Archive for January, 2010
Foreclosures increase in California
There were 84,568 California homes entering the foreclosure process in the fourth quarter of last year, a 12.4 percent increase over the same period a year earlier, according to figures compiled by real estate information company MDA DataQuick of La jolla.
However, the fourth quarter’s numbers were lower than the third quarter, MDA DataQuick notes, contending that “the worst may be over in hard-hit entry-level markets, while slowly spreading to more expensive neighborhoods.”
California’s 2009 new car sales decline steeper than nation’s
• Just over one million new vehicles were sold
• ‘The lowest sales volume in California since 1975
Registrations of new cars and light trucks last year in California declined 28.3 percent compared with 2008 — even steeper than the 21.2 percent decline in the U.S. market, the California New Car Dealers Association says Thursday.
California’s decline in sales slowed to 13.7 percent during the second half of the year, from a 39.6 percent slide during the first half of 2009 versus a year earlier.
“New car dealers in both Northern and Southern California experienced massive decreases in sales last year,” says Tom Hoffman, CNCDA chairman . “New vehicle sales in 2009 (1,038,271) were less than half the sales just four years ago (2,158,617) and represent the lowest sales volume in California since 1975.”
Bank of America Paces Release of Shadow Inventory in Nevada
Bank of America expects to release about 6,000 foreclosed properties into the Nevada housing market in 2010, about 500 a month, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. At a panel discussion sponsored by the Nevada chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, John Ciresi, VP and portfolio manager for Bank of America in Towson, Maryland, explained just how “clogged” the pipeline has become.
Throughout the country, estimates of homes being taken back by Bank of America range from 11,000 to 14,000 a month in the early part of this year to 29,000 to 35,000 by November and December.
The latest market report from First American CoreLogic puts the industry’s total shadow inventory at about 1.7 million. Studies from others, such as Amherst Securities say it’s closer to 7 million
Housing starts slip 4% in December
Capping the worst year for housing since the end of World War II, U.S. housing starts fell 4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 in December from 580,000 in November, the Commerce Department estimated.
Existing home sales plummet 16.7% in Dece
Sales of U.S. existing homes plunged 16.7% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million from 6.54 million in November as a popular tax credit was set to expire, a national real estate trade group estimated Monday.
The 16.7% percentage decline from November to December was the largest on record, the National Association of Realtors reported.
Citigroup’s Q4 $7.6 Bln loss
Citigroup Inc. posted a fourth-quarter loss of $7.6 billion, or 33 cents a share, compared to a loss of $17.24 billion, or $3.40 a share a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, excluding the $6.2 billion after-tax loss associated with TARP repayment and exiting a loss-sharing agreement, the fourth quarter net loss was $1.4 billion, or 6 cents a share, the company said. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had, on average, expected the company to lose 33 cents a share in the quarter
Distressed Sales Amount to Over 30% of the Market
Approximately 38% of existing home sales in 2009 were distressed sales and 12% were short sales, according to the National Association of Realtors
Fannie, Freddie Cost the Government $291bn in 2009
Faced with growing losses on the value of its combined $1.5trn mortgage books, government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac added $291bn in subsidy costs to the Federal deficit by mid-year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the agency tasked with recording costs incurred by the government.
That number may reach as high as $389bn over the course of this decade.
Modesto gets $25 Million for foreclosure help
The city of Modesto is getting a $25 million federal stimulus funds grant from the Housing and Urban Development Department to help communities plagued by foreclosures.
It’s the only money out of $318 million allocated to California that is going specifically to any place in the Central Valley, the epicenter of the nation’s mortgage meltdown.
