This might not be an ordinary boom...
Posted on 08/15/2007 10:45:02 AM PDT by Hydroshock
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Builders' confidence in the new home market fell to a 16-year low, according to a trade group survey conducted this month which reports buyers' problems finding financing spreading beyond the subprime sector.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell two more points to a reading of 22, the lowest level since January 1991, when the nation was struggling with a recession, an energy price shock and the start of the first Gulf War. Any reading below 50 indicates more builders view sales conditions as poor than as good.
The index's various components -- view of current conditions, expectations for conditions six months from now and current level of traffic -- all reached 16-year lows in the recent survey. Each region of the country reported overall confidence readings that were down or unchanged from historically low levels as well.
David Seiders, the group's chief economist, said he doesn't expect to see any pickup in purchases of new homes and new home building until next year at the earliest
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
—booms always bust—
Lemme guess. This is why Wells Fargo is giving mortgages to illegals.
In the mean time my builder can’t get anybody on my property to build my house.
Oh boo hoo. People with good credit and money for a down payment will do just fine.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/10/real_estate/mortgage_rates/index.htm?postversion=2007081115
from the article:
The one catch is this: You’ve got to be a buyer with good credit, a low debt to income ratio, a healthy down payment, verifiable income, and looking to finance less than $417,000 (the cutoff for so-called jumbo loans).
Those characteristics basically define someone who qualifies for a loan through a government program like Fannie Mae, which makes up about 50 percent of all outstanding mortgages, according to Guy Cecala, publisher of the industry newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance.
Mortgage meltdown contagion
Graiver said to expect to pay a down payment of at least 10 percent, and have a FICO credit score of 620 or higher in order to get a rate between 6.2 and 7.5 percent. Perhaps 90 percent of home buyers qualify for that prime rate, although if you want a rate below 7 percent you probably need a FICO score above 660.
To get the best deal, “plan on coming to my office with your tax returns and a down payment,” said Bob Mouton, President of the Long Island-based American Mortgage Group.
LLS
Dr. Bernanke is going to lower those interest rates, then the bust will become a boom with all that sweet appreciation :'))))))!!!
This might not be an ordinary boom...
More good news:
“National Association of Realtors...noted that existing home prices were up in 97 of the 149 metropolitan areas surveyed compared with the sales prices of a year ago...”
UP!! Doesn’t that mean that the so-called “housing bust” is OVER?
But leave it to the “Eeyores” in the MSM to “headline” their report on the market: “Existing Home Sales Fall in 41 States”. [See thread below...]
On the other hand, if you need a jumbo note, you might very well be out of luck.
Thornburg Mortgage discovered on Monday evening that they couldn’t roll over their portfolio, because no one wants to buy paper with the word “mortgage” in it, even when it is very high quality paper.
My money is that by the end of the year it will be next to imposible to move anything but the best A paper.
I think the biggest problem is the need to sell all these mortgages within a few months of the closing so they can make more loans. Whatever happened to banks making money off the interest they were collecting from the mortgage ?
If I were a bank and a guy making 2 mil a year came in and asked for a 1 mil mortgage on a 2.8 mil home at 7.5% interest, I think I would give it to him.
What’s wrong with this picture ?
Every builder I know of is living in a million dollar house...and a lot of their workers are, too. GOOD tradespeople make good bucks.
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