On the heels of yesterday’s posting of Ticor Title’s foreclosure related recordings, comes today’s chart from Ticor – Washoe County Insured Recording Statistics.
Resales remain robust – hitting a level not reached since June of last year.
Re-fis, on the other hand, continue to fall, hitting its lowest number in the three years that the chart spans.
And new home sales hit 51 units for May.
Click on the chart below to enlarge.
GreenNV
2011 Month
GreenNV
I’ll try that one again!
2011 Month SFR Permits SFR Sales
January 34 29
February 16 44
March 43 52
April 30 35
May 25 51
Total 148 211
The builders are selling a lot more of inventory than they are building. This is a really bad indicator for the local construction jobs market.
Record low refinancings at these low rates is also disturbing. Anyone who can refi already has. To have enough equity to refi assuming you started with 20% down, you need a loan that is 10 years old or so. At that point, you are far enough into your amortization that is doesn’t make too much sense.
Ahem
“Anyone who can refi already has”. Yep.
We have had sub 5% mortgages now for more than 2 years. The refi business is tapped out.
And even Father Bernanke is now saying there is little more the Fed can do. So 2% government subsidized mortgage money is not forthcoming.
Mark D
Question for the real estate experts: Why are appraisals even necessary for refinances? There isn’t a separate buyer and seller involved so home value doesn’t need to be factored in. The arbitrary 125% limit of appraised value allowed for refinancing still potentially shuts out many homeowners in western Nevada who bought between 2004-08, unless the owner shells out more cash to cover the difference between the unpaid principal balance and the amount that can be financed based on the appraised value. This includes buyers who did put at least 20% down at time of purchase for a 30 year fixed loan, never missed or had any late mortgage payments, and have retained excellent credit scores and sufficient income to now afford the monthly payments of the shorter 15 year term, which are near record low interest rates.
Maybe my situation doesn’t represent a large number of homeowners here in Reno, but at least for me I would be much happier to have the opportunity to shorten my loan term at historically low rates for a home I want to stay in for a long time, pay down the principal much faster (maybe even have equity again before this decade ends!), and not be required to come up with a large chunk of cash again in order for the refinance to be accepted.
Sully
Mark D; in a nutshell its because of the previous loose lending practices.
go to http://housingstory.net/
send Mike a personal email, he is a mortgage broker in Chicago. He can probably answer your question much better and might even be able to suggest an alternative for you.