Christina Lazrak Chelmsford Realtor - Real Estate News you can use!

News that may help Chelmsford, Lowell, MA Home buyers from Christina Lazrak

Sunset over Waikiki !

Real Estate Sentiment

Nearly half of consumers polled in Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey in March expect higher rental prices in the year ahead. And 33% expect home prices to rise in the year, the highest percentage recorded in more than a year. Forty-four percent think their personal finances will get better over the next year.

As a result, 73% of the 1,000 Americans polled think it’s a good time to buy a home. More from Marketwatch.

Ron Peltier, the executive building Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A)’s real-estate brokerage by acquisitions, said he expects a rebound in U.S. home sales as banks liquidate seized properties after settling foreclosure-misconduct claims. From Bloomberg

Home Loans

Potential buyers in the Chelmsford, Lowell, Tewksbury, MA area, please contact me if you need assistance on your FICO scores.  Home loans closed by banks and mortgage lenders in February had borrowers with a credit score of 750, up from 740 six months earlier, and an average loan-to-value ratio of 76%. The average denied loan had a credit score of 699 and a loan-to-value ratio of 83%. Story from WSJ

Home Builders

KB Home (KBH) slashes its quarterly dividend to $0.025/share from $0.0625. This cuts the yield on the stock from nearly 3% to 1.2%. 

Foreclosures

The number of foreclosure filings in the USA is continuing to fall, dropping 16% year-on-year in Q1 according the latest numbers from market monitoring service RealtyTrac. “There are hairline cracks in the dam, evident in the sizable foreclosure activity increases in judicial foreclosure states over the past several months, along with an increase in foreclosure starts in many judicial and non-judicial states in March.”

“The dam may not burst in the next 30 to 45 days, but it will eventually burst, and everyone downstream should be prepared for that to happen—both in terms of new foreclosure activity and new short sale activity.” The five states posting the largest monthly increases in foreclosure starts are:

1. Nevada: Up 153%

2. Utah: Up 103%

3. New Jersey: Up 73%

4. Maryland: Up 53%

5. North Carolina: Up 47%