Number of the Week: 103 Months to Clear Housing Inventory
Number of the Week: 103 Months to Clear Housing Inventory
April 24, 2010, Wall Street Journal
103: The number of months it would take to sell off all the foreclosed homes in banks’ possession, plus all the homes likely to end up there over the next couple years, at the current rate of sales. As of March, banks had an inventory of about 1.1 million foreclosed homes, up 20% from a year earlier, according to estimates from LPS Applied Analytics. Another 4.8 million mortgage holders were at least 60 days behind on their payments or in the foreclosure process, meaning their homes were well on their way to the inventory pile. That “shadow inventory” was up 30% from a year earlier.
Flipping Houses is Back in South Los Angeles
April 24, 2010, Los Angeles Times
Flipping homes is back. Lured by steep discounts on bank-owned properties, investors are sifting through the wreckage of Southern California's real estate bust, snapping up foreclosed homes in hopes of making a quick killing. The rapid-sale rebound comes amid a general recovery in housing prices and sales, and the epicenter is South Los Angeles.
Fannie Offers Spur to Avoid Foreclosure
April 26, 2010, Wall Street Journal
Fannie Mae will make it easier for some struggling homeowners to buy houses in the future if they avoid foreclosure in the present. Under rules released this month that will take effect in July, some troubled borrowers who give up their homes by voluntarily transferring ownership through a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" or by completing a short sale, where a home is sold for less than the amount owed, will be eligible in two years to apply for a new mortgage backed by Fannie.