The Housing Bubble

The Hartford Courant reports from Connecticut. “More tenants in Connecticut are stretching to meet their monthly rent payments as the drop in the state’s median household income hit renters particularly hard, according to a new report. The prolonged period of high unemployment in Connecticut has increased demand for apartments as more residents opt to rent rather than buy, even though home prices have slid. ‘While income fell, Connecticut’s ‘housing wage’ — the wage needed to afford the rent for a typical two-bedroom apartment — was the sixth highest in the nation,’ according to the ‘HousingCT2011.’ ‘The state’s housing wage of $23.37 an hour equates to nearly $49,000 annually, an average wage level that nearly half the state’s occupations fail to reach.’”

From StateImpact. “Periodically, StateImpact New Hampshire likes to check in with the Boston Fed. We stumbled onto this deceptively dry-titled little gem of a report by Robert Clifford: ‘State Foreclosure Prevention Efforts in New England: Mediation and Assistance.’ Of all six New England states, Clifford found that Connecticut has been the most successful at preventing foreclosure. Connecticut now funds two major financial assistance programs with millions of dollars from state coffers. By the end of January this year, 9,472 homeowners had completed mediation. About 79 percent of them somehow ‘avoided foreclosure.’”

“Kennedy Lidonde, who lives in Woodstock, started working with Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America, or NACA, a nonprofit housing advocacy group, even before he came to the XL Center. Unlike many borrowers seeking help, Lidonde wasn’t behind on his mortgage payments. But he was in danger of missing a payment after he lost his job as a supervisor at a college in Worcester, Mass., and was forced to take a lower-paying job as a car salesman. His wife works as a clerk at the same college where he once did, but it wasn’t enough to make ends meet.”

“‘I thought, ‘How am I going to keep coming up with $2,400 for the mortgage,’ on top of credit card, food and utility bills, Lidonde said. ‘It all started piling up.’”

“Bank of America offered to drop Lidonde’s mortgage rate from 5.89 percent to 3 percent, cutting his monthly payment to $1,600 on his four-bedroom, Cape Cod-style house near a lake. The payment comprises principal, interest, plus escrow for taxes and homeowners insurance. While the monthly payment is lower, the term of the mortgage will stretch from 30 to 40 years, Lidonde said. It’s going to take a little longer, Lidonde said. ‘It’s going to be like starting over, but it’s a relief.’”

Westport Now in Connecticut. “The latest Case-Shiller report is out and shows that U.S. home prices are up 0.2 percent in August, making it the fifth consecutive month of gains for the real estate market. Our region is in the New York MSA , and with an index level of 169.19, it is the third highest in the nation, behind Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, respectively. The index references a starting point of January 2000 which equals 100.”

“Current year-to-date figures as per our MLS system, show an average sales price of $1,353,420. There are 332 single family homes actively on the market. Their average list price is $2,123,410, and these homes have been listed for sale an average of 140 days. The median price has risen slightly to $1,346,500. Almost 38 percent of the homes available for sale in town have are listed between $1 million and $1.5 million.”

“The highest asking price for all homes currently on the market is $24,950,000, and the lowest available priced home is $380,000. As reported in an earlier column, our average sale price is down about 3 percent overall. We still have the remainder of the year to catch up on that very minor decline, and ‘break even,’ so to speak, and we have a good opportunity to do that.”

The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “A startling 78 percent of Massachusetts real estate agents polled by HomeGain ’strongly disapprove’ of the Obama’s performance. Banker & Tradesman column delves into the HomeGain poll numbers. It is by far the highest level of discontent among real estate agents in any major state, including other liberal bastions such as New York, New Jersey and California, according to the survey by the online real estate site.”

“And Obama’s plunging poll numbers among Realtors points to a much bigger problem when it comes to the president’s reelection hopes - a muddled housing strategy that took an already a messed up housing market and made it worse. ‘It’s the lack of any meaningful recovery in the housing market, in spite of expensive Obama signature programs,’ that has disillusioned so many Realtors, notes Louis Cammarosano, a HomeGain spokesman. ‘Generally, it’s the realization that hope and change don’t pay the bills.’”

The Worchester Business Journal in Massachusetts. “A recent change in federal mortgage lending limits could affect Worcester County more than other areas of the United States, according to a study. Homebuyers looking for a single-family home in the county have $100,000 less to work with starting this month if they pursue a Federal Housing Administration mortgage. FHA loans have become more widely used in the wake of the 2008 economic crash that caused some private lenders to exit the market, according to several area real estate professionals and federal data.”

“Perception is important, and Kevin Maher, managing partner at Emerson Realtors in Auburn, said consumers will see declining FHA limits as a sign the market is going down rather than up, which could remove any sense of urgency they have to buy. ‘It’s just one more negative thing you’re going to hear about,’ Maher said. ‘We’re dealing with enough structural issues in the real estate economy today.’”

The Patriot Ledger in Massachusetts. “Price declines could be leveling off after a downward market that’s afflicted many Massachusetts towns for at least five years. Rick Coughlin, a real estate agent in Weymouth, said prices could still decline in some towns by a modest percentage, but he doesn’t expect any more big drops. ‘The worst of the storm is over,’ Coughlin said. ‘The people who are buying their homes today, five years from now, they’re going to look back and say, ‘Thank goodness I did.’”

“Interest rates are at historic lows. However, agents say that many potential buyers aren’t able to take advantage of those rates. Buyers are having a harder time getting qualified for loans after lenders tightened their standards following the 2008 mortgage meltdown. ‘The lenders have so many restrictions and requirements for people to get money,’ said. ‘They’re overcompensating for what happened before.’”

“But Coughlin said the low interest rates are, at least, having a positive effect by simply preventing values from falling further. ‘If interest rates were still around 5 percent, things would be a lot worse than they are,’ he said.”

From City Limits in New York. “How is developer Forest City Ratner fulfilling its ambitious promises of jobs, affordable housing, local/minority contracting, and more at its controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn? There’s no housing yet, of course.”

“Forest City’s Atlantic Yards web site offers no current information about jobs, but it does present dubious claims like: ‘Atlantic Yards will be an economic engine for Brooklyn, New York City and the State, generating more than $5 billion in new tax revenues over the next 30 years. In addition to tax benefits, the project will also create thousands of new jobs: upwards of 17,000 construction related jobs and up to 8,000 permanent jobs.’”

“In June 2005, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg prominently signed the Atlantic Yards CBA as a witness. In a scene captured in the recent documentary Battle for Brooklyn, Bloomberg commented condescendingly, ‘You have Bruce Ratner’s word. That should be enough for you.’”

The New York Observer. “Get those elbows out and ball point pens ready, New Yorkers! One57, the giant condo tower giving new meaning to the term ‘high rise,’ has already begun selling units. Although the building’s developer, Extell, will open an official sales office in the coming weeks, foreign investors have already started sealing deals in the building, The Real Deal reports.”

“Entering the luxury condo’s website, a message appears on the screen: ‘NOT ONLY DO YOU LIVE AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE… YOU OVERLOOK IT.’”

“The building ain’t cheap, either. According to The Real Deal, one bedrooms on low floors are going for $3,400 per square foot. Two penthouses atop the tower are supposedly priced at $98 million a pop. How many Yuan is that?”