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The $15,000 Home-Buyer Tax Credit Returns
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2009 Comment (19)After the original $15,000 home buyer tax credit was trimmed down to eight grand during negotiations over the economic stimulus package, House Republicans have put it back on the table in a slightly different form.
[See New Home Buyer Tax Credit: 7 Things You Need to Know]
Rep. Eric Cantor, a Republican from Virginia, and Rep. Mike Pence, a Republican from Indiana, on Wednesday proposed the "Responsible Homeowners Act." Among other things, the measure would offer a $15,000 tax credit to anyone purchasing a primary residence before July 1, 2010 as long as they make a 5 percent down payment.
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New Home Sales Increase from Record Lows
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2009 CommentFebruary new home sales increased from record lows reached the previous month, but remain significantly below year-earlier levels, the Commerce Department said Wednesday:
Sales of new one-family houses in February 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 4.7 percent (±18.3%) above the revised January rate of 322,000, but is 41.1 percent (±7.9%) below the February 2008 estimate of 572,000.
Some other key stats:
1. The median home sales price was $200,900, that's a nearly 3 percent drop from January and 18 percent from a year earlier.
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Ask President Obama Your Housing Crisis Question
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2009 Comment (14) -
Mortgage Rates Hit Record Lows, Refinancing Applications Jump
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2009 CommentBen Bernanke's aggressive moves to engineer lower mortgage rates are working--sort of.
After the Fed announced last week plans to buy additional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities and even long-term Treasury bonds, mortgage rates responded accordingly. For the week ending March 20, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.63 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association--that's the lowest rate in the history its survey (data goes back to 1990).
[Check out Mortgage Rates to Fall Further: 7 Things to Know]
The lower rates have triggered a sharp rise in mortgage applications. The MBA's index measuring application volume jumped by almost a third from the previous week. But the increase was driven almost entirely by refinancing applications. The refinancing index surged nearly 42 percent, while the purchase index inched just 4 percent higher. Overall, refinancing now represents nearly 79 percent of all applications, according to the MBA.
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Mortgage Refinancing May Hit $2 Trillion in 2009
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2009 Comment (3)The Mortgage Bankers Association on Tuesday jacked up its 2009 forecast for mortgage originations to reflect the Fed's recent moves to engineer lower mortgage rates. The group now expects mortgage originations to total $2.78 trillion this year--an increase of more than $800 billion from its previous estimate.
[Check out: Mortgage Rates to Fall Further: 7 Things to Know]
But with the labor market continuing to erode, the group expects the bulk of the total to come from refinancing, rather than home buying:
MBA estimates that refinancings in 2008 totaled $765 billion and were forecast to increase to $1.13 trillion in 2009. With the recent moves by the Federal Reserve and the Fannie/Freddie program, refinancings are expected to reach $1.96 trillion. In contrast, MBA estimates that purchase mortgage originations in 2008 totaled $854 billion, and were forecast to fall slightly to $851 billion in 2009. The new MBA estimate for 2009 is $821 billion, driven by a combination of continued declines in home sales and lower prices on the homes that are sold, leading to smaller mortgages on average than in recent years.
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Activists Protest at AIG Execs' Homes
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2009 Comment (1)Looks like a couple AIG executives had some unexpected visitors over the weekend:
A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of American International Group executives to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company after it received a massive federal bailout.
About 40 protesters sought to urge AIG executives who received a portion of the $165 million in bonuses to do more to help families.
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Nearly Half of Home Buyers Unaware of Tax Credit
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2009 Comment (3)The Obama administration is hoping that a recently enacted tax credit can generate housing demand and help mop up the existing unsold inventory. But according to a survey commissioned by Move, Inc.--which operates Realtor.com--nearly half of home buyers don't even know the tax credit exists. At the same time, almost a third say it is too small to get them into the market right away.
[See First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit: 6 Things to Know]
From Move, Inc.:
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Tim Geithner's Toxic-Asset Plan: the Details
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2009 Comment (4)Here's the story I wrote today on Tim Geithner's Toxic-Asset Plan.
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Banks' Fourth Quarter Loss is Greater than Previously Believed
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2009 Comment (1)Federal regulators said Friday that the banking industry in the fourth quarter lost nearly $6 billion more than it had previously acknowledged:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) revised the Quarterly Banking Profile for the fourth quarter of 2008 because of significant amendments that were received shortly after the issue’s original release on February 26. Updated results reflect substantially higher charges for goodwill impairment in the fourth quarter, which affected the industry’s aggregate net income and total equity capital. As a result of the amended reports, the industry’s fourth quarter net loss widened from $26.2 billion to $32.1 billion. Net income for all of 2008 was revised from $16.1 billion to $10.2 billion. The decline in the industry’s total equity capital in the fourth quarter increased from $3.7 billion to $10.1 billion, but the additional goodwill write-downs had no effect on the industry’s regulatory capital, because goodwill is not included in regulatory capital.
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Senate Action on 'Cramdown' Bill Delayed
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2009 Comment (143)Senate action on controversial legislation allowing judges to modify the terms of mortgages on primary residences during bankruptcy has apparently been delayed.
From The Wall Street Journal:
With Congress due to start a two-week recess on April 6, Senate negotiators haven't been able to lure a handful of moderates to secure the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle and get the bill through the chamber.
"It looks very likely that we will not be able to take up this housing bill until next work period," said James Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.). "We will continue to work with Sen. [Dick] Durbin and Sen. [Christopher] Dodd to ensure we have the votes when we move this bill forward."
