Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco this week sent to Congress a strategic plan for the next phase of the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
FHFA identified three strategic goals for the next phase of the conservatorships:
Build. Build a new infrastructure for the secondary mortgage market;
Contract. Gradually contract the Enterprises’ dominant presence in the marketplace while simplifying and shrinking their operations; and
Maintain. Maintain foreclosure prevention activities and credit availability for new and refinanced mortgages.
http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/23344/StrategicPlanConservatorshipsFINAL.pdf
Calif. median home price: December 2011: $285,920 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by region/county December 2011: Marin: $693,880 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by region/county December 2011: Madera: $106,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: December 2011: 91.6, an increase from the revised 82.5 recorded in December 2010
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Third quarter 2011: 52 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates: Week ending 2/2/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.87% fees/points: 0.8% 15-yr. fixed: 3.14 fees/points: 0.8% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.76% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)
U.S. house prices rose 1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from October to November, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index. The previously reported 0.2 percent decrease in October was revised downward to reflect a 0.7 percent decrease. For the 12 months ending in November, U.S. prices fell 1.8 percent. The U.S. index is 18.8 percent below its April 2007 peak and roughly the same as the February 2004 index level.
The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from October to November ranged from -0.2 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +2.1 percent in the West South Central division.
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By an overwhelming margin, American voters strongly value homeownership and would oppose efforts to weaken or eliminate the mortgage interest deduction or diminish a federal role to help qualified home buyers obtain affordable 30-year mortgages, according to a national survey conducted on behalf of the National Association of Home Builders. The survey gauged voters’ attitudes towards homeownership and housing policy issues.
The poll shows that three out of four voters – both owners and renters — believe it is appropriate and reasonable for the federal government to provide tax incentives to promote homeownership. This sentiment cuts across regional and party lines.
Highlights of the survey include:
- Two-thirds of respondents say that the federal government should help home buyers to afford a long-term or 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.
- Nearly 75 percent of voters oppose eliminating the mortgage interest deduction.
- Sixty-eight percent would be less likely to vote for a congressional candidate who proposed to abolish the deduction.
- Ninety-six percent of homeowners are happy with their decision to own, and 84 percent who are “underwater” expressed the same sentiment.
- Job uncertainty and saving for a downpayment and closing costs are the biggest barriers to buying a home.
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Fannie Mae’s third quarter National Housing Survey shows that those who are exposed to default have similar attitudes about buying a home as those who do not know people who have defaulted. However, the survey also finds greater pessimism about the economy and personal finances among consumers who know defaulters.”Knowing someone who has defaulted on their mortgage appears to be correlated with consumers being slightly more pessimistic about the direction of the economy, their finances, and their ability to obtain a mortgage, but does not materially correlate with their desire to own a home or their view of housing as a safe investment,” said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae.
Owners and renters who know defaulters are as likely to say owning makes more sense than renting, say buying a home is a safe investment and display roughly the same intention to buy a home as those who do not know a defaulter.However, the survey also finds higher levels of pessimism on several measures related to the broader economy and personal financial prospects among consumers who know people that have defaulted:More info
