Tag Archives: HUD

The housing market showed signs of progress across the board, but the overall recovery is still fragile, hence the need for efforts to prevent avoidable foreclosures, according to the Obama Administration Housing Scorecard for February. ""House prices are steadily rising above the mid-crisis lows in markets throughout the country, while inventories of new and existing homes are further tightening, and even estimates of the 'shadow inventory' are down,"" said HUD deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs Kurt Usowski. ""That said, we still remain considerably below long-term normal levels of home sales and production.""

HUD unveiled on Thursday an app for iPhone and iPad devices designed to provide the public and the housing industry with a quick and easy way to learn about the Fair Housing Act and to file discrimination complaints. The app, developed by HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity and Hewlett Packard (HP), is already being promoted by fair housing groups and other civil rights advocacy organizations as a tool to help consumers pursue their housing rights.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 4.5 percent to 105.9 in January, its highest level in almost three years, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The monthly increase was the strongest since May, when the index rose 4.9 percent. Despite the strong report, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun remained cautious. ""Over the near term, rising contract activity means higher home sales, but total sales for the year are expected to rise less than in 2012, while home prices are projected to rise more strongly because of inventory shortages,"" Yun said.

New home sales jumped 15.6 percent in January--the strongest gain in 20 years--to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000, the highest since July 2008, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the report to show a much smaller sales pace: 381,000. January's rate of sales was the highest since July 2008. At the same time, the months' supply of new homes for sale dropped to its lowest level since March 2005.

Housing starts declined 8.5 percent from December to January but remain 24 percent above last year's rates, according to recent data from the Census Bureau and HUD. Capital Economics points out that the recent decline is largely driven by the multifamily sector, while single-family starts actually rose 0.8 percent over the month. The general upward trend in housing starts is tied to recent declines in distressed inventory, according to Capital Economics. ""[H]omebuilders are starting to benefit from the dwindling supplies of deeply discounted distressed homes, which for a while were next to impossible for builders to compete with,"" the analytics firm stated.

Housing starts plunged 8.5 percent in January--the steepest drop in two years--to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Wednesday. Applications for residential permits rose 1.8 percent to a rate of 925,000, the highest level since June 2008. Economists had expected start activity to drop to 914,000 in January from the initial report for December of 954,000 starts. Permits, according to the consensus forecast, were expected to increase to 920,000 from the original report of 903,000 in December.

In his written testimony before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan spoke on the potential impact to households across the nation if across-the-board automatic spending cuts were to take effect. The cuts are scheduled for March 1. Speaking from HUD's perspective, Donovan says the cuts, also referred to as the sequester, would be especially damaging on middle class families, communities, and the economy across the nation. More specifically, he warned the cuts would keep 75,000 households from receiving foreclosure prevention, pre-purchase, rental, or other counseling though HUD housing counseling grants.

Following S&P's calculation of a 0.1 percent decrease in prices in November, according to the Case-Shiller 20-city composite, analysis on home price trends remained positive. ""[A]fter accounting for the normal slowdown in the housing market over the winter months, this actually looks like another 0.6 percent [month-over-month] gain,"" stated Capital Economics Tuesday. Similarly IHS Global Insight's Stephanie Karol noted both Case-Shiller indices, when seasonally adjusted, posted increases for the 10th consecutive month.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) fell 4.3 percent to 101.7 in December, the sharpest month-month drop since April the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Monday. Economists had expected a smaller 0.3 percent decrease to 106.1 from November's originally reported 106.4. The November index was revised down to 106.3. NAR economist Lawrence Yun blamed a tight inventory for the weakening index. Yun also noted the lack of homes costing less than $100,000, especially in the West.

Two housing reports in the week just demonstrated, yet again, economists are not infallible. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported existing home sales for December: 4.94 million against a consensus forecast of 5.1 million. Then on Friday, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly 369,000 new homes were sold in December compared with a consensus forecast of 388,000. There are several important housing related reports due out next week, but they will take a backseat to the report on fourth quarter GDP and Friday's report on the employment situation.