Housing Momentum Builds but Perils Persist

Housing Momentum Builds but Perils Persist
January 27, 2010, Wall Street Journal

There's new evidence the housing market is healing after a four-year slump, but the danger of further price drops remains amid persistent job-market weakness, according to The Wall Street Journal's quarterly housing survey. Inventories of homes listed for sale are down sharply across the U.S. and have reached very low levels in some areas, including Boston and Sacramento, Calif. The decrease in supplies has sparked a return of bidding wars on lower-end properties in some neighborhoods, but the national picture is mixed.

States Enact Legislation to Keep Pace with Foreclosure Crisis
January 22, 2010, National Mortgage professional Magazine

In response to the financial crisis, 33 states and Puerto Rico passed at least 99 new laws in 2009 to address foreclosure and mortgage issues, according to a report published by the National Governors Association. With foreclosures at historically high levels, 67 of the laws provided foreclosure mitigation strategies. Another 15 laws took aim at neighborhood stabilization, and 12 laws addressed preventing bad loans. Click here to view the 19-page 2009 State Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Laws report.

Pennsylvania Mortgage Relief Wins Fans
January 26, 2010, Wall Street Journal

With the Obama administration stumbling to modify large numbers of troubled mortgages, a little-known Pennsylvania program designed to assist struggling homeowners has been attracting increasing attention. Pennsylvania's program is geared toward providing short-term aid to borrowers suffering from temporary hardship such as a job loss. It helps homeowners meet the terms of their existing mortgage with separate, below-market rate loans. The federal program, by contrast, aims primarily to provide long-term assistance to borrowers by modifying mortgages to make the payments more affordable.

Foreclosed Homes in U.S. Selling at 28 Percent Discount
January 26, 2010, Bloomberg News

People who buy foreclosed U.S. homes get an average discount of 28 percent off the price of similar properties that haven’t been seized by banks, according to a study released today by real estate data provider Zillow.com. The biggest discounts are in Pittsburgh, where foreclosure prices run 59 percent less than those of non-foreclosed homes, according to Zillow, which studied 16 metropolitan areas. Portland, Oregon, had the smallest foreclosure discount at 18 percent, Seattle-based Zillow said.