Housing Wire

Swiss Re Prepares to Issue Cat Bond: S&P

DIANA GOLOBAY — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:12:57 +0000

The market for investments in catastrophe insurance-related bonds looks ready to swell in 2010, with news this week of the first such issuance under a new program. Bonding the risk of damage to homes in relation to natural disasters is becoming increasingly relevant as the rehab of affected houses becomes more expensive in areas hard-hit by [...]

NAR Projects Home Sales to Rise 13.6% in 2010

AUSTIN KILGORE — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:02:30 +0000

Existing home sales will increase 13.6% in 2010, with 5.69m houses sold during the year, according to National Association of Realtors (NAR) projections. NAR also projects as many as 2.4m first-time homebuyers took advantage of the $8,000 tax credit in 2008. First-time buyers accounted for 47% of home sales in 2009, up from 41% in 2008 [...]

Calif. Foreclosures Up 22% in October: ForeclosureRadar

AUSTIN KILGORE — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:47:46 +0000

Foreclosure repossessions in California increased 22.24% from September to October, according to data released by ForeclosureRadar.com. Last month’s foreclosures increased 20.95% from October 2008. October’s foreclosures were 42.56% below California’s peak month of July 2008, but since then, the inventory of real estate owned (REO) properties has grown 131.36% in California. “While we continue to see a [...]

Law Lets Home Builders Recoup Losses with More Back Taxes

JON PRIOR — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:03:17 +0000

President Obama didn’t just extend the the homebuyer tax credit’s deadline when he signed the Worker, Homeownership and Business Act of 2009. He extended the credit to repeat buyers and also allowed corporations to recoup certain losses through back taxes. A report Friday from John Burns Real Estate Consulting advised builders and lenders to staff for [...]

Carlton Group Readies $494m REO for Auction

JON PRIOR — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:38:07 +0000

The Carlton Group will conduct a sealed bid loan and REO sale of $350m worth of properties for an unnamed financial institution, according to Carlton chairman Howard Michaels. The pool includes prime residential land lots, luxury waterfront and residential development parcels, hospitality, office, industrial and retail assets. Most of the properties, 70%, are located in Florida. [...]

Fannie Awards Preservation Rights Ahead of ARM ‘Onslaught’: AMS

DIANA GOLOBAY — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:04:48 +0000

Asset Management Specialists (AMS) was recently awarded a contract to begin providing property preservation services on a number of real estate owned (REO) properties for mortgage giant Fannie Mae (FNM: 1.00 -1.96%). Fannie awarded AMS property preservation rights on its properties in 10 states, AMS chief procurement officer Greg Harrison tells HousingWire. The contract was signed [...]

Google and Mortech Soft Launch Mortgage Pricing Tool

AUSTIN KILGORE — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:30:56 +0000

Mortgage pricing software developer Mortech is moving forward with its plans to provide technology to a new mortgage-pricing feature on Google (GOOG: 572.05 +0.74%). The “Adwords Comparison Ads” device is a test product Google is developing. The targeted ad product can be adapted for a variety of search terms, but currently is in limited release to [...]

FDIC Says Mortgages Retain Risk-Weight After HAMP

JON PRIOR — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:20:06 +0000

The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies issued a final rule that mortgage loans modified under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) retain the risk weight appropriate to the loan before modification. Under HAMP, the US Treasury Department allocates funds to participating servicers for the modification of loans on the verge of foreclosure. The final rule (available [...]

IRIS Updates Valuation Software

AUSTIN KILGORE — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:52:50 +0000

Innovative Real Estate Investment Services (IRIS) Value, a valuation services provider, released an update to its Web-based software system. The software automates the enforcement of compliance rules during the broker price opinion (BPO) submission process and provides an automated BPO system. “The system automation significantly increases quality while also reducing our operating costs. These savings are passed [...]

FDIC Asks Banks for $45Bn of Prepaid Assessments

DIANA GOLOBAY — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:40:23 +0000

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s (FDIC) board of directors voted Thursday to require insured institutions to prepay quarterly insurance assessments for slightly more than three years. FDIC expects to collect around $45bn in prepaid assessments, which will strengthen the cash position of the Deposit Insurance Fund at a time when weekly bank failures take substantial hits [...]