Foreclosure filings increased in 75 percent of the nation’s top metro areas during the first half of 2010, according to RealtyTrac’s Midyear 2010 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report.
Data revealed that 154 of the 206 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of 200,000 posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity.
However, nine of the top 10 most severely impacted metros saw year-over-year declines in foreclosure filings, though rates in those areas remain three to five times higher than the national average.
Four states, including Florida, California, Nevada, and Arizona, accounted for all top 20 metro foreclosure rates.
Florida fared worst, with nine of the top 20 metros, followed by California with 8, Nevada with two, and Arizona with one.
Las Vegas continues to be the biggest loser in terms of foreclosure rate, with one in 15 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the first half of the year.
But the 53,525 filings received in the past six months were down 15 percent from the previous six months and nearly nine percent lower than numbers seen in the first half of 2009.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metro area was top for foreclosure filings, with 94,466 properties receiving a notice during the first half of the year.
The numbers were down eight percent from the previous six months, but nearly 11 percent higher than the first six months of 2009.
The big questions remains whether the lower numbers are actually significant, or just the result of foreclosure moratoria and loan modifications that will eventually re-default.
Top 10 Foreclosure Metros in the United States
Fixed-rate mortgages inched down during the week ending July 29 to reach new record lows for a six consecutive week, according to mortgage financier Freddie Mac.
The popular 30-year fixed averaged 4.54 percent, down from 4.56 percent a week ago and 5.25 percent last year.
The 15-year fixed slipped to 4.00 percent even, down from 4.03 percent last week and 4.69 percent a year ago.
“For the sixth week in a row, interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages eased to all-time record lows during a week of mixed housing data reports,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement.
“The number of local markets experiencing annual increases in home prices appears to be growing.”
“However, existing home sales in June slowed to an annualized pace of 4.37 million units, the fewest since March. Moreover, although new home sales jumped by almost 24 percent to 330,000 dwellings, it represented the second slowest rate since 1963.”
Remember, bad economic news generally pushes mortgage rates lower (how mortgage rates are determined).
Meanwhile, the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.76 percent, down from 3.79 percent a week ago and 4.75 percent last year.
Finally, the one-year ARM fell to 3.64 percent from 3.70 percent, and sits more than a point below the 4.80 percent average seen this time last year.
The interest rates above are for conforming loan amounts at 80 percent loan-to-value; pricing adjustments may increase or lower the rate you actually receive.
Jumbo loans continue to price a half percentage point or more higher than conforming mortgages.
HAMP Default Rate to be Revised
Last month’s Making Home Affordable Program report included delinquency data for the first time, revealing that just 4.1 percent of the 126,527 loan mods made permanent in the first quarter of 2010 were 60+ days late.
It also noted that 1.3 percent were already 90+ days late.
The data certainly raised some eyebrows, as previous research indicated somewhere between 65 percent and 75 percent of modified mortgages may re-default after 12 months.
That led Treasury to remove the delinquency data from the most recent report and replace it with the following statement:
“Since the Making Home Affordable report was posted on July 20th, Fannie Mae, which administers the program, has reported to Treasury an issue in its implementation of the delinquency statistic methodology used to report performance of permanent modifications.
Fannie Mae is now revising the data, and Treasury has retained a third‐party consultant to provide additional review and validation. Upon completion of that independent review, a revised table will be provided.”
As CalcRisk aptly pointed out, with a median back-end debt-to-income ratio of 63.7 percent on permanent mods, there’s a good chance many borrowers will eventually re-default.
Unfortunately, it seems as if banks, servicers, and the Treasury are more focused on “hitting the numbers” than actually carrying out quality loan mods.
They’ve already sent out roughly 38-51 percent of the of 3-4 million modification offers they wanted to complete by 2012, but it will mean very little if most end up back in foreclosure.
(photo: istolethetv)
During the second quarter, 22 percent of homeowners who refinanced their mortgages lowered their principal balance by bringing in additional money at closing, Freddie Mac reported today.
It was the third highest “cash-in refinance” share since Freddie Mac began keeping records on refinancing trends since 1985.
Cash-in refis (which are basically rate and term refis) increased from 19 percent in the first quarter, but were nowhere near the 36 percent share seen in the final quarter of 2009.
Meanwhile, cash-out refinances, where the original loan amount increased by at least five percent, represented 27 percent of all refinance loans.
Over the past three quarters, cash-out refinancing has been at its lowest since Freddie began tracking in the 80s.
The main cause of decline was harsher underwriting guidelines for loan-to-value ratios, coupled with reduced home prices.
In fact, the median appreciation of the collateral property was a negative five percent over the median prior loan life of four years.
Compare that to 20-30+ percent positive appreciation during the boom years in the mid-2000s, and you’ll know why everyone refinanced their mortgage (with cash-out).
Just $8.3 billion in home equity was pulled out during the second quarter, down from $8.4 billion in the first quarter and the lowest amount since 2000.
Applications to purchase a home increased for the second straight week as refinance apps slipped, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.
The group’s seasonally adjusted purchase index climbed a meager two percent during the week ending July 23 to the highest point since the end of June (not really saying much).
However, the unadjusted purchase index was 34.3 percent lower than the same week a year ago, so all is not well in the housing market.
Refinance applications fell 5.9 percent during the week, pushing the refinance share of mortgage activity to 78 percent of total applications from 79.4 percent a week earlier.
Meanwhile, the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.69 percent, up from 4.59 percent a week earlier.
The 15-year fixed also increased during the week, rising to 4.12 percent from 4.05 percent.
The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage saw slight improvement, dipping to 7.15 from 7.17 percent, but clearly remains unfavorable compared to fixed-rate options.
The MBA’s weekly survey covers more than half of all retail, residential loan applications, but does not factor out duplicate or rejected apps, which have surely increased since the mortgage crisis got underway.
