Top-Ranking State for Housing Affordability

Texas ranks top as the most affordable housing market in the country, and record low interest rates on loans in recent weeks has pushed affordability even higher in the Lone Star State.

According to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, a home buyer making $37,351 a year could likely qualify to buy a $150,000 home with a 30-year, 80 percent loan with a 4 percent interest rate. The monthly payments would be $572.90. In 1991, however, a home owner would have needed an annual income of $49,023 to qualify for the same loan, which would have carried an average interest rate of 9.64 percent.

“The home purchasing power of a dollar in income increases dramatically as interest rates fall,” says James Gaines, research economist with the Texas A&M Real Estate Center. “With an 80 percent loan at 10 percent interest, $1 of income buys about $3 of housing. At 7 percent, it buys $4 of housing. At 4 percent, it buys nearly $5.50.”

But while Texas ranks as the most affordable market now, housing experts say other states are gradually narrowing that gap. The national median home price dropped 25 percent from 2006 and 2011, according to Gaines. Meanwhile, Texas’ median home prices increased 4 percent in that period. Gaines says that Texas may see a decrease in its affordability as home prices begin to rise faster than incomes in some areas.

Source: Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University

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The Next Big Threat to Home Owners Looms

While the housing market is showing signs of picking up across the country, housing experts warn of a new concern for home owners: resetting home equity lines of credit.

Home equity lines of credit often require low payments in the initial years as home owners only pay the interest on these loans at the onset. But later on, these loans reset with higher payments when home owners have to start paying down the principal.

About 44 percent of home owners with home equity lines of credit through Wells Fargo have paid only the minimum amount due on these loans, reports The New York Times.

Many borrowers may soon see their home equity lines of credit reset with higher payments and those higher payments may be too much for some borrowers.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently warned of the danger these resetting payments could pose for many home owners across the country. The OCC warned that nearly 60 percent of all home equity line balances would require payments of both principal and interest between 2014 and 2017.

The report highlights three main threats home equity borrowers face: Rising payments as they begin to pay back the principal and not just the interest on these loans; the risk of rising interest rates (many of these loans have adjustable rates); and refinancing challenges “because collateral values have declined significantly since these loans originated.”

Many of the home owners have seen their property values decrease since they first took out the home equity loans.

“These are among the riskiest loans in any bank’s portfolio,” The New York Times reports. “As borrowers are pressed to pay principal and interest, write-offs are almost certain to rise.”

Source: “Here Comes the Catch in Home Equity Loans,” The New York Times (July 14, 2012)

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Wells Fargo Posts Profits on Housing Gains

Wells Fargo is seeing its profits rise, attributing the increase to its growing mortgage business. In the second quarter, the nation’s largest mortgage lender saw its profits rise 17 percent from a year earlier.

"Residential mortgages, new home equity, commercial real estate—it's great, bring it on," Chief Financial Officer Timothy Sloan told The Wall Street Journal.

Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf says the bank has seen an “increased strength in the overall housing market.” Wells Fargo’s revenue from its mortgage banking has increased nearly 80 percent from a year earlier and mortgage originations have increased 1.6 percent.

The bank says its profits have risen recently from an increase in demand from consumer car loans and commercial loans as well.

Source: “Wells Fargo Profit Up 17% on Strong Mortgage Income,” The Wall Street Journal (July 13, 2012)

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More Americans Expect to See Home Prices Rise

Seventy-two percent of Americans say they expect property values to improve in the next two years, according to the Prudential Real Estate Outlook Survey of home buyers and sellers.

As such, nearly 70 percent believe real estate makes a good investment, despite the market volatility over the last few years, according to the survey.

“Americans are feeling better about home ownership and the ongoing recovery taking place in residential real estate,” says Earl Lee, president of Prudential Real Estate. “Many are increasingly optimistic about their personal circumstances and, with housing affordability near all-time highs, they want to act on the opportunity.”

Many of the Americans surveyed are placing a higher priority on the emotional draws to home ownership over financial reasons. For example, Americans reported wanting a home so they can have more “control over living space,” “more space for family,” a “safer neighborhood,” and a “good place to raise a family.”

“Normalcy is returning to the U.S. real estate market and more people are buying homes for traditional reasons — to raise a family, feel secure and build a future,” Lee says. “Every last emotion is rolled up into owning a home — it’s where life happens — so it’s no surprise that the emotional side outweighs financial reasons for owning a home among respondents.”

Still, many survey respondents reported the housing crisis reminds them to take more caution when buying and selling a home.

Source: “Survey Shows Americans Are Increasingly Confident About Home Ownership,” RISMedia (July 11, 2012)

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Foreclosure Inventory Remains Near All-Time Highs

The U.S. foreclosure inventory — consisting of loans that have been referred to an attorney for foreclosure but have not yet completed the process through a sale — hit 4.1 percent of all active mortgages in May, holding near-record highs.

Lender Processing Services reported significantly higher numbers in judicial foreclosure states, at 6.5 percent of all loans, compared to non-judicial states, where the foreclosure inventory settled at 2.5 percent.

Also, according to LPS, more than half of loans in foreclosure in the judicial states have been delinquent for at least two years, compared to just over 30 percent in non-judicial states.

Source: “Foreclosure Inventory Remains Near All-Time Highs,” Inman News (07/09/12)

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NYC Mayor's Challenge to Architects: Build Smaller

New York City is already known for its small apartments, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants apartments to get even smaller.

He is challenging architects through his competition, “adAPT NYC,” to submit design plans for apartments that are 275 to 300 square feet. The competition is part of Bloomberg’s efforts to create more affordable, one- to two-person housing. His goal is 165,000 affordable, smaller homes by 2014.

New York City faces a shortage of housing for one- to two-person households, Bloomberg says. The city has about 1.8 million one to two-person households but has about a million studio and one-bedroom apartments available. Bloomberg says the city needs to address the shortage.

Eighty of the small apartments plans from the competition will be constructed in a building on a city-owned lot in Manhattan over the next two months. The apartments then will be sold or rented.

Source: “NYC Mayor Challenges Apartment Builders to Think Smaller,” Reuters (July 9, 2012)

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