consumers who expect home prices to go up in the next 12 months and the share who say now is a good time to sell a home – decreasing 6 and 5 percentage points in August, respectively. Additionally, more consumers reported a positive employment outlook from the previous month, up 4 percentage points in August, and those reporting significantly higher household income fell 1 percentage point. Overall, consumer housing sentiment remains positive and bodes well for continued growth in housing activity.
“Consumers have a fairly optimistic 12-month outlook on housing at the end of the summer home-buying season, supported by increased job confidence and more favorable expectations regarding their personal financial situations compared with this time last year,” says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The return to a slight upward trend in the HPSI during the spring and summer is, thus far, in line with our forecast, which calls for 4 percent growth in home sales in 2016 to the best level since 2006 and continued improvement for 2017.”
Fannie Mae’s August 2016 Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) decreased 1.5 points in August to 85.0, after an all-time high in July. Overall, the HPSI is up 4.2 points since this time last year.
For more information, visit www.fanniemae.com.
From:: Finance and Economy
Honeywell International Inc. said Wednesday it will pay a spinoff dividend of AdvanSix common shares on October 1. Honeywell shareholders of record as of Sept. 16 will receive one AdvanSix share for every 25 shares of Honeywell stock owned, on a pro-rated basis. The company is expecting AdvanSix stock to start trading as a standalone company on the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 14. Honeywell shares closed down 1.3%, while the S&P 500 ended flat.
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From:: Stock Market News
A bulk and flow offering of mortgage servicing rights could wind up exceeding $1 billion in government-sponsored enterprise home loans.
The offering includes a bulk sale of MSRs on 798 residential loans for $0.192 billion with a weighted-average service fee of 0.25 percent.
On a weighted-average basis, the interest rate is 4.116 percent, the original term is 334.7 months and the remaining term is 330.8 months.
From:: Financing
The latest National Appraisal Volume Index report from a la mode mirrored a lot of the same results from last week as the start of school takes focus away from house hunting. Looking at this week’s mortgage application report, will this trend change anytime soon? …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Count the analysts of FBR & Co. among those thinking that 2016 is going to end up being one of the strongest years for mortgage lending in recent memory. In a new report, FBR analysts Paul Miller and Tim Hayes tout a mortgage market that is “continuing to shine” throughout this year, thanks in large part to the continually low mortgage interest rates that are now the norm and the “most stable regulatory environment in years.” …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire