Salient to Investors: The MBA said New Jersey has surpassed Florida in having the highest share of residential mortgages that are seriously delinquent or in foreclosure, with New York third, whereas hard-hit areas such as Arizona and California have some of the lowest levels after allowing banks to quickly foreclose
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Foreclosure auctions surged last month, signaling lenders are preparing to sell a backlog of distressed properties amid rising home prices. RealtyTrac said total US foreclosure filings are the lowest since December 2006. S&P/Case-Shiller report prices for single-family homes in the Miami metro area climbed 13 percent in April from a year earlier,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Zillow says: 22 million homeowners lack enough home equity to move, keeping property listings tight and limiting sales as the housing market recovers. Values have to climb further to ease the shortage. Over 13 million homeowners were underwater in Q1, or 25.4 percent of those with a mortgage.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds and private-equity firms are buying delinquent home loans sold by the FHA, paying an average of 36 cents on the dollar and a low of 26 cents. The FHA doesn’t have the legal authority to use workout tactics like principal forgiveness, and is not allowed to rent homes back to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: RealtyTrac said home seizures had its first annual increase since October 2010, as lenders seek to manage the flow of distressed properties without disrupting the housing recovery. Default, auction and repossession notices were down in November, down 19 percent from a year ago, and the 26th straight month with an annual
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Homeowners and banks are accelerating short sales as the 2007 Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act expires at year-end, after which homeowners will be taxed on the forgiven principal and short sales will drop and foreclosures rise. Short sales and sales of bank-owned homes accounted for 41.5 percent of home purchases in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The flood of foreclosures predicted by experts two years ago has failed to materialize. Instead, the number of properties for sale shrank to the fewest in a decade, prices appreciated at the fastest pace since 2005, and the gradual healing of the housing market helped boost consumer confidence
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jonathan Gray at Blackstone said: Investors have less than 2 years to buy foreclosures before competition and rising prices shrink the pool of cheap assets. The opportunity for funds to buy homes at discounts could last less than 2 or 3 years and the recovery in house prices could surprise people. The
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