The latest San Diego Case-Shiller Index went up or down, depending on whether you are looking at seasonally-adjusted or not:
| Month | Sea.Adj | Non-SA |
| May ’11 | ||
| June ’11 |
The first three paragraphs from cnbc.com, who buried the story within a couple of hours behind the travel woes of Irene:
Spring buying pushed home prices up for a third straight month in most major U.S. cities in June. But the housing market remains shaky, and further price declines are expected this year. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price index shows prices increased in June from May in 19 of the 20 cities tracked. A separate figure shows prices rose 3.6 percent in the April-June quarter from the previous quarter. Those numbers aren’t adjusted for seasonal factors.
Mr. Ivory Tower, David the Dog Blitzer, was happy to chime in with his normal two cents too:
Despite the uptick, the numbers contain “really no hope of any kind of surge,” S&P Index Chairman David Blitzer told CNBC. “None of the fundamentals look that good,” he said. “People still have difficulty getting mortgage loans, they still have difficulty in refinancing. The banks got a lot tougher and haven’t gotten any easier no matter how you measure.”
Blitzer said the housing market is taking on a more regional perspective, with the Sun Belt continuing to languish and other areas of the country stabilizing. “You have to look much more into details,” he said. “You’ll some good times here and there but it’s a thin river of hope overall.”
Who has trouble getting mortgage loans? People who don’t qualify? GOOD!
He’s spewing the same bullet points as all the other talking heads in the media, without taking a deeper look.
We don’t have trouble getting financing for buyers who qualify:
-
Remember the house in Mission Hills with the 100-year old foundation with holes in it? Bank of America financed it with a 20% down payment.
-
I sold a $900,000 house to foreign nationals (no green cards) who qualified for a regular mortgage at market rate with 20% down payment.
-
How about the buyer with the 3-year old bankruptcy and short sale qualifying for FHA financing?
The banks are happy to lend money to people who qualify under the same guidelines that have been around for decades. When Blitzer says they haven’t gotten easier, I wish he would go into full detail of what he expects. Does he want easy-qualifiers to come back? 100% financing? Or does he just want to see his name in the paper every month.
The media is negative-based, and lives for bad news. When there is some good news, it goes under-reported. I don’t expect them to be cheerleaders, Yunnie will take care of that. I’d like to see all the media report without bias – be neutral, so we can come to the right conclusions. If they could dig a little deeper it would be nice, but I won’t get my hopes up.
SAN DIEGO — Firefighters are battling a residential fire at a large condominium complex in Del Mar Heights.
The blaze was reported at 9:14 a.m. at the complex on Caminito del Canto off Carmel Valley Road where the homes are very close together and have shake shingle roofs, said San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Maurice Luque.
The fire started in a tri-level unit and for the most part was contained to that home, Luque said. Homes on both sides were damaged by smoke and one adjoining unit was slightly damaged by fire, Luque said.
The owner of the condo, who was not home at the time, told officials that a worker had been at the home earlier in the day.
Investigators have not been inside the structure which was still burning inside more than an hour later, and have not yet determined the cause, Luque said.
Police shut down traffic at Del Mar Scenic Parkway.
Jim, I thought you’d appreciate this article.
The Two-Tier Housing Market
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/the-two-tier-housing-market/244331/
Thank you duncbdunc!!!
Ya I don’t get the “banks aren’t lending” refrain. Verified income and a 20% dp will get you one helluva good loan.
As a mortgage loan officer, I can confirm that these days it’s only the qualified buyers that are getting loans, and that’s a good thing. What makes it hard for some borrowers is the memory of the anything-goes days of the mid-2000s, and they’re wondering why they have to show the paystubs/tax returns/bank statements, etc., and it all has to be good. It’s back to normal, is all.
“The banks are happy to lend money to people who qualify under the same guidelines that have been around for decades.” – HA! Which decades? Surely not the last two!