In the fourth quarter of 2011, 85 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either maintained about the same loan amount or lowered their principal balance by paying-in additional money at the closing table, a 26-year high, according to Freddie Mac. Of these borrowers, 37 percent maintained about the same loan amount, and 49 percent of refinancing homeowners reduced their principal balance; this latter percentage reflecting “cash-in” borrowers was the highest in the 26-year history of the analysis.
“Cash-out” borrowers, those that increased their loan balance by at least five percent, represented 15 percent of all refinance loans, the lowest percentage in the 26 years of analysis; the average cash-out share during the 1985 to 2010 period was 46 percent.
The median interest rate reduction for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was about 1.4 percentage points, or a savings of about 26 percent in interest rate.
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California saw the third-lowest yearly housing permit total and the worst yearly total on record for single-family units in 2011, according to the California Building Industry Association (CBIA).
CBIA said a total of 47,015 permits were issued statewide last year for new homes, apartments, condominiums, and townhomes, up 5 percent from 2010 when 44,762 permits had been issued. The 2011 total still was down 28 percent from 2008, which had held the distinction of the third-lowest total on record with 64,962 permits issued. Records began being kept in 1954 with the lowest yearly total set in 2009 with 36,421 permits issued.
According to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), homebuilders pulled permits for a record-low 21,420 single-family homes in 2011, down 16 percent from 2010. Multifamily permits totaled 25,595, up 33 percent from the previous year.
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The San Francisco Chronicle
Banks may seize more than 1 million U.S. homes this year after legal scrutiny of their foreclosure practices slowed actions against delinquent property owners in 2011, RealtyTrac said.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/12/BUPF1MOFAU.DTL
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Dept. of Commerce announced yesterday that construction spending during November 2011 increased 1.2 percent to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $807.1 billion compared with October. The November figure is 0.5 percent above the November 2010 estimate of $803 billion.
During the first 11 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $724.8 billion, 2.5 percent below the $743.6 billion for the same period in 2010.
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The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index improved to 64.5 (1985=100) in December, up from 55.2 in November. The Present Situation Index increased to 46.7 from 38.3, and the Expectations Index rose to 76.4 from 66.4.
Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved in December. Those stating business conditions are “good” increased to 16.6 percent from 13.9 percent, while those stating business conditions are “bad” declined to 33.9 percent from 38.0 percent. Consumers’ assessment of the job market also was more positive. Those claiming jobs are “plentiful” increased to 6.7 percent from 5.6 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” decreased to 41.8 percent from 43 percent.
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