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Rents Rising Rapidly

The Finances of Renting vs. Buying

Trulia reported this week that homeownership is 45% cheaper than renting in the United States. Jed Kolko, Trulia’s Chief Economist explained: “Homeownership is cheaper than renting in all of the 100 largest metros, by a wide margin. Despite the recent

via kcmblog.com

FHA temporarily eases guidance on condo approvals

The Federal Housing Administration eased some requirements for financing the purchase of condominium units through August 2014, according to a letter sent to lenders Thursday.

The new guidance is effective for all project approvals or reconsiderations submitted for review going forward.

To protect the dwindling emergency insurance fund, the FHA put stricter rules in place.

According to the changes made Thursday, no more than 15% of the total units can be delinquent by 60 days or more on their condo association fees. This was eased from a 30-day delinquency threshold. No exceptions to the new rule will be granted, the FHA said.

The agency still requires at least half of the units to be owner-occupied for projects completed more than one year ago. But the FHA released more specific guidance on how much investors can own on properties under construction or conversion. Investors can own up to 30% of the units on some of the projects in order to qualify for FHA financing.

Other guidance was given on insurance coverage, commercial space limitations and other details.

The Community Associations Institute, a trade group of community associations, pushed the FHA to revise the rules.

"It was determined that certain policy adjustments were needed to address current housing market conditions," the FHA said in the letter.

CAI Chief Executive Officer Thomas Skiba said the revisions were needed sooner but is still "excellen

The Federal Housing Administration eased some requirements for financing the purchase of condominium units through August 2014, according to a letter sent to lenders Thursday.

The new guidance is effective for all project approvals or reconsiderations submitted for review going forward.

To protect the dwindling emergency insurance fund, the FHA put stricter rules in place.

According to the changes made Thursday, no more than 15% of the total units can be delinquent by 60 days or more on their condo association fees. This was eased from a 30-day delinquency threshold. No exceptions to the new rule will be granted, the FHA said.

The agency still requires at least half of the units to be owner-occupied for projects completed more than one year ago. But the FHA released more specific guidance on how much investors can own on properties under construction or conversion. Investors can own up to 30% of the units on some of the projects in order to qualify for FHA financing.

Other guidance was given on insurance coverage, commercial space limitations and other details.

The Community Associations Institute, a trade group of community associations, pushed the FHA to revise the rules.

"It was determined that certain policy adjustments were needed to address current housing market conditions," the FHA said in the letter.

CAI Chief Executive Officer Thomas Skiba said the revisions were needed sooner but is still "excellent news."

"FHA has responded to the critical issues we've raised. By doing so, more Americans can obtain FHA-insured mortgages to purchase condominiums," Skiba said. "This will spark home sales and help tens of thousands of condominium communities begin to recover from the housing slump, and that can only help the national economy."

By Jon Prior Source: HousingWire

Chicago area home sales rise nearly 27% in August

Home sales in the Chicago area sped up last month with 9,145 units sold, up nearly 27% from year ago levels, RE/MAX said Wednesday.

For the second month in a row, foreclosures and short-sales represented a larger share of all Chicago homes sales. Distressed sales in August accounted for 37.5% of all transactions, up from 36.4% a year ago and 36.1% in July, RE/MAX said.

The pace of sales in Chicago's seven-county region ticked up with properties spending only 139 days on the market, compared to 165 days in August of 2011. This is the fastest sales pace since December 2007.

"It indicates that the market is being brought back into balance,” said Laura Ortoleva, a spokesperson for the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network.

Homes sold in the metro-Chicago area in August had a median price of $170,000, down 4.4% from a year earlier.

Posted by kpanchuk on 9/14/12 at 3:38pm Source: housingwire.com

 

ForeclosureRadar: Foreclosure Starts Down Dramatically in August

ForeclosureRadar released its Foreclosure Report for August on Monday, revealing that foreclosure starts fell dramatically during the month.

The company’s coverage area includes counties in California, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. In all states except Washington, foreclosure starts either fell drastically or stayed fairly flat month-over-month, with Oregon seeing an 80.6 percent drop in starts. In Washington, starts were up 34.9 percent.

ForeclosureRadar said the monthly decline in starts is even more significant when taken with the fact that August had more business days (23 days) than July (21 days).

While foreclosure sales increased 23.7 percent month-over-month in California, the increased number of business days helped flatten the daily average increase to 2.2 percent over July.

Sales in most other states either dropped or increased marginally, with Nevada posting the largest decrease (18.1 percent). Washington led in sales, reporting a 36.5 percent increase.

Time to foreclose changed little in all states, with Nevada showing the largest increase (up 8.9 percent increase to 512 days) and Arizona posting the only decrease (down 3.7 percent to 131 days). While Washington reported huge leaps in foreclosure starts and sales, the state remained completely flat in time to foreclose at 102 days.

ForeclosureRadar CEO Sean O’Toole said the drop in starts should put to rest any reports about another wave of foreclosure sales in the near future.

“We continue to see reports that there will be a wave of foreclosure sales after the election or at the start of the year,” O’Toole said. “The lack of foreclosure starts this month puts a nail in the coffin of this theory. There will be no wave of foreclosures for at least five months.”

“The good news for investors and first-time buyers is that foreclosure sales have at least remained flat, continuing to provide some opportunities in the meantime,” he continued.

 

Source DsNews by : Tory Barringer