Southern California home sales grew a slight 0.3% from a year ago in September, suggesting the market remains steady on a year-over-year basis, DataQuick said Thursday. The area recorded 18,149 new and resale home sales in the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange. That is down 7.7% from August, but up slightly from 18,091 last year.
Search Results for: new
51255 Results found for new
JPMorgan Chase [stock JPM][/stock] CEO Jamie Dimon said talks between the largest mortgage servicers and the attorneys general were still mired in negotiations for future liabilities. The multistate investigation launched in October 2010 when questionable foreclosure practices came to light at many of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers. Federal regulators and the banks agreed to consent orders earlier in 2011 to begin installing new checks and guidelines on how troubled loans are treated.
Beazer Homes USA [stock BZH][/stock] said preliminary data for its fiscal fourth quarter show home orders up 33% from a year ago and closings 23% above 2010 levels. The homebuilder said orders in the fourth quarter hit 1,006, while closings grew to 1,376 in the three months ended Sept. 30. There also was a backlog in units, totaling 1,450, which is 88% higher the year earlier fourth quarter, when the builder’s results lagged following expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credit.
Initial jobless claims remained essentially flat last week, staying higher than 400,000. The Labor Department said the seasonally adjusted figure of actual initial claims for the week ended Oct. 8 fell by 1,000 to 404,000 from 405,000 the previous week, which was revised upward 4,000.
MetLife Bank, a division of insurer MetLife Inc. [stock MET][/stock], is selling the bank’s mortgage business, citing uncertainty in the marketplace and a regulatory environment that requires excessive resources. The company said devoting people and capital to handle the regulatory environment in the mortgage space “would divert these resources away from MetLife’s primary focus on its global insurance and employee benefits businesses.” MetLife began originating mortgages through its MetLife Homes Loans division in 2008 and plans to continue writing reverse mortgages.
Data firm RealtyTrac says foreclosure filings plummeted 34% in the third quarter from a year earlier. However, the CEO said the market may be a bottom, with signs activity will likely begin to grow. On average, properties stayed on the market longer in the third quarter. U.S. foreclosures spent on average 336 days in the default process. That’s up from 318 days in the second quarter and the highest hold time reported in four years.
Are there any surprises in store for the annual actuarial review of FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund? Not likely, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told Mortgage Bankers Association Conference attendees in Chicago, on Tuesday. When asked if there is any indication what the study will reveal, Donovan seemed optimistic. “The quality […]
Top reverse mortgage producer MetLife Inc. is seeking a buyer for its forward business, but remains committed to its reverse mortgage lending operations. “We plan to continue our reverse mortgage origination operations, but as a public company, we continuously evaluate all of our businesses based on market conditions and the regulatory environment,” said David Hammerstrom, […]
The sheer amount of reform taking place along every step of the mortgage process shows just how broken it was – or rather continues to be.
An old deposition of former Bank of America [stock BAC][/stock] CEO Ken Lewis could play a major role in ongoing shareholder litigation. Another case with allegations similar to disclosures made in the deposition was filed this week by Schwab funds. The group is now suing Ken Lewis and BofA for not making material disclosures prior to the Merrill Lynch acquisition.
Three of the top ten states have about half—if not more—of their reverse mortgage market shares up for grabs thanks to Financial Freedom, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America exiting the industry, and this represents opportunities for lenders who remain, Reverse Market Insight’s ReverseIQ October newsletter reports. Looking at endorsement volumes from October 2010 through March […]
The U.S. Supreme Court denied review of a case brought against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems by a California man, the Court announced Tuesday. Gomes v. Countrywide is the first major MERS case filed with the Supreme Court, according to Jose Gomes’ attorney, Ehud Gersten. The case centered on the issue of whether MERS had a right to foreclose on the homeowner without proving it had the noteholder’s authority to foreclose.