The number of transactions is the lowest for a July in four years. Also, the median price drops 4% from July 2010 to $283,000. Home sales in Southern California fell to the lowest level for a July in four years as some key economic indicators turned downbeat and congressional budget wrangling took the country to the brink of financial default. The median price was also down, falling 4% from a year earlier to $283,000, San Diego real estate information service DataQuick said.
An effort by state attorneys general to take big mortgage servicers to task over faulty foreclosure practices has stalled as financial institutions demand broad legal immunity from other mortgage-related probes. The nationwide effort looking into faulty foreclosures, which involves attorneys general from all 50 states as well as some federal agencies, was expected to have produced a settlement of more than $20 billion by now. But talks have stumbled over how much the banks should pay as well as to what
Fix housing. Several new economic studies show that the worst head wind against economic recovery comes from the dismal state of American families' balance sheets. Even after years of proliferating foreclosures and cutbacks of credit card balances, household debt today is $11.5 trillion, 2 1/2 times the level of 1999 and on average nearly 120% of disposable income.Three quarters of the total is mortgage debt. That's a nearly unprecedented drag on household net worth, and one that prevents families
Until recently it was generally believed that only a small fraction of Americans would willingly choose to skip their monthly mortgage payment, aka "strategically default", when they found themselves stuck in a negative equity situation. The logic driving this belief was based on the notion that borrowers wouldn't want to damage their credit profile or deal with the social stigma surrounding a public foreclosure. The assumption that most underwater borrowers will continue making their monthly payments (absent a life event) is
Have a bright idea about how the government can best liquidate the current huge inventory of owned real estate (REO) currently held by FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Here is your chance to be heard. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the conservator of the two government sponsored enterprises (GSE) in conjunction with the Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are requesting options for selling or otherwise putting the houses into useful service. The three issued
Getting banks, investors and borrowers together to work out a solution that benefits them all is the most promising idea to emerge since the housing market first crashed. We are now in the fifth year of a housing crisis in which more than 3 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure, with millions more still at risk. Every initiative — government or private — to stem the tide of misery has fallen leagues short in the face of continued economic gloom
There has been periodic speculation that one factor in the continuing high unemployment levels is "house lock," or the reluctance of households to sell their homes in a declining price environment. This, the theory goes, may create a geographic mismatch between the locations of available workers and available job openings. If this is true then it follows that household migration should be relatively greater among renters than owners in the current market and should be higher in areas where home prices
State attorneys general are negotiating to give major banks wide immunity over irregularities in handling foreclosures, even as evidence has emerged that banks are continuing to file questionable documents. A coalition of all 50 states' attorneys general has been negotiating settlements with five of the biggest U.S. banks that would include payment of up to $25 billion in penalties and commitments to follow new rules. In exchange, the banks would get immunity from civil lawsuits by the states, as well as
The payouts are part of separate agreements for Countrywide, which was accused of overcharging borrowers, and Wells Fargo, whose employees allegedly pushed borrowers into more expensive subprime loans. Some troubled homeowners got the promise of a little relief Wednesday in the form of separate settlements with Countrywide Home Loans and Wells Fargo & Co. Nearly $108 million in refund checks are being mailed to homeowners allegedly overcharged by Countrywide Home Loans as part of a settlement with
More than half (52%) now cite "too many Americans still unemployed" as their top economic concern according to the latest Job Creators Alliance Poll (www.jobcreatorsalliance.org). In the previous JCA poll, conducted May 7-10, 37% named unemployment as their top economic worry. Worry about the growth in government spending also edged up slightly to 29% in the latest survey, compared to 25% in May. Concern about fuel prices fell in the latest poll. One in five respondents cited the rising cost of