Last call!! FHA mortgage insurance premiums go up tomorrow to 1.25%. If your buyer is going to contract today, it may not be too late to grab a case number in which the buyer’s mortgage insurance premium is .9%. It has to be pulled by 1pm PST today.
Financial Markets
It was another calm week for stock, as the Dow ended Friday up over 50pts, but down for the week by 37 pts, to 12,347. Friday’s favorable economic data counter-acted disappointing earnings from some of the big banks. Consumer Sentiment and Manufacturing reports beat expectations while Consumer Price Index (which is the primary gage for inflation) came in lower than expected.
US Bonds, and in particular, mortgage-backed securities, rallied somewhat as a result of the low Consumer Price Index number.
Local Real Estate and Economy
Dennis Smith hosted a Housing Conference this past week and dissected differences between new home sales and resale homes. A statistic that stands out is the gap in median prices. Resale median prices are now at $113,000 while New Home median prices hover near $200,000. When you drill down the statistics a little further, the gap is simply not just about price and inability to compete. The products themselves are drastically different. Resale homes market, on any given month, could have as much as 25% of the sales in condo/townhomes. The average price of a condo/townhome lowers the median price drastically, as many condos sell for $30,000-$40,000. Below is the link to the rest of the article.
