Housing starts rose 1.5 percent in January from December, led by a surge in apartment construction, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Housing starts in January reached a seasonally annual rate of 699,000 units, reaching its highest level since October 2008.

The main reason for the January increase was due to a 14.4 percent rise in groundbreaking on rental properties or buildings with five units or more.

However, while multifamily units saw a rise in January, the construction of single-family homes had a modest drop of 1 percent for the month. The January decrease follows a strong 12 percent gain in single-family construction in December.

While single-family home construction has made strides over the last few months, construction still remains low and is at about half the rate that is considered healthy for the sector.

Still, more builders are feeling encouraged about the signs of a gradual recovery in the new-home market. Building permits in January, a future gauge to construction, ticked up 0.7 percent. Also, a recent index showed that builder sentiment was at its highest level in nearly five years.

Daily Real Estate News | Friday, February 17, 2012

Portland ranked 13th in the U.S. for home price appreciation in the latest take on the U.S. residential market.

Truckee, California-based Clear Capital, a real estate research firm, ranked Portland at No. 13 for an 0.6 point increase in its January home price index compared to the prior quarter.Birmingham, Ala., led the nation, followed by Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; Denver and Orlando. Portland was sandwiched between Rochester, N.Y., and Sacramento, Calif.

The Portland price index for January fell 2.6 percent compared to one year ago, a potential hint of things to come. The Regional Multiple Listing Service will release its report on Portland area home sales for January later this month.

The most recent RMLS figures pegged the average price of a home sold in December at $260,800, down 6.2 percent compared to a year ago.

Clear Capital attributed a national decline of 2.6 percentage points to a loss of momentum in the Midwest, where the home price indices fell 5.2 percent compared to the prior year. In contrast, the Northeast index fell 0.1 percent, the Southern index fell 1.8 percent and the Western index fell 3.5 percent.

Portland Business Journal Monday, February 6, 2012, 9:49am PST

Today, Soldera Properties, Inc .announces its commitment to marketplace ethics by earning an A- rating with Better Business Bureau. As a BBB Accredited Business, Soldera Properties, Inc. has met BBB’s Code of Business Practices and has agreed to maintain honest and reliable business practices.

“Better Business Bureau sets and upholds the highest standards of ethics in business,” said Robert W.G. Andrew, CEO of BBB serving Alaska, Oregon, and Western Washington. “BBB rates both BBB Accredited and non accredited businesses on a letter grade rating scale of “A – F” to help consumers make educated decisions before they do business.”

For More Information Contact:
Soldera Properties, Inc.
15573 SW Bangy Rd Ste 300
503-334-1515
info@solderaproperties.com
www.solderaproperties.com

Fannie Mae says it will be providing more mortgage aid to the unemployed, possibly extending the forbearance period to up to a year to those who qualify.

Starting on March 1, Fannie Mae will require mortgage servicers to extend the forbearance relief to qualified unemployed borrowers for six months — without any approval needed from Fannie Mae. The government-sponsored enterprise also says special consideration will be made for some borrowers in suspending mortgage payments or reducing them for up to a 12-month period.

Fannie’s announcement follows on the heels of Freddie Mac’s announcement earlier this week about similar changes to its mortgage relief program for the unemployed. Freddie Mac announced it will begin offering a 12-month forbearance period to qualified unemployed borrowers starting on Feb. 1.

To qualify, mortgage servicers will determine if the “borrower has less than 12 months worth of mortgage payments in reserves and has monthly housing expenses above 31 percent of their incomes before extending a forbearance plan,” HousingWire reports.

During the third quarter of 2011, the GSEs issued more than 7,000 forbearance plans, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Source: “Fannie Mae Unveils new Forbearance Program for Unemployed,” HousingWire (Jan. 11, 2012)

Natural disasters from tornados, hail, winds, and floods caused widespread damage throughout the country in 2011, and more home owners may soon see their homeowner’s insurance premiums rise because of it.

The insurance industry has faced heavy losses in recent years from natural disaster, and insurers may be forced to raise costs of premiums, particularly in the Southeast and Midwest, Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, warns.

“We’ve had record losses for four straight years,” Hartwig told USA Today. “My sense is that premiums will probably rise 4 percent to 5 percent.”

The average annual cost of homeowner’s insurance in 2008 was $791 and increased to $807 in 2010, according to data by the Insurance Information Institute. Hartwig told USA Today that he predicts the average premium for 2011 will be about $840.

Source: “Home Insurance Rates Likely to Go Higher,” USA Today (Jan. 4, 2012)

Foreclosure filings posted a 33 percent drop in 2011, falling to their lowest levels since 2007, RealtyTrac reports.

During 2011, one in every 69 homes received a foreclosure filing and 804,000 homes were repossessed — compared to 1.05 million homes that were repossessed during the foreclosure crisis peak in 2010, according to RealtyTrac.

So is the worst finally over for the housing market?

Not yet, analysts say. Banks took more time to process foreclosures last year, which explains some of the declines, housing analysts note. In fact, the average process time for a foreclosure rose to 348 days in the fourth quarter, up from 305 days one year prior.

RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore says that while he expects foreclosures to increase in 2012, he also expects foreclosures to stay well below the 2010 peak. Refinancing programs, such as the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, are helping more borrowers lower their payments and avoid foreclosure, Moore says.

Still, the biggest problems with foreclosures remains centered in certain areas, particularly where investors helped drive up home prices during the housing boom. For example, Nevada remains the No. 1 foreclosure hot-spot, in which one out of every 16 households received some kind of default notice during 2011. Arizona and California also are continuing to face some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country too, according to RealtyTrac data.

Source: “Foreclosures Fall to Lowest Level Since 2007,” CNNMoney (Jan. 12, 2012)

Borrowers who have a history of paying rent on time may see a boost to their credit score.

Experian, a leading credit report company, added a section to its credit reports last year that reflected on-time rent payments, which helped give a boost in the credit scores to some on-time rent payers. Now the two other major credit reporting companies are following suit.

CoreLogic and FICO recently announced they are also adding a score that reflects payment histories from landlords, The New York Times reports.

“Evidence of positive rental payments could be a plus for consumers,” Joanne Gaskin, FICO’s director of product management global scoring, told The New York Times.

Nearly half of high-risk consumers saw an increase of 100 points or more after their rental history was added to their credit report, says Brannan Johnston, the managing director of Experian’s rent bureau. Consumers with average or higher credit scores, on the other hand, did not see any major difference to their scores.

For former home owners who lost their homes to foreclosure, they may be able to rebuild their credit histories more quickly now by showing they are “very responsible renters,” Tim Grace, senior vice president of CoreLogic, told The New York Times.

Source: “A Good Rental History Can Help Borrowers,” The New York Times (Jan. 5, 2012)

Mortgage applications for purchase — a gauge of future home buying — increased 8.1 percent last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports. The purchase index on an unadjusted basis now stands at 41.9 percent higher than last year, signaling more people taking out loans to buy homes.

More home owners are also taking advantage of low interest rates. Refinance activity last week also increased, inching up 3.3 percent from a week earlier. Overall, mortgage applications were up 4.5 percent last week.

For the fifth consecutive week, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have averaged at historical lows below 4 percent, Freddie Mac reported last week. For the week ending Jan. 5, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.91 percent, with an average 0.8 point, matching the previous record low set a few weeks ago.

HousingWire (Jan. 11, 2012)

Hey, baby boomers! Pondering what gift to get your kid who’s all grown up? For many of your peers, the answer is a house.

One in five baby boomer couples have already given at least one of their children the means to purchase a home — either buying it outright, furnishing the down payment or co-signing the loan, according to a survey from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. And more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents said they expect to provide financial support to their children or grandchildren in the future to help them afford homeownership.

Many real estate agents around the country have observed this trend gain steam since the housing bust began.  “Parents want to see their kids in a stable living situation,” said Chayah Masters, a Coldwell Banker Residential agent in Los Angeles. “Plus, property values have come way down. Why not help the kids while they are so low?”

The typical U.S. home now costs about the same as it did back in 2003. In some markets, like Phoenix, Orlando and Las Vegas, prices haven’t been this reasonable since the late 1990s. And low interest rates make homebuying an even more affordable investment.

In New York City, according to real estate agent Chazz Levi, many foreign nationals are buying apartments for kids going to college in town. “I think it’s a smart thing to do right now,” she said.

Why Kids Need Help

Some of the kids have good jobs and enough income to afford a home on their own except for one thing: too little cash.

Cash is king right now. Cash buyers get the best deals on homes like bank-owned foreclosed properties or short sales. Even ordinary sellers prefer it because sales are more likely to go through and close quickly. Buyers also need a nice bundle to fund 20% down payments so they can get favorable mortgages. For a median priced home — about $160,000 right now — that comes to $32,000 up front. Many young people just don’t have that much saved.

One such buyer was a client of Brooklyn-based real estate agent Nick Ferrone. The buyer got a $175,000 cash infusion from his folks. That covered his down payment and enabled him to land a bargain interest rate of just over 4%.

Many young people in this hardscrabble economy also face trouble getting a mortgage approved because they have the wrong kind of income. They cobble together earnings from freelance and part-time jobs but those income sources may be too unpredictable for lenders. Underwriters prefer steady paychecks from employers.

Pitfalls

While it can be a good thing for all involved when parents help their kids get homes, it can also get complicated.

The first question parents should consider is how much help they can realistically provide, said Ted Beck, CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education, a Denver, Colo.-based nonprofit. “Sit down and figure out what you can really afford to do,” he said. “You should never put your own budget or your retirement plans at risk.”

Just as important is determining just what the child can afford once mom and dad set them on the path to homeownership. If the parents just want to help with a down payment or co-sign the loan, will the kids be able to afford the monthly bills?

Follow the old rule of thumb that the child’s housing costs should not exceed 28% of gross income, said Beck. When other debt like students loans are factored in, the total shouldn’t exceed 36% of their income.
Also keep in mind that there are many additional costs new homeowners have to expect. Sooner or later roofs have to be replaced, plumbing repaired and heating systems updated. New York (CNNMoney)

Now here’s something to brag about Lake Oswego: the tony Portland suburb leads Oregon in total brainpower, based on a formula devised by the Business Journals’ On Numbers blog.

On Numbers rated local brainpower by using raw 2009 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey. Each place’s score was based on its percentage of adults (25 or older) at each level of a five-rung educational ladder:

• Dropped out before high school graduation
• Stopped at high school diploma
• Stopped at associate degree or attended college but stopped without any degree
• Stopped at bachelor’s degree
• Earned graduate degree and, or professional degree

The point value of a specific rung was determined by the relative earning power of people at that level, based on Census Bureau research.

Nearly 67 percent of Lake Oswego residents 25 and older have earned a diploma, while the comparable national figure is just 27.5 percent. More than 28 percent of Lake Oswego residents have earned post-graduate degrees of some sort.

The Business Journal system gives Lake Oswego a brainpower index of 25.883, putting it 341st out of 14,214 places nationwide.

West Haven-Sylvan came in second in Oregon at 23.470, ranking it No. 482. Third was Cedar Mill at 23.049 ranking it at No. 511.

Portland Business Journal by Erik Siemers, November 18, 2011, 2:50pm PST