President Obama and his administration are floating an idea to prohibit lenders from foreclosing on a home unless the borrower has been considered for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The proposal would also halt any foreclosures already in process once a borrower has been accepted into the trial phase of the program. A Treasury spokesperson confirmed that a foreclosure ban is under consideration, but stressed that it is one of many ideas on the table and has not been approved yet.
Existing-home sales fell 7.2 percent from December to January but were still above year-ago levels, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Friday. NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun said the monthly decline was discouraging and raises concern about the strength of a recovery. NAR's analysis shows there are currently 3.27 million existing homes available for sale. At the current sales pace, this represents a 7.8-month supply of backlogged homes.
In an announcement Friday, Freddie Mac said effective September 1, 2010, it will no longer buy or securitize interest-only mortgages, including initial interest fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages. The GSE reported earlier in the week that interest-only and Alt-A loans collectively accounted for 44 percent of its credit losses in 2009.
According to a recent article written by Andrew Jakabovics, an associate director for housing and economics at the Center for American Progress, the Federal Housing Finance Administration's (FHFA) house price index (HPI) is a reminder that local markets behave differently over time, which strongly affects both lenders' and insurers' profitability, or lack thereof.
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