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Short sales up in housing market

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – Short sales out paced foreclosures in 12 states in January, market research form Realty Trac reported Friday.

The increase highlights that more homeowners are finding an easier way out of a distressed home loans with short sales, and that more lenders are embracing them.

Short sales occur when a lender agrees to a home sale for less than what is owed. In January, the number surged 33 percent year-over-year, and preliminary data suggests February numbers will also come in robust.

Lenders have become increasingly acceptable to short sales, which tend to hurt neighboring homeowners less than foreclosures. In addition, homeowners may regain eligibility for a new mortgage quicker than those who go through a foreclosure.

Foreclosure sales occur after a bank has repossessed a property, and they still outnumber short sales, but the gap is narrowing.

Data from mortgage tracker Lender Processing Services, as reported this week from Bloomberg News, revealed that short sales exceeded foreclosures in January for the very first time.

States which led in short sales include those beaten up most in the housing downturn, and include California, Arizona and Florida, and nine others.

New rules have slowed foreclosures in many states, spurring short sales, industry analysts note.

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Home prices hit a 10-year low

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Home prices dropped for the fifth consecutive month in January, reaching the lowest point since the end of 2002.

The average home sold in the first month of 2012 lost 0.8 percent of its value, compared with a month earlier, and prices were down 3.8 percent from 12 months earlier, according to the S&P Case Shiller home price index of 20 major markets report released on Tuesday.

Home prices have tumbled a whopping 34.4 percent from the peak set in July 2006.

While several economic reports have signaled a recovery for the long-ailing housing market, home prices have continued to drop, with new lows seen in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa.

Only three of the 20 index cities registered gains in January. Phoenix led with a 0.9 percent gain month-over-month, followed up Washington up 0.7 percent and Miami up 0.6 percent.

Potential homebuyers lack confidence in the market, industry analysts note. Lending standards are still tight, and last week the average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to more than 4 percent for the first time since October 2011.

Still looming in the fragile market is the massive number of potential foreclosures,

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Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Mortgage rates dipped in the week ending March 1 and hovered just above record lows set a few weeks back.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 3.90 percent from 3.95 percent. This time last year the average rate stood at 4.87 percent.

The 15-year fixed rate also inched down to 3.17 percent from 3.19 percent. A year ago it was at 4.15 percent.

While both averages are below the historic record lows set in early February, they are still well below where they were to start the year, which has helped the ailing economy.

Housing data released this week showed home prices fell 4 percent year-over-year to their lowest mark since 2002. A separate report revealed that foreclosures accounted for 23 percent of home purchases in 2011.

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Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Stocks rallied Tuesday and propelled the Dow above the psychologically important 13.000 level. It was the first time the Dow surpassed the mark since May 2008.

Buoying markets was news that eurozone finance ministers had inked a deal for a second Greek bailout. Industrials lead the broad-based rally

Chevron, Alcoa, McDonalds, Home Depot and Bank of America were among the movers. Just before noon, the Dow had given back some gains, but was still up some 35 points to 12,986.43

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the NASDAQ also advanced, led by energy, materials and consumer staples.

European shares steadied after hitting seven-month highs in the previous session.

Global markets were cheering the Greek deal that staved off what would have been a messy and chaotic default.

With little on the economic calendar for Tuesday, investors traded off the overseas news.

Commodities also enjoyed gains. Oil was up $1.54 to $104.78. Gold soared $31 to $1,756 a troy ounce, platinum jumped $40, palladium gained $15 and silver was up 55 cents.

On Wednesday, traders will be looking at mortgage applications, existing homes sales and a five-year note auction. On Thursday market participants will weigh in on jobless claims, a report on the FHFA home price index. oil inventories and Apple’s shareholder meeting. On Friday, moving markets will be a report on consumer sentiments and new home sales.

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Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

Washington DC, United States (AHN) – Average fixed mortgage rates in the United States end 2011 near all-time record lows. The 30-year fixed home loan exits the year at 3.95 percent.

According to Freddie Mac, the rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage has stayed at or below 4 percent for nine consecutive weeks. It averaged above 5 percent just twice in 2011.

For the week ending Dec. 29, the 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.95 percent, up from 3.91 percent the prior week, and below 4.86 percent in the same period a year ago.

Rates on 15-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.24 percent, up from last week’s 3.21 percent, and below 4.20 percent a year ago.

Mortgage rates hit historic lows in 2011, but did little to help the ailing housing market, which is set to close out 2011 as the worst on record for new home sales.

Tight credit, stringent credit standards, and uncertainty about the economy kept many Americans from taking advantage of the never before seen, record low, mortgage rates.

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Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – New home sales jumped in November from October. But, 2011 is still on track to end the year as the worst year for home sales in history.

On Friday, the Commerce Department said new home sales rose 1.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 315,000. The scant rise is less than half the 700,000 new homes that economists say should be sold to sustain a healthy housing market.

The number is also below the 323,000 homes sold in 2010, the worst year for sales on records dating back to 1963.

While new home sales account for just a fraction of the housing market, they do have a big impact on the economy. According to the National Association of Home Builders, each new home built creates about three jobs for a year, and generates roughly $90,000 in taxes.

Despite historic low mortgage rates, the housing markets remains depressed and is a long way from fully recovering.

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Fixed mortgage rates stay low

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage stayed near its record low for the sixth consecutive week. But, the historically low rates have done little to goose the ailing housing market.

On Thursday, mortgage giant Freddie Mac said the rate on the 30-year home loan edged down to 3.99 percent from 4 percent the previous week. It dropped to a record low of 3.94 nine weeks ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 3.27 percent from 3.30 percent. It also hit a record low nine weeks earlier when it fell to 3.26 percent.

For all of but two weeks in 2011, rates have been below 5 percent. Yet this year may turn out to be the worst for home sales in 14 years.

The record low rates have not helped homes sales. Sales of previously owned homes are just a hair ahead on last year’s figures, which were the worst in 13 years. In addition, new homes sales appear to be headed for their worst year on records dating back 50 years.

High unemployment and tight bank lending standards have made it much harder for potential home owners to qualify for loans. Also, many Americans are reluctant to pour money into homes that could lose value over the next several years.

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Housing prices drop back to 2003 levels

Linda Young – AHN News Writer

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – National home prices declined by 3.9 percent during the third quarter, which was a larger decrease than expected but still less than the 5.8 percent drop posted in the second quarter.

Many analysts had only expected a 3 percent drop in housing prices.

The 3.9 percent drop places home prices back at their first quarter 2003 level, which was still in the run-up phase to the record highs seen in 2006 before the housing bubble burst.

David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, put the situation in perspective, noting that higher house prices would require a better economy.

“Home prices drifted lower in September and the third quarter,” says Blitzer. “The National Index was down 3.9 percent versus the third quarter of 2010 and up only 0.1 percent from the previous quarter. Three cities posted new index lows in September 2011 – Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Seventeen of the 20 cities and both Composites were down for the month. Over the last year, home prices in most cities drifted lower. The plunging collapse of prices seen in 2007-2009 seems to be behind us. Any chance for a sustained recovery will probably need a stronger economy.”

The 3.9 percent drop in home prices was the national rate of decline. Another S&P Index of prices in only 20 metro markets found prices only dropped by 3.6 percent in those select areas.

If an end to the drop in housing prices depends on a stronger economy, that day is not yet in site.

Although the official unemployment rate stands at 9 percent, only 64.2 percent of working-age Americans has a job compared to 89 percent before the 2007 crash in housing prices. In addition, more than 8 million Americans are involuntarily working part-time because either their employer reduced their hours or they are unable to find full-time work, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

In the meantime, about 10.7 million Americans owe more on their home than it is worth. That’s more than one in every five mortgages, but down from the 10.9 million who were underwater in the second quarter. The decline isn’t because the other 264,000 sold their homes but rather because the banks foreclosed on those people, according to data from the New York Federal Reserve showing that number of people had a foreclosure added to their credit reports.

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Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Some 31.5 million Americans are expected to travel more than 50 miles from home over Labor Day weekend, a 2.4 percent decline from 2010, according to AAA.

High gasoline prices, high hotel room rates and high unemployment have many Americans simply say “hi” to local beaches, local parks and their own backyard.

The national average for gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon on Wednesday, a dollar more than last year. Domestic airfares are 9 percent higher this year than in 2010, averaging $320 round-trip, according to Travelocity. AAA estimated the number of leisure travelers flying this holiday weekend will drop 1.9 percent to about 2.5 million.

Flights were stalled and canceled earlier this week due to Hurricane Irene, which caused a backlog of passengers that still need to be booked .

Travelocity also reported that some hotel and room rates have come down as the weekend approaches. Bookings show that many are reluctant to leave home, so some last minute plans are still possible as bargains become available.

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Loans are approved easily when you are employed or having collateral to pawn against the financial assistance. On the other hand, loans are not possible to help you if you are an unemployed person and haven’t got co-signer or collateral to provide aligned with the loan for securing. This is because unemployment is contemplated as nuisance in financial arena. But on the arrival of personal loan without employment in current financial market, unemployment standing has been acceptable for taking financial relief. These loans are offered to the borrowers in the main two forms secured and unsecured. It means that there is no matter of disavowal of your application for the loan.

These loans are accessible in two forms so everyone is able to get finance in accordance with his her needs. Borrowers who are unemployed and have estate or home property to pledge in replace of secured personal loan without employment, they can borrow the amount ranging from £5,000 to £75,000. This approved amount is helpful for you to use for longer repayment term of 5-25 years. In addition to these, borrowers can grab low rate of interest.

As the subtitle says that unemployment is no more hassle is right. If you don’t have any property to pledge against the loan amount then it will not be any hurdle to you getting finance because unsecured personal loan without employment is specially fabricated to tenant and non-property unemployed borrowers. In addition, bad credit holders can also benefit this unsecured form of the loan. They can get the amount in ranging of £1,000 to £25,000 for the repayment period of 1 – 10 years. But a disadvantage feature with this loan is that it carries high rate of interest in comparison of other loans.

The most important thing of loans for unemployed on benefits are that any borrower doesn’t need to provide any name of the requirement for which the amount is to be availed. So you can use personal loan without employment to set up new business to get rid of unemployment, purchase home, purchase car, pay off the past due debts, pay for education costs, wedding expenses, and pay all utility bills.

About Author
Douglas Pollard is a name of prolific writer in the arena of unemployed who has dedicated his service to the unemployed persons. Loans for the unemployed, Personal Loans for Unemployed, personal loan without employment, he is working on visit http://www.personalloans4unemployed.co.uk.