Experts at the American Mortgage Conference say the combination of lenders apprehensive about making mistakes on loan apps and the qualified mortgage rule, and the need for low-cost financing to meet the changing demographics of minority and women home buyers whose income is not apt to rise, are two major […]
Apprehensive Lenders, Changing Homebuyer Demographics Create Challenges Read More
According to the index compiled by The Conference Board, consumer sentiment has risen this month to 84.6, two points above the end of August and five points above the mid-August reading of 79.2. However, the gain is in the expectations component, not the current conditions aspect, which actually fell to
Consumer Sentiment Rises Read More
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) wants to reach out to borrowers with credit scores of 640-680 because lenders have pulled back from that borrower class over the last ten years, according to Frank Vetrano, of FHA’s risk management and regulatory affairs division, noting the housing downturn took many of these
FHA Reaching Back to Borrowers with Lower Credit Scores Read More
Case-Shiller’s improved house price index (HPI) now offers a monthly read on the housing market instead of a quarterly overview, according to housingwire.com. Paul Diggle of Capital Economics says, “The new index suggests that prices ‘only’ fell by 26% during the crash, relative to 34% on the previous quarterly index.
New Index: Housing Crash not so bad; Recovery not so Good Read More
Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reveals mortgage applications to buy a new home fell nine percent in August, according to nationalmortgagenews.com. New single-family home sales fell 2.1 percent from the July rate of 433,000 units, on a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), to 424,000 in August, while the
New Home Mortgage Applications Fall in August Read More
According to CNNMoney.com, 40 million Americans now have student loan debt, reports credit bureau Experian, an increase from 28 million in 2008; and the amount of debt has risen from $23,000 to $28,000 during that same period. Total student loan debt now stands at $1.2 trillion, an all-time high and
Rising Student Loan Debt—Pathway to Manufactured Housing? Read More
Cash sales comprised only 33 percent of total home sales in June, 2014, the lowest level since Sept. 2008, and a drop of 36.3 percent from June 2013, with the share falling year over year each month since Jan 2013. Before the housing crisis began, according to worldpropertychannel.com, cash home
Cash Home Sales Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly Six Years Read More
According to Harvard University’s Joint Center on Housing, the nation is poorly prepared to house aging Baby Boomers, especially those disabled. An added problem is one-third of those aged 50 and older spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing; some boomers who still have a mortgage on
Where will the Baby Boomers Live as they Age? Read More
The Wisconsin Housing Alliance reports the production of off-site built homes is down this year, especially for modular homes, which suffered a drop of ten percent in 2013 over 2012. As biz-times.com tells MHProNews, production in 2004 was almost 700 percent higher. Pittsville Homes closed this summer after 40 years
Manufactured Housing Growing, Modular Home Production Slipping in Wisconsin Read More
Noting the current housing market scenario is not meeting expectations most analysts predicted a year ago, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) CEO and President David Stevens says the changing demographic in the U. S. is going to require changes in the home financing market. “If you look at existing housing stock
MBA’s David Stevens: Home Ownership Financing must Change Read More
According to the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), before leaving for the August Recess, the House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 5062) amending the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) – which is Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act – to provide protection against waiver of state and federal law privileges for
House Passes Privilege Information Read More
Sam Zell, Chairman of real estate giant Equity International, and Equity LifeStyles, which owns/has an interest in 380 manufactured housing and recreational vehicle communities in North America, noting corporations that have missed their expected goals were low on the revenue side, which means the demand is not there for their
Zell, Soros, Druckenmiller and Icahn Agree: A Big Board Correction is Imminent Read More
The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) informs MHProNews that the “Duty to Serve Underserved Markets” as it applies to manufactured housing, according to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), will be “revisited” under Melvin Watt, the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
FHFA under Melvin Watt Taking New Approach to MH Read More
Residents of Los Angeles use a larger portion of their paycheck for housing than people in San Francisco, New York or Miami. “They’re bottom earners living in a high-priced housing market,” said Dowell Myers, a policy, planning and demographics professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Lower-income
Los Angeles Singing the ‘Rising Housing Cost Blues’ Read More
According to the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform, the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) statistics reveal that production of manufactured homes jumped 18.4 percent in July over July 2013, 5,675 HUD Code homes this year as compared to 4,793 produced in July 2013. On the
HUD Code Production Rises Nearly 20 Percent in July Read More
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 3.3 percent in July over June to 105.9, marking an increase in the National Association of Realtors (NAR) measuring stick for four of the last five months, with three of the four regions registering an increase. While still below July, 2013 (108.2), according
Pending Home Sales Rise in July Read More
According to numbers released by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U. S. Census Bureau, sales of newly-built single-family homes dropped 2.4 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 412,000 units in July. Initially, according to the National Association of Home builders (NAHB), sales
New Home Sales Fall Second Consecutive Month Read More
Although existing home sales rose 2.4 percent from last month to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.15 million in July, the highest rate of 2014, they are down 4.3 percent from last year, according to housingwire.com. Last July’s 5.38 million unit level, the highest for 2013, includes single-family homes, condos,
Existing-home Sales Show Modest Gains Read More
Commercial real estate company CBRE reports multifamily demand in the U S. continued to gain momentum in Q2 2014 as the job market improved and more households are shifting to renting instead of buying. Net absorption grew by an annual rate of 276,200 units, or 1.9%, on a year-over-year basis,
Demand for Multifamily Units Continues to Expand Read More
According to the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), the National Modular Housing Council (NMHC) reports 3,543 new modular homes were shipped in the second quarter of 2014, a drop of 7.7 percent from the same quarter in 2013. As MHProNews has learned, compared to the same quarter of 2013, results for
Modular Shipments Fall in Q2 2014 Read More
