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Archive for October, 2011

Friday, October 14th, 2011

The number of homes sold in the San Francisco-Bay Area jumped 6.6% from 6,334 in September of 2010 to 6,749 last month.

Despite the annual increase, prices experienced their usual August-to-September seasonal drop with prices falling 10.2% month-to-month.

"As interesting as today’s market is, what’s more interesting is what’s not happening," said John Walsh, president of DataQuick."While there has been a lot of talk about shadow supply, especially distressed properties that haven’t been put on the market, demand continues to accumulate. Empty-nesters want something smaller, growing families want something bigger. People still die, they get married, retire – all of this generates demand. And only a fraction of that demand is being met in today’s market."

The median sales price on all new and resale homes and condos hit $365,000 last month, down 1.4% from $370,000 in August and down 7.6% from $395,000 in September of 2010.

Before the real estate meltdown, the peak home price in the Bay area hit $665,000 in June/July of 2007. The peak low was $290,000 in March of 2009.

Foreclosures accounted for 25.6% of all resales in September, while short sales made up 20.1% of Bay Area resales.

Government-insured FHA home purchases made up 21.8% of the resales market in September, down from 24.1% last year, but up slightly from August.

About 33.5% of Bay Area sales last month were sold for $500,000 or more, down from 35.5% in August and 38% from last year.

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Rents in Manhattan rose in the third quarter even though new lease levels slipped slightly for the period, according to the latest Elliman Report.

The Elliman Report, which surveys New York City rental prices quarterly, reported Friday that rents for 3Q rose after considerable concessions were made. New leases are high, but still fell a bit from the previous quarter while inventory listings also dropped.

The high-end of the market saw price increases, while the available supply of units fell. And in many situations, those pondering rentals over full acquisitions are now favoring the buy-side of the equation, the report concluded.

The median rental price stayed unchanged at $2,995, which is relatively the same from last year. And the price per square foot grew 8.1% to $51.03 per square foot, up from $47.22 last year.

Overall, the number of new rental properties in Manhattan slipped to 7,998 apartment units, compared to 8,593 from the previous year.

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Home prices could fall up to 7% by the end of the 2012 first quarter, Barclays Capital said Friday in a report to clients.

Barclays also noted the worst-case scenario for a further home price collapse, where property value falls another 15 to 20% from current levels, is low.

Fannie Mae's recent survey of a sample pool of Americans found that most of those surveyed believe home prices will fall another 1.1% over the next year.

Home prices recently experienced a minor decline.

In August, home prices decreased 0.4% on a month-over-month basis, the first monthly decline in four months, according to CoreLogic.

Meanwhile, Clear Capital expects another home price dip is on the way.

Home prices rose nationally 3.5% in the third quarter over the previous quarter, according to the latest home data index from Clear Capital.

However, the  company also predicts another minor decline in home prices for the fourth quarter of 2011, and a continued slide through the end of the first quarter of 2012.

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Fannie Mae finalized its list of mortgage servicers on track for its highest scores in a new program designed to measure and reward improved customer service and foreclosure prevention.

Bank of America (BAC: 7.23 -0.96%) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 37.255 -0.63%) are not on the list.

Fannie launched the Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards program in February to provide transparency to the sector. The review was designed to help servicers focus on areas deemed critical to the government-sponsored enterprise. The firms will be given scores on a five-star scale, with five being the highest performing.

As of July, 21 of the 34 servicers subject to STAR reviews are on track to achieve at least three stars or higher.

Of the 11 largest servicers, Wells Fargo (WFC: 29.36 +1.07%), Citigroup (C: 30.48 +0.33%), Ally Financial (GJM: 22.43 -0.62%) and Everhome Mortgage are on track for at least a three-star rating. And of the 10 second largest group of servicers, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC Mortgage Corp., The Huntington National Bank, Aurora Bank, Regions Bank and Central Mortgage Co. are on pace for the higher scores, according to results released in September.

Fannie said Friday 11 of the 13 smallest group of servicers were showing signs of higher performance: American Home Mortgage Servicing, Arvest Mortgage Company, Associated Bank, Branch Banking and Trust Co., Capital One, Colonial Savings, Doral Bank, Nationwide Advantage Mortgage Co., Navy Federal Credit Union, Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co., and Sovereign Bank.

"Servicers who achieve the highest rankings in the STAR Program are the market leaders in providing assistance to homeowners who are having difficulty making their mortgage payment," said Leslie Peeler, vice president for servicer portfolio management, Fannie Mae.

While BofA and JPMorgan Chase did not appear to be on pace for even a median score, a Fannie Mae spokesman said they will have the back half of the year to make improvements.

There could be consequences if they don't. When the program was launched Fannie said servicer compensation would be tied to the year-end STAR program results.

Write to Jon Prior.

Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Geauga County in Ohio filed suit against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Thursday, claiming the electronic mortgage registry bypassed the recording of mortgage assignments in local registry offices, thereby depriving numerous Ohio counties on revenue from filing fees.

The lawsuit arrives weeks after the Dallas County District Attorney sued MERS and its parent company, Merscorp. Inc., alleging the system acts as a shadow recording system that allows lenders to avoid local mortgage registration fees.

The suit was filed by David Joyce, prosecuting attorney for Geauga County. Geauga is situated on the eastern border with Cuyahoga County, both act as part of the Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area.

"The MERS business model and practices comply with the recording statutes and regulations of Ohio," a MERS statement of response reads. "This position has been upheld in numerous cases in Ohio courts and countless cases across the country on the state and Federal level. We are confident that MERS’ business practices will be upheld in court as complying with Ohio law."

The complaint names various financial institutions as defendants – including Bank of America (BAC: 7.23 -0.96%), Chase Home Mortgage, Citi (C: 30.48 +0.33%), HSBC Bank and numerous others.

The suit is another byproduct of claims stemming from MERS role in the securitization process, the plaintiffs claim.

In the suit, Geauga County claims "the defendants systematically broke chains of land title throughout Ohio counties' public land records by creating gaps due to missing mortgage assignments they failed to record, or by recording patently false or misleading mortgage assignments." The county claims MERS failure to pay filing fees is a violation of Ohio state laws.

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

A jobs bill introduced by Republican Senators Thursday aims to cut individual and corporate taxes along with repeals of major regulations, including the Dodd-Frank Act.

The bill introduced by Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is the latest effort to repeal the financial reform law. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) attempted to earlier in the year, but the bill went nowhere, even in the Republican controlled House.

Each of the top Republican candidates for president in 2012 have stated they would support a bill repealing Dodd-Frank, including Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Bachmann herself.

But top Democrat Senators have pledged they would not allow Republicans to dismantle Dodd-Frank. They point out banks operated without the rules within it leading up to the crisis, which resulted in millions of foreclosures, still declining home values and mass layoffs.

The jobs bill submitted this week follows a Senate rejection of the president's plan last week. President Obama, however, is planning to introduce parts of his proposal separately, specifically the pieces putting jobless construction workers toward rebuilding the country's infrastructure.

But Republicans said that proposal does not go far enough to cut spending and reduce burdensome regulation.

"We have spent too long increasing the tax and regulatory burdens on job creators, instead of allowing them to operate more freely and create more jobs," Paul said.

The proposal absorbed bills from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to not only repeal Dodd-Frank but the Obama health care overhaul.

The Institute of International Finance estimated in June 2010 that Dodd-Frank would cost the economy 4.6 million jobs by 2015, based on their modeling.

The bill also lowers the corporate tax rate and top-income tax rate to 25% while putting a moratorium on any new regulations. It also attaches a balanced budget amendment Democrats opposed during the most recent debt ceiling debate and grants the President a line-item veto power.

Republicans said the proposal would result in 5 million new jobs, though they give no time span.

Write to Jon Prior.

Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Real estate investment trusts underperformed the broad stock markets indices in September, and analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods expect the macroeconomic fears caused by the sovereign debt crises in Europe to weigh down third-quarter results of many REITs.

KBW said the overall economy "looms as a near-term concern for commercial real estate demand," although REITs have ample access to capital, while the lodging and multifamily sectors "appear poised to post improving core growth in the near term" despite weak demand for suburban office space.

Still the analysts "believe that given current valuations for suburban office REITs and the pricing of more 'defensive' names in other property sectors, it is reasonable to consider 'renting' rather than long-term owning some suburban REIT exposure."

"The focus for (third-quarter) earnings will likely be on the effect recent market turmoil, weak job markets and generally lackluster economy (are) impacting companies in terms of fundamentals, acquisition opportunities and pricing, and access to debt capital," KBW said.

The analysts expect quality and location will continue to outperform market averages, particularly in retail and office; "hence REIT portfolios, in general, are outpacing market average vacancies."

KBW expects acquisitions will drive external growth at many REITs in the near term, although tightened credit markets over the past two months slowed transaction activity that was higher earlier in the year.

Write to Jason Philyaw.

Follow him on Twitter: @jrphilyaw.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Origination and default solutions firm ServiceLink hired former Lender Processing Services (LPS: 16.87 +1.93%) executive Greg Whitworth to serve as executive vice president of servicing solutions.

Whitworth has been working at ServiceLink since Monday.

Prior to joining ServiceLink, Whitworth served Lender Processing Services as executive managing director of servicing solutions.

Whitworth is ServiceLink's second big executive announcement in the past five days.

The firm also named Jay Jacobs senior vice president of default abstract solutions.

The announcements arrive at a time when ServiceLink is expanding its services through the launch of a new default abstract solutions center in Irving.

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

The United States may have cushioned the fall from the 2008 financial crisis but stretched out the pain by its actions, one Harvard University economist said.

Much of the pain comes from mortgage debt that rose as housing prices crashed and consumers found themselves underwater on their mortgages.

"The debt overhang is the most prominent reason … why we are not having a normal recovery," economist Kenneth Rogoff said, while speaking with business reporters Friday at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference in New York. Rogoff is author of "This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly."

Housing reforms are needed, including consideration of principal writedowns, Rogoff said. That could take the form of a "quid pro quo" in which homeowners who get a principal writedown share with lenders in the upside when their house appreciates.

Still, Rogoff was skeptical about what housing reforms might actually occur or what shape they might take.

"I'm told there are dozens of plans and I'm told they are all impossible," he said. "Certainly a smaller step would be to have looser monetary policy than we have now."

Rogoff described the country's economic issues as a "once in 75 or 80 years" problem and one that will take significant time to resolve.

Had the nation allowed more mortgages to default and go into foreclosure earlier, more of the housing problem might be behind us, he said.

"Debt levels, they've come down a little but they are still really high," he said.

Financial crises, he said, give countries an opportunity to "use a crisis to do things better" but requires the political will to make policy changes.

"You look at the long run. You don't panic and you plan on having reasonably slow growth" for a long time, he said.

Write to Kerry Curry.

Follow her on Twitter @communicatorKLC.

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Credit Suisse is closing its commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan-origination unit, but will continue its secondary trading operation, according to a source close to the matter.

The bank has not structured a CMBS offering this year, but has made loans that were contributed to other transactions since it restarted its commercial real estate lending operation this past spring.

The re-emergence of the CMBS sector looked promising earlier this year, and the Swiss bank was hoping to start originating loans again. In May, Credit Suisse started to rebuild its CMBS team, hiring well known industry expert Roger Lehman to head CMBS research.

Lehman had previously been co-head of Bank of America's structured finance research team.





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