Real estate market recap, June 8-12

Here’s what happened this week in the real estate market:

Fannie Mae released results from its May 2015 National Housing Survey:

• 12-month average home price change expectation remained at 2.8 percent.
• Respondents who said home prices will rise in the next 12 months comprised 49 percent of the total.
• Respondents who said home prices will fall comprised 6 percent of the total.
• Respondents who said mortgage rates will rise in the next 12 months comprised 47 percent of the total.

• 66 percent of respondents said it’s a good time to buy a house.
• 49 percent of respondents said it’s a good time to sell a house.
• Respondents who think it would be easy to get a home mortgage comprised 50 percent of the total.
• Respondents who think it would be difficult to get a home mortgage comprised 46 percent of the total.
• Respondents who said they would buy if they were to move comprised 66 percent of the total.
• Respondents who said they would rent if they were to move comprised 27 percent of the total.
• The average price change of a 12-month rental was 4.3 percent.
• Respondents who expect home rental prices to rise comprised 55 percent.

• Respondents who said the economy is on the right track comprised 38 percent.
• Respondents who said the economy is on the wrong track comprised 52 percent.
• 12 percent of respondents said they expect their personal financial situation to get worse during the next year.
• 28 percent of respondents said their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago.
• 31 percent of respondents said their household expenses are significantly higher than they were 12 months ago.

New research from Bankrate.com ranked the best and worst places to retire in the U.S.:

Best:

1. Phoenix metro area (including Mesa and Scottsdale)
2. Arlington/Alexandria, Virginia
3. Prescott, Arizona
4. Tucson, Arizona
5. Des Moines, Iowa
6. Denver (including Aurora)
7. Austin, Texas (including Round Rock)
8. Cape Coral, Florida (including Ft. Myers)
9. Colorado Springs, Colorado
10. Franklin, Tennessee

Worst:

1. New York City
2. Little Rock, Arkansas (including North Little Rock and Conway)
3. New Haven, Connecticut (including Milford, Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford)
4. Buffalo, New York (including Rochester, Niagara Falls and Cheektowaga)
5. Newark, New Jersey
6. Albany, New York (including Troy and Schenectady)
7. Hartford, Connecticut (including East and West Hartford)
8. Oakland, California
9. Indianapolis
10. Cleveland

Black Knight Financial Services’ Mortgage Monitor Report:

• Approximately 952,000 borrowers have mortgages that are 90 or more days past due, but not yet in foreclosure.
• 62 percent of these borrowers are in some form of a home retention program (such as loan modification and repayment plans).
• For those in active foreclosure, 53 percent of borrowers are in a home retention program.
• About 70 percent of all new trial modifications and repayment plans have been through one or more home retention actions in the past.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported:

• 264,000 apartment units were completed in 2014.
• 36 percent of those — 96,000 units — were smaller than 1,000 square feet. The median unit size was 1,080 square feet.
• One-bedroom apartments comprised 42 percent of all units. Two-bedroom apartments comprised 41 percent.

CoreLogic released its April 2015 National Foreclosure Report:

• Foreclosure inventory declined by 24.9 percent year over year from April 2014 (approximately 694,000 homes) to April 2015 (approximately 521,000 homes).
• Foreclosure inventory declined by 2.2 percent month over month from March 2014 to April 2015.

• Completed foreclosures declined by 19.8 percent year over year from April 2014 (approximately 50,000 completed foreclosures) to April 2015 (approximately 40,000 completed foreclosures).
• Completed foreclosures decreased by 1.1 percent month over month from March 2015 to April 2015.

• Mortgages in serious delinquency (90 days or more past due) declined by 22.1 percent from April 2014 to April 2015 — the lowest serious delinquency rate since February 2008.
• Florida, Michigan, Texas, Ohio and Georgia had the most completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in April 2015. Foreclosures in these five states comprised almost half of all foreclosures in the U.S.
• South Dakota, the District of Columbia, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming had the lowest number of completed foreclosures.
• New Jersey, New York, Florida, Hawaii and the District of Columbia had the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes.
• Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, Colorado and Minnesota had the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes.

Quicken Loans released its monthly Home Price Perception Index (HPPI) and Home Value Index (HVI):

• Appraisers valued homes at 1.15 percent less than homeowner estimates in May 2015 — up from a 0.69 percent gap between appraiser opinions and homeowner estimates in April 2015.
• Home values increased 0.24 percent in May 2015 from the previous month.
• Home values increased 4.64 percent in May 2015 from a year earlier.

The MacArthur Foundation How Housing Matters 2015 survey was released today:

• 61 percent of Americans believe we are either “still in the middle” of the housing crisis (41 percent) or that “the worst is yet to come” (20 percent).
• 54 percent of respondents said they had to make at least one sacrifice or tradeoff in the past three years to cover rent or mortgage financial responsibilities.
• 21 percent of Americans took on an additional job or worked more to make mortgage or rent payments, and 17 percent stopped saving for retirement.
• 73 percent of renters made sacrifices or tradeoffs; 67 percent of millennials and 64 percent of city dwellers also made sacrifices or tradeoffs.
• 79 percent of Americans said it’s more likely for middle-class people to fall into a lower economic class than for lower economic classes to rise into the middle class. This belief persists across political party, age and income.

Zillow Mortgages released its weekly update:

• The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 3.96 percent.
• The 15-year fixed mortgage rate is 3.09 percent.
• The rate for a 5-1 adjustable rate mortgage is 3.01 percent.

Coldwell Banker home seller survey results:

• Since 2006, the number of sellers who accepted an offer based on emotion rather than money alone rose to 36 percent.
• 28 percent of sellers sold their homes in less than two weeks.
• 47 percent of sellers are receiving multiple offers.
• 27 percent of sellers are receiving offers above asking price.
• 46 percent of sellers take the first offer.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly Mortgage Applications Survey showed:

• There was an 8.4 percent spike in mortgage applications this week.
• Purchase activity is up more than 6 percent, and refinance activity is down 5 percent.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.17 percent, its highest level since November 2014, from 4.02 percent.
• Those 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration increased to 3.9 percent, also the highest level since November 2014, from 3.77 percent.
• The average rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.37 percent, its highest level since November 2014, from 3.27 percent.
• The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate jumbo loans (greater than $417,000) also saw an increase. Those rates rose to 4.15 percent, their highest level since October 2014, from 4.01 percent.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey for May 2015 showed:

• Mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased 9 percent month over month in May 2015 from April 2015.
• Conventional loans comprised 67.4 percent of loan applications.
• FHA loans comprised 19.1 percent of loan applications.
• RHS/USDA loans comprised 1.2 percent of loan applications.
• VA loans comprised 12.3 percent of loan applications.
• The average loan size of new homes increased from $315,670 in April 2015 to $320,744 in May 2015.

RealtyTrac’s “zombie” foreclosure report showed:

• The number of owner-vacated “zombie” foreclosures at the end of the second quarter stood at 127,021, representing a 10 percent decline in volume compared to the second quarter of 2014.
• Zombie foreclosures account for roughly 1 in 5 properties in foreclosure nationally.
• The estimated market value of an owner-vacated foreclosure is nearly $196,000, 22 percent below the average estimated market value of an owner-occupied foreclosure.
• During the second quarter, the number of zombies decreased by 28 percent in Chicago and 46 percent in Miami — the largest decrease of any metro.
• Of the nation’s top 20 cities, 10 saw a decline in zombie volume in comparison to the second quarter of 2014. Dallas (27 percent decline), Atlanta (33 percent decline) and Phoenix (14 percent decline) represent some of these cities.
• On the flip side, 10 major metros saw a rise in zombie volume — led by San Diego/Carlsbad, a 292 percent increase, and Southern California’s Inland Empire, a 165 percent spike.
• Out of the 183 metro areas RealtyTrac covers, 91 reported an increase in zombie volume.
• The highest zombie rates among these 183 areas were found in Atlantic City, New Jersey (1 in 130 housing units); Trenton, New Jersey (1 in 166 housing units); Tampa, Florida (1 in 218 housing units); Binghamton, New York (1 in every 260 housing units); and Ocala, Florida (1 in every 262 housing units).

Bankrate’s updated mortgage rates:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgage: 4.15 percent
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgage: 3.39 percent
• 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage: 3.24 percent
• 30-year jumbo mortgage: 4.17 percent