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Portland Maine Housing Update – September 2010
After an extremely sleepy first few weeks of September here in Portland, it seems the phone has finally started ringing and this hopefully translates into buyers buying.! It is a bit too soon to analyze September housing statistics, but my guess is they will be poor as transaction volume in July/August for the Portland Maine real estate markets was down approximately 15% compared with 2009 and off significantly more than this compared with the summer of 2008. Median prices year over year did jump in August, but these figures should be taken with a grain of salt and are most likely misleading because fewer first time home buyers at lower price points are in the marketplace. Overall pricing is relatively stable in the greater Portland region.
Going forward if rates remain low and the economy does not tank I suspect we shall see improving conditions everywhere. Feel free to visit our blog on Portland Maine housing for monthly updates on the status of the these markets as well as regional markets such as Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and South Portland.
Thanks for reading,
John Herrigel
Green Tree Realty
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 28, 2010
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 28, 2010
What Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Are Doing Today:
- The price of the FNMA 30-Year 4.0% MBS coupon opened at 102.97 this morning – the same as yesterday’s close.
- At 9:30 AM, the 4.0% MBS coupon was trading at 103.00 – up 1/32 from its opening.
Remember, on mortgage backed securities (MBSs), as the price goes down, the yield goes up – and so do mortgage rates. I expect that Maine mortgage rates will be about the same in price this morning as compared to yesterday afternoon.
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 27, 2010
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 27, 2010
What Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Are Doing Today:
- The price of the FNMA 30-Year 4.0% MBS coupon opened at 102.59 this morning – the same as Friday’s close.
- At 9:30 AM, the 4.0% MBS coupon was trading at 102.78 – up 6/32 from its opening.
Remember, on mortgage backed securities (MBSs), as the price goes down, the yield goes up – and so do mortgage rates. I expect that Maine mortgage rates will be up to 0.250 points better in price this morning as compared to Friday afternoon.
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 24, 2010
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 24, 2010
What Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Are Doing Today:
- The price of the FNMA 30-Year 4.0% MBS coupon opened at 102.84 this morning – the same as yesterday’s close.
- At 9:30 AM, the 4.0% MBS coupon was trading at 102.63 – down 7/32 from its opening.
Remember, on mortgage backed securities (MBSs), as the price goes down, the yield goes up – and so do mortgage rates.Maine mortgage rates will be up to 0.250 points worse in price this morning as compared to yesterday afternoon.
HUD OFFERS $19 MILLION TO CLEAN UP HAZARDS IN HOUSING
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering $19.6 million in grants to prevent and correct housing-related health and safety hazards in low-income housing and to support programs for the control of asthma among residents in federally assisted multifamily housing.
HUD is making these grants available through its Healthy Homes Production, Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing, Lead Technical Studies, and Healthy Homes Technical Studies grant programs.
“The grants we will award under these four programs will enable thousands of families to live in healthier homes, and develop new ways of addressing housing-related hazards,” said HUD Deputy Secretary Ron Sims. “More than 6 million families in the U.S. live in homes with moderate to severe physical housing problems, so it’s critical that HUD focus on producing homes that are safe and healthy, one of our new programs. Our second new program will reduce asthma triggers in homes.”
HUD is making grants available through the following programs:
Healthy Homes Production Program – $10 million – This new, production-oriented grant program is modeled after the previously successful Healthy Homes Demonstration and Lead Hazard Control grant programs, and will enable public and private grantees to address multiple housing-related hazards at the same time. It complements other HUD efforts to mitigate multiple hazards efficiently, such as HUD’s Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, begun earlier this year to make healthy and green retrofits in low-income housing in 14 communities by meshing separate agencies’ and philanthropic resources.
Applications due date: Monday, November 8, 2010.
Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing Grant Program – $2.6 million – These new grants will develop, implement, and evaluate multifaceted programs for the control of asthma among residents of federally assisted multifamily housing. HUD is targeting asthma because it is a common illness that especially affects disadvantaged populations, and because multi-pronged interventions, such as reducing exposure to environmental triggers, can help control the disease.
Application due date: Tuesday, November 16, 2010.
Lead Technical Studies Grant Program – $1 million – These grants will further previous research grants that have provided health and housing professionals with knowledge on how to reduce the number of lead poisoned children. They are critical for achieving the goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning as a major public health problem.
Applications due date: Monday, November 8, 2010.
Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grant Program – $6 million – These grants will help develop and improve low-cost methods for identifying and reducing housing-related hazards. They will improve our understanding of the relationship between residential exposures by children or other vulnerable populations and illness or injury.
Application due date: Monday, November 8, 2010.
HUD will award grants in these four programs to approximately 33 recipients ranging from $250,000 to $1,000,000. Applications may be downloaded from Web links provided on HUD’s Funds Available website.
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 23, 2010
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 23, 2010
What Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Are Doing Today:
- The price of the FNMA 30-Year 4.0% MBS coupon opened at 102.91 this morning – the same as yesterday’s close.
- At 9:30 AM, the 4.0% MBS coupon was trading at 103.06 – up 5/32 from its opening.
Remember, on mortgage backed securities (MBSs), as the price goes down, the yield goes up – and so do mortgage rates. I expect that Maine mortgage rates will be about 0.125 points better in price this morning as compared to yesterday afternoon.
Home sales up 7.6 pct. in August; sales still weak
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of previously occupied homes rose last month, but not enough to keep August from being the second-worst month for sales in more than a decade.
The National Association of Realtors says sales rose 7.6 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.13 million. Sales were down 19 percent from the same month a year earlier.
July was the worst month for sales in 15 years. That was changed by the slightly upward revision to a pace of 3.84 million. High unemployment, falling home prices and a tight credit have kept people from buying homes. The industry received a boost this spring when the government offered home-buying tax credits, but has struggled since those expired in April.
The median sale price was $178,600, up 0.8 percent from a year ago.
Closing costs soaring nationwide
If you’re getting a mortgage in New York, bring a fat checkbook to the closing table: Closing costs there are the highest in the nation, according to a survey by mortgage website Bankrate.com.
For a $200,000 mortgage, the fees average more than $5,600 now in New York, according to the survey. The state roared past Texas, last year’s leader, where costs average about $4,700. In third place is Utah, where they slightly exceed $4,600.
Arkansas boasts the lowest closing costs, just over $3,000, followed by North Carolina and Iowa.
The Lone Star State is always among the most expensive, thanks to particularly high title insurance rates. Regulators mandate how much title companies can charge there and it’s illegal to charge lower fees.
“There’s strong lobbying by title companies and no competition,” said Lewis, “It’s always has some of the highest title insurance fees.”
Costs soared in 2010 — or did they?
Statistically, the national average for closing costs seems to have soared in 2010, up 37% to $3,741 from just $2,732 in 2009.
But that’s probably deceiving. What’s new this year is that a revised government-mandated good faith estimate took effect and it requires all projected expenses be accurate within 10%. That way, there are no big surprises at closing.
“Lenders can’t low-ball this,” said Lewis. “They can’t surprise buyers like they used to.”
Homebuyers have to come into the closing knowing, within a few percentage points, exactly how much they’ll lay out for their mortgages.
“Increased regulation on lenders’ good faith estimates means more accurate estimates and less expenses popping up for consumers on the back end,” said Greg McBride, Bankrates’ chief financial analyst
In the past, lenders often concealed much of the final costs until closing day, when many homebuyers won’t say “No” or walk away from the deal.
Today’s higher closing costs may not be that much higher, but they’re better disclosed to consumers, which is what Bankrate’s survey reveals.
The survey’s methodology is to plug in the same “dummy” application for a hypothetical borrower with a high credit score, putting 20% down on a $200,000 loan, to several lenders. Bankrate then compiles and averages the responses from the various lenders.
No matter how they’re calculated, closing costs are a big and growing share of the cost of home ownership.
Bankrate reported that lender fees, everything from origination charges to courier or express mail charges, jumped 22.8%. Third-party fees – for things such as appraisals and title insurance – skyrocketed 47.2%.
Lenders say the cost of underwriting have risen dramatically the past few years. The mortgage meltdown means all applicants are subjected to careful analysis to better ensure that they can afford their loans.
That’s a big departure from the boom years, when anyone with a pulse could get a mortgage and little scrutiny was applied to even some of the worst loan applicants.
All that extra manpower costs the lenders money, and they’re pushing the added costs on to consumers.
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 22, 2010
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 22, 2010
What Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Are Doing Today:
- The price of the FNMA 30-Year 4.0% MBS coupon opened at 103.06 this morning – the same as yesterday’s close.
- At 9:30 AM, the 4.0% MBS coupon was trading at 103.13 – up 2/32 from its opening.
Remember, on mortgage backed securities (MBSs), as the price goes down, the yield goes up – and so do mortgage rates. I expect that Maine mortgage rates will be about the same in price this morning as compared to yesterday afternoon.
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 21, 2010
Maine Mortgage Rate Update for September 21, 2010
What Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Are Doing Today:
- The price of the FNMA 30-Year 4.0% MBS coupon opened at 102.50 this morning – the same as yesterday’s close.
- At 9:30 AM, the 4.0% MBS coupon was trading at 102.66 – up 5/32 from its opening.
Remember, on mortgage backed securities (MBSs), as the price goes down, the yield goes up – and so do mortgage rates. Maine mortgage rates are already 0.25 points better in price this morning as compared to yesterday afternoon.
