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Mass. Home Prices Tumble In July
The median price of single-family homes in Massachusetts fell 12.3 percent in July, marking the sharpest decline in monthly home prices since The Warren Group, Banker & Tradesman’s parent company, began tracking the housing market in 1987.
The median price for single-family homes sold in July dropped to $320,000 from $365,000 in July 2007, according to The Warren Group. The year-to-date median price is $316,000, a 9.7 percent decline from $350,000 a year ago. Prices have decreased in every county this year except for Nantucket, where they have flattened.
“The good news in July was that home sales didn’t decline as precipitously as they have in the previous six months of the year. Unfortunately, prices dipped even more than they did this past April, when prices were 12 percent lower than a year earlier. The drop is a dramatic turnaround from five to six years ago when prices were escalating by double-digit percentages,” said Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “Foreclosure activity has certainly dragged down home prices and will continue to affect the overall market.”
Sales of single-family homes also continued to drop in July, slipping 6.4 percent to 4,495 from 4,800 in July 2007. It was the only month this year that monthly sales haven’t declined by double-digit percentages. Meanwhile, year-to-date sales are down 16.9 percent, to 22,976 from 27,651.
While home sales in July have fallen in most parts of the state, sales climbed in Barnstable, Berkshire, Dukes, Essex and Franklin counties.
Condo sales continued to fall by double-digit percentages, but less dramatically than previous months this year. A total of 2,236 condos traded hands in July, down 12.5 percent from the 2,556 sales recorded a year earlier. Condo sales have fallen by more than 20 percent for eight consecutive months. Year-to-date sales have plummeted 25.9 percent to 12,076 from 16,289.
Condominium prices haven’t retreated as much as single-family home prices. The median condo price dipped 2.5 percent to $287,750 from $295,250 in July 2007. Year-to-date condo prices have remained relatively flat at $279,700 compared to $282,000 a year ago – representing about a 1 percent decline. |
Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | |
FDIC To Modify IndyMac Loans
By Amy Wyeth
Banker & Tradesman Reporter
IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, will implement a new program to systematically modify troubled mortgages starting this week.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which took over the California-based bank in July, will send out 4,000 modification proposals to borrowers this week, and up to 20,000 additional proposals in the coming weeks, spokesman Andrew Gray said.
Under the IndyMac Federal program, eligible mortgages will be modified into sustainable mortgages permanently capped at the current Freddie Mac 30-year conforming fixed-rate loan interest rate of 6.5 percent. Modifications will be designed to achieve payments a borrower can sustain at a 38 percent debt-to-income ratio of principal, interest, taxes and insurance.
Not all borrowers will receive proposals. They will only be made if the new loan terms will be a better value than alternative options for the bank or investors. Borrowers must also meet eligibility requirements, including an ability to repay the modified loan.
Gray said IndyMac has 60,000 delinquent loans nationally. He said most of the loans are in California, Florida, Nevada and the industrial Midwest. |
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 (Archive on Wednesday, September 24, 2008) |
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National Housing Starts And Permits Tumble In July
U.S. home building projects started in July fell 11 percent to the lowest annual rate in more than 17 years, while building permits tumbled 17.7 percent, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
The annual pace of housing starts, at 965,000, barely beat Wall Street's expectations of 960,000, but it was the lowest since a 921,000 unit rate in March 1991. In June, housing starts rose 10.4 percent, revised up from the previously reported 9.1 percent.
Building permits, an indicator of future construction, dropped to an annual rate of 937,000, well below the 970,000 analysts polled by Reuters had forecast.
The magnitude of the drop in permits was the biggest since a plunge of almost 24 percent in February 1990, while the number was the lowest since March this year, when they were 932,000.
Single-family homes, which constitute the bulk of new housing, were especially weak. The annual unit rate of 641,000 single-family homes started in July was the lowest since January 1991, when they were 604,000. Building permits were 584,000, the lowest since 523,000 in August 1982.
U.S. stocks extended their losses and U.S. Treasury bond prices pared their gains after the data were released.
In June, new-home construction was boosted by a change in New York City building codes. But July's national numbers hinted that the United States may still be mired in a housing downturn.
"It can be seen as a payback in June from the building code change in New York City. We may see another decline in August," said Dana Saporta, economist at New York's Dresdner Kleinwort Securities LLC.
"The fundamentals in housing are still poor," Saporta added.
(Reuters) |
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 (Archive on Tuesday, September 23, 2008) | |
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