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REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-HUD: Tax Credit Can Be Used on Closing Costs

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Monthly Skinny Video for May 2009

The May 2009 Monthly Skinny Videois online now! This month's edition is narrated by our Immediate Past-President, Kevin Knudsen (aka "K-Kanood" or "K2").

YouTube version  |  High-Quality MPG version

Homes: Most affordable in 2 decades

U.S. home prices are their most affordable in 18 years, according to a report released Monday.

To be deemed affordable, a family making the median national income of $64,000 must be able to buy the property and devote no more than 28% of their income toward housing costs.

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Homes: most affordable in 20 years

U.S. home prices are their most affordable in 18 years, according to a report released Monday.  Nearly 73% of all homes sold in the United States during the first three months of 2009 were considered affordable. That was the highest percentage ever reported by the 18-year-old Housing Opportunity Index, an analysis of markets compiled quarterly by the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo Bank.
 
To be deemed affordable, a family making the median national income of $64,000 must be able to buy the property and devote no more than 28% of their income toward housing costs.  Plummeting home prices were primarily responsible for sending affordability soaring from just over 60% in last three months of 2008 to 72.5% in the first quarter of 2009. Sinking interest rates also contributed to affordability. A 30-year fixed mortgage averaged less than 5% during much of the quarter, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
 
For the 15th consecutive quarter, Indianapolis led the nation's large cities (population 500,000 and up) in home affordability. On the other end of the spectrum, only 21% of the homes sold in the New York/White Plains metro area were affordable to those earning the median income of $64,800. Even there, affordability jumped seven percentage points compared with the last three months of 2008.

Housing Supply Outlook – May 2009

The May Housing Supply Outlook is available. Lately, there appears to be a jumbo-sized problem with home sales (if you know what we mean). Here's what to watch for:

While it's certainly welcome news that home sales are up in the Twin Cities metro, there's a big caveat to keep in mind pertaining to price points. All of the growth in sales can be found in the lower price ranges where foreclosure and short sales are more common.

The largest drops in home sales can be found in the price ranges above $350,000 where higher jumbo mortgage rates are charged to borrowers.

The inventory of homes for sale is now lower than it was a year ago for every price range except homes under $120,000, where it is still up 38.1 percent from this time last year.

Home Sales Hot Streak Continues Into Spring Heat

April home sales in the Twin Cities were even stronger than March's upswing. There were 5,211 pending sales in April, up 23.8 percent from last April. This is the highest showing of signed purchase agreements in April since 2005 and the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year increases.

Of the month's pending sales, 46.0 percent were lender-mediated foreclosures and short sales—down from the last few months as more traditional properties are sold during the spring selling season but up from last year at this time.

The supply of homes for sale continues to experience sluggish growth this spring. There are currently 26,410 homes for sale in the Twin Cities, up 416 units from last month and down 18.4 percent from this time last year. The number of houses for sale for each buyer, as measured by our Supply-Demand Ratio, sits at 5.23 for May—down 28.6 percent from this time last year.

The median sales price for all properties in April of $153,000 is down 25.2 percent from a year ago. While this figure is mathematically correct, it is conceptually flawed. Since a higher share of sales this April were lender-mediated than last April, the number is skewed downward. The median April sales price of traditional homes was $205,000, down 8.5 percent from a year ago. Lender-mediated homes posted an April figure of $120,000, down 21.5 percent from a year ago.

Monthly Indicators

Weekends

Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend.

Did you know?

In the 1920s, Henry Ford turned wood scraps from the production of Model T's into charcoal briquettes.  He built a charcoal plant, which later became Kingsord Charcoal.

  

Tax Credit Can Be Used for Down Payment

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

Previously, most buyers wouldn't receive the funds until after they filed their tax return, and that deterred some people from using the credit. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has been calling for the change.

“We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a down payment,” Donovan says. His remarks came in an address to several thousand REALTORS® gathered Tuesday morning at "The Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy," at the 2009 REALTORS® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C..

He says FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.