Market Studies

Following a market swing driven by response to the homebuyer tax credit, pending home sales in December have leveled off, according to a report Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In November, the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed during the month, dropped 16.4 percent after surging in preceding months before expiration of the original tax credit. After the credit was extended, the PHSI gained 1 percent in December, and NAR says it's a sign of stabilization.

A group of properties located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania valued at almost $3.4 million were sold for less than a third of their value at the September 2009 annual upset tax sale. According to a recent report by the Real Estate Tax Sale Law Network, Inc. (RETSL), a servicer who connects lenders and property owners with legal experts who know the intricacies of real estate tax sale law, the properties sold for a total of $1,066,394, equaling only 31 percent of their value.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently released its monthly Foreclosure Prevention Report, which summarizes loss mitigation activity for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Under the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the GSEs have initiated 43,000 permanent modifications and 442,500 active trials. FHFA also reported that in 2009, the two companies refinanced more than 4 million loans for struggling homeowners.

Both single-family home and condo sales saw remarkable growth in the month of December, but 2009's total sales were still down from overall sales in 2008, The Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real estate data in New England, recently reported.

Although the dollar amount of mortgage fraud remained virtually unchanged last year, the number of mortgage fraud cases surged, according to a recent report on PRNewswire. Up from 1,488 cases in 2008, the number of mortgage fraud cases in 2009 jumped to 1,677.

Wells Fargo is the nation's top commercial and multifamily mortgage servicer, according to data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Monday, followed by PNC Real Estate and Berkadia Commercial Mortgage. New analysis by MBA also contradicts earlier doom and gloom forecasts regarding maturity levels of commercial real estate loans. The trade group says only about 13 percent, or $184 billion, of the $1.45 trillion dollars in outstanding mortgages held by non-bank investors is scheduled to come due in 2010.

As the economic recovery slowly continues, consumers are looking for ways to gain a solid financial footing. Specifically, they are asking lenders how they can raise their credit scores, reduce debt, and build their savings. That's according to the results of a financial literacy survey Wolters Kluwer Financial Services conducted with 175 banks, credit unions, and mortgage lenders.

According to a recent report by DebtX, a full-service loan sale advisor based in Boston, the aggregate value of DebtX-priced commercial real estate (CRE) loans that collateralized commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) dropped to 75.9 percent as of December 31, 2009, falling 1.8 percent from November 30, 2009.

According to Freddie Mac’s quarterly Refinance Report, 33 percent of borrowers who refinanced their loan in the fourth quarter of 2009 lowered their principal balance. This was the highest cash-in share recorded since the GSE began tracking the characteristics of refinance transactions in 1985.

Marking the first year-over-year increase since 2004, single-family home sales in Rhode Island jumped nearly 12 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, according to The Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real estate data in New England. With a total of 7,669 single-family home transactions recorded in 2009, sales were up 11.9 percent from 2008.