New rules raise the bar for condo mortgages in Florida
MIAMI – Jan. 26, 2009 – Lending giant Fannie Mae is slapping tough new requirements on mortgages for Florida condos, moves that analysts believe will make it even more difficult to sell units in buildings already starved for residents and struggling financially.
The standards, which took effect last week and apply only to Florida, include requiring that no more than 15 percent of a building’s unit owners be delinquent on association fees as a condition of funding home loans to new buyers.
Fannie Mae buys the majority of home loans from lenders, so it wields significant power in the making of mortgages. Fannie-backed loans generally offer the best rates and lowest down payments for borrowers.
Florida’s existing home, condo sales rise in December 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 26, 2009 – Florida’s existing home sales rose in December, making it the fourth consecutive month that sales activity demonstrated gains in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). December’s statewide sales also increased over November’s figures in both the existing home and existing condo markets.
Existing home sales rose 27 percent last month with a total of 11,053 homes sold statewide compared to 8,712 homes sold in December 2007, according to FAR. December’s statewide existing home sales were 28.9 percent higher than November’s statewide sales.
Florida’s existing housing market reflects mortgage, economic issues at year-end 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 26, 2009 – Florida’s housing market mirrored the national trend in 2008, as mortgage industry troubles, unsettled financial markets, tightened credit and other economic issues impacted sales and prices. By year’s end, a total of 124,215 existing homes sold statewide, a decrease of 4 percent compared to 129,855 homes sold statewide in 2007, according to the latest housing data released by the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR).
Florida’s median sales price for existing homes was $187,800 at year-end 2008; a year previously, it was $234,300 for a 20 percent decrease. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.
With Rates Near Zero, What Will Fed Do Next?
By: Reuters | 25 Jan 2009 | 02:35 PM ET
The Federal Reserve is struggling to explain its plans for pulling the U.S. economy out of recession as it resorts to unorthodox policy tools while official interest rates are set near zero.
Since a rate-setting meeting in December, several U.S. central bank officials have tried to lay out what the Fed can do now that it has run out of conventional ammunition to support economic growth.
Usually, the Fed can focus its policy message around its interest rate target, but with federal funds already close to zero that capability has disappeared with no clearly discernible substitute on the horizon.
Housing starts post larger than expected drop
WASHINGTON (AP) – Jan. 22, 2009 – New home construction plunged to an all-time low in December, capping the worst year for builders on records dating back to 1959.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of new homes and apartments fell 15.5 percent to an annual rate of 550,000 units last month. That shattered the previous low set in November.
It was a much weaker showing than the pace of 610,000 that economists were forecasting and ended 2008 on a dismal note.
UF: Confidence in Florida real estate markets at new low
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – An accelerating avalanche of bad economic news has swept over Florida real estate to sink confidence in the industry to its lowest level since a statewide survey of economic experts began three years ago, a new University of Florida report finds.
Name the segment of real estate – retail, offices, housing, condos and the consumer’s frame of mind – and the survey finds that with few exceptions belief in the market has sagged to lows seldom seen in the state, says Wayne Archer, executive director of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies.
Rate hike being recommended for Florida insurer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Jan. 23, 2009 – A task force is recommending that Citizens Property Insurance be allowed to end a three-year rate freeze and start aggressively hiking homeowner rates.
The task force voted earlier this month to recommend that the Legislature caps Citizens’ annual rate increase to 10 percent on average statewide. It was meeting again Thursday in Jacksonville to finalize its report. It also suggests an annual cap of 15 percent for any given territory and 20 percent for any single policy.
Task force members are urging the state for Citizens to begin raising rates in January 2010.
Citizens is the state’s largest insurer with 1.1 million policies and $412 billion in exposure.
The task force must submit a report to the Legislature by Jan. 31.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Economists see deeper housing woes in ‘09
LAS VEGAS – Jan. 21, 2009 – A panel of housing experts on Tuesday projected that builders’ woes will deepen this year, pushing the prospect of a recovery into 2010 at the earliest.
“We do expect ‘09 to be the down year, to be the bottom,” David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, said during a news conference at the International Builders’ Show, which runs through Friday.
The outlook reflects grim forecasts that call for home prices, new construction and home sales to decline this year, while mortgage defaults, foreclosures and unemployment continue to rise.
That dynamic has kept the housing market mired in a slump and homebuilders large and small in the red. The U.S. economic downturn, meanwhile, has crippled any hopes for a near-term housing recovery.
Box of tips on whether you should refinance
ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 21, 2009 – When mortgage rates fell below 5 percent last month, broker Jeff Perdue’s phone lines lighted up as dozens of people tried to join the latest refinance boom. When the ringing stopped, only five were approved.
The rest had good credit, good income and “decent equity” in their homes, but that wasn’t enough, said Perdue, owner of Orlando Home Mortgage.
“The value of their homes killed the deal,” he said. “I had to call them and tell them, ‘I’m sorry. If your house had been worth what it was when you bought it, this would have been a piece of cake. Now the numbers don’t make sense for you.’”
Snowbirds should find lower property tax bills this year
MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. – Jan. 21, 2009 – Florida snowbirds, so long left out in the cold when it comes to lower taxes, may find their property tax bills falling this year – along with real estate market values.
“The people with the biggest break this year will be non-homesteaded property owners whose values dropped,” said Dale Friedley, a tax analyst with the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office.
“In most cases those values are dropping between 8 and 15 percent. If their values went down 10 percent and millage is the same, they’ll save 10 percent, compared to last year’s bill,” Friedley added.
