While the 30-year fixed mortgage rate held at 6.16 percent this week, Freddie Mac reports a dip in the 15-year fixed rate to 5.86 percent from 5.9 percent a week ago.

The five-year adjustable rate fell to 5.88 percent from 5.91 percent, but the one-year ARM climbed slightly to 5.43 percent from 5.4 percent.

Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft says he does not expect the housing market to recover in the near future, citing conflicting reports about home sales. Nothaft points out that the annual pace of home resales hit a nearly one-year high of 6.69 million units in February, while the annual pace of new-home sales fell to a nearly seven-year low of 848,000 during the same month.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (03/30/07)

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Foreclosure is plaguing home owners in some of the wealthiest counties in the nation.

Homes sold on the auction block this month for as much as $852,000, more than four times the median home price in the United States, and auction officials believe that even higher-priced foreclosures are in the pipeline.

“Because of the financing that was possible, so many people bought the bigger house, the million-dollar house with the bowling alley or the tennis court outside,” says Deborah Guzek, who works for a nonprofit credit counseling service in Farmington Hills, Mich.
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CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez said his administration plans to create “collective property” as part of a sweeping movement toward socialism, and that officials would move to seize control of large ranches and redistribute lands deemed “idle.”

The Venezuelan leader, speaking Sunday night on his television and radio program Hello President, said the government was “advancing quickly” with a concept of “social, or collective, property” to be included in forthcoming constitutional changes.

“It’s property that belongs to everyone and it’s going to benefit everyone,” said Chavez.

Venezuela’s government already helps organize and finance thousands of cooperatives, but the state does not have full ownership of the real estate or infrastructure used by most co-ops.

Chavez said his government planned to seize control of large ranches and farms spanning more than 740,000 acres and redistribute “idle” lands to the poor under a nationwide agrarian reform. Read more

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Reports on the sales of both new and existing homes were released on Friday, March 23 and Monday, March 26 and they pointed in distinctly opposite directions.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released figures showing an unexpected surge in existing home sales for February on the heels of a strong January. NAR said that this was the highest level of sales since last April. On the other hand the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development had less upbeat news in its report on new home sales for February.

The NAR report showed an increase in total existing home sales including single family residences, townhouses, condos, and coops. Sales rose 3.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for an annual rate of 6.69 million units from a downwardly revised January figure of 6.44 million units. In spite of the increase which was the biggest monthly jump since March 2004, February’s preliminary figures were still 3.6 percent below figures for the same month in 2006. Sales were strongest in the Northeast, up 14.2 percent over January. This was the only region posting a gain over February, 2006, up 3.4 percent. Read more

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Demand for mortgages fell slightly last week compared to the previous one with the Market Composite Index decreasing 0.2 percent from 672.1.

But on an unadjusted basis compared with the same week one year ago, applications were up 16.6 percent.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 45.1 percent of total applications from 45.3 percent the previous week.

The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.04 percent from 6.06 percent.

The average interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.77 from 5.79 percent. Read more

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Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin told state lawmakers during a Joint Committee on Housing hearing that courts should handle foreclosure cases as a means of safeguarding victims of predatory lending.
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