Urban Institute: Foreclosure backlog to ‘take decades to complete’

January 2, 2012

The number of seriously delinquent mortgages in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas slowed this year, according to a new study from the Urban Institute. But foreclosures remain a burden on the housing market, prompting the policy research group to call for a resolution to the housing crisis to ensure the foreclosure backlog is cleared out in [...]

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Equator saw 1.17 million short sales initiated

January 2, 2012

Default servicing technology company Equator says nearly 1.2 million short sales were initiated through its module over the past two years. The company tracks this data through its default servicing platform, which helps mortgage industry clients deal with loan modifications, short sales, deeds-in-lieu, foreclosure processing and REOs. Los Angeles-based Equator said Wednesday that more than $150 billion [...]

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Foreign homebuyers jumping on depressed US housing markets

December 15, 2011

Foreigners looking to purchase homes in the U.S. are increasing their online search activity for bargains, as sliding home prices continue to attract investors from around the globe — especially Canada. Florida properties remained the lead attraction for foreign investment in the third quarter, followed by Arizona, Nevada and California, according to traffic on the [...]

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California ranks No. 1 for mortgage fraud

December 15, 2011

California ranks first in home loan fraud, with the state seeing as much as $204.2 million in losses on deceptive mortgage activity. That’s according to a new report from MortgageDaily, which found that lenders victimized by fraud faced inflated appraisals and fraudulent documentation. California was followed by New York, which experienced $199.6 million in losses [...]

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House Flipping Led to Deeper Housing Collapse

December 13, 2011

A new report from researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York focuses on the sharp run-up and subsequent collapse in housing prices during the 2000s. It concludes that real estate investors who used mortgage credit to purchase multiple residential properties with the intent of flipping, or reselling them within a short period of time, played [...]

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Investor buying spurred by demand for rentals

November 28, 2011

Investors looking for yield are acquiring more low-priced homes to fill growing rental demand, according to the latest HousingPulse Tracking Survey from Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance. The survey shows that investors now dominate discount housing markets, and that first-time homebuyers are fading in favor of short-term living arrangements. In fact, 61.6% of properties purchased by investors [...]

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Hotel foreclosures an oncoming ‘train wreck’

November 28, 2011

The CEO of Prism Hotels & Resorts says comparing the last two years of hotel distress to what’s coming is like comparing “a car wreck and a train wreck.” He doesn’t see any other way to avoid the oncoming flood of CMBS maturities that originated in 2007, at the absolute pinnacle of the lodging industry, [...]

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Fannie Mae reports 3Q loss of $5.1 billion, asks for $7.8 billion

November 9, 2011

Fannie Mae reported a loss of nearly $5.1 billion for the third quarter and asked the federal government for another $7.8 billion.  - Wow !!!  I guess we get to bail out again, while they got huge bonuses… The mortgage finance giant said the loss for the three months ended Sept. 30 includes $4.9 billion of [...]

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Freddie could take 15 years to unload REO

November 3, 2011

Freddie Mac vendors sold fewer REO properties in the third quarter than they did earlier in the year as nonperforming loans continue to climb. More than 25,300 repossessed homes held by Freddie Mac sold in the third quarter, down 13.5% from the nearly 30,000 in the previous three months. It was also a 17% decline from [...]

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REO sales may not peak until 2013

October 19, 2011

The sale of properties repossessed through foreclosure may not peak until 2013, keeping home prices from a meaningful recovery for some time, analysts estimated Monday. Nearly half of the more than 552,000 REO properties liquidated in the first half of 2011 were held by private banks. In the years ahead, the government — including theDepartment [...]

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