Homes are More Affordable than Ever!

The affordability of the Nation's houses has hit a record high. 77.5% of all homes that were sold in the first quarter this year were considered affordable to the families who purchased them. These families earned the national median income of $65,000 per year. However, lenders are continuing to tighten their procedures and policies, making homebuying a greater obstacle than in the past. The good news is that if you can qualify for the loan, the homes are at the most affordable prices than they have been in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, many are unable to take advantage of these prices because of new strict lending practices. We at Quest Loans want to help everyone find the right loan for them and get into the house of their dreams. We work hard to match potential homebuyers up with the right lender to get the job done! Contact us for more information on how to get started. 1-888-883-5252

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Existing-Home Sales Prices Increased 3.4%

According to the National Association of Realtors, existing-home sales have increased in the month of April, and home prices are continuing to climb. These sales rose 3.4% compared to March throughout the country. This is a good indication that the housing market is finally recovering. It is not just the investors who are buying these homes anymore, we are seeing an increase in homes being sold to actual occupants again. This is helping home sales of all prices, causing the market to become more balanced. Housing inventory rose 9.5% at the end of April, totaling out at 2.54 million existing homes that are for sale. The national median price for an existing home is $177,400, which is up 10.1% from last April. It is expected that 2013 will bring further increase in sale prices.

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Sneak Peak at the April Mortgage Monitor Report

We have a sneak peak of the "April Mortgage Monitor" report from Lender Processing Services, Inc (LPS). The report is scheduled to be released in full at the end of the month, and takes its data from more than 40 million loans. According to our sources, the report states that the total U.S. delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due but not yet in foreclosure) is at 7.12%. That figure is up 0.4% from March but it is down by 10.6% compared to last year. Currently, there are 3,522,000 delinquent mortgages on residential homes, including 1,595,000 that are more than 90 days late.

We reported on the foreclosure pre-sale in the past. Its inventory is now made up of 2,048,000 properties. Combining that with the past-due mortgages gives us a total of 5,570,000 properties that are either delinquent or in foreclosure. The states that have the highest percentages of non-current loans include Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, Illinois and New Jersey.

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BofA's Mortgage Principal Reduction

Bank of America has announced that they will be offering mortgage principal reduction to a certain 200,000 customers. The catch is, however, that if the customers do not reply to these letters that they will receive in the mail, they will not be eligible. The borrowers who qualify could get up to $150,000 deducted from the balance of their mortgages. This is part of the $25 billion settlement between federal and state agencies and the five largest mortgage lenders in the nation. These lenders were caught up in a scandal involving fradulent foreclosure document processing that qualified homebuyers that were not actually qualified. We reported on this a couple months ago.

Bank of America, state attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice have committed $11 billion towards this mortgage principal reduction. If enough borrowers respond to the offer, they may go beyond the $11 billion. There has already been $700 million in principal reduction given to a total of 5,000 borrowers through a pilot program.

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US Weekly Jobless Claims Fall 1K to 367K

This week, the number of requests for unemployment benefits decreased by 1,000 applications filed. According to the US Labor Department, there are 367,000 Americans who have filed a claim. About 6.4 million people have received benefits from either the state or the federal government in the week ended April 21. As a result of these figures, stocks will open higher.

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Rates Are Still Falling

Freddie Mac reports that the average rate on a 30-year fixed rate conventional mortgage fell to another record low of 3.83% and the 15-year fixed rate conventional mortgage fell to 3.05% in the latest week and can be obtained when paying a 0.7 point.

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New Record Low Rates

New Record Low Rates! The average fixed mortgage rate found new record lows, as the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.84 percent, down from last week when it averaged 3.88 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed rate averaged 4.71 percent. The 15-year fixed rate mortgage this week averaged 3.07 percent, down from last week when it averaged 3.12 percent. A year ago around this time, the 15 year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.89 percent.

"Signs of slowing economic growth and inflation remaining subdued allowed yields on Treasury bonds to ease somewhat and brought most mortgage rates to new all-time record lows this week," said Frank Nothaft, the vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac. "Real Gross Domestic Product rose at an annualized rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, down from the previous quarter of 3.0 percent and below the market consensus forecast of 2.5 percent. In addition, the 12-month growth in the core price index of personal consumption expenditures was 2.0 percent in March which matches the Federal Reserve's implied inflation target."

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ADP Employment Report

Employment Change according to ADP declined substantially the past month. This mornings ADP reported that private employment rose by 119k from March to April. Market expectation was that it would be over 183k. ADP employment doesn’t mirror NFP very closely, so this report should have a limited impact on the markets. But this is a weak number. Tomorrow’s economic data includes weekly initial jobless claims as well as the ISM Non-manufacturing index. We still don’t expect to see a lot of market movement until Friday’s employment report is out. In the meantime, rates will continue to sit around all time lows...

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