Congress both extended and expanded the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program Thursday.
The White House says the President will sign it into law today.
The up-to-$8000 tax credit's expiration date has been pushed forward to spring, requiring homebuyers to be under contract by April 30, 2010, and to be closed by June 30, 2010.
The program's basic eligibility requirements remain the same:
Buyers can't purchase the home from a parent, spouse, or child
Buyers can't purchase the home from an entity in which they're a majority owner
Buyers can't acquire the home by gift or inheritance
All parties to the purchase must meet eligibility requirements
The new law includes some notable updates, however.
For one, the definition of "first-time home buyer" has been expanded to include most homeowners with at least 5 years in their current home. "Move-up" buyers like these are now eligible for IRS tax credits, but with a cap at $6,500.
This means that you don't have to be a true first-time home buyer to claim the "first-time home buyer tax credit".
Other eligibility changes include:
The subject property's sales price may not exceed $800,000
The subject property must be a primary residence
Income thresholds raised to $125,000 for single-filers and $225,500 for joint-filer
And remember, the First-Time Home Buyer program grants a tax credit as opposed to a deduction. This means that a tax filer would receive a cash payment of $2,000 from the U.S. Treasury if his "normal" tax liability totals $6,000 and he was eligible for all $8,000 available under the new law.
The complete list of qualifying criteria is posted on the IRS website. Be sure to review it with a tax professional to determine your eligibility. Then mark your calendar for April 30, 2009.
The Federal Open Market Committee caps off a scheduled, 2-day meeting today in the nation's capital, its 8th meeting of the year.
The group adjourns at 2:15 PM ET and, as is customary, will issue a press release reviewing its monetary policy and the health of the U.S. economy.
The FOMC's post-meeting statements are brief but comprehensive. They're a window into the mind of the Federal Reserve and Wall Street picks apart every sentence for clues.
It's why FOMC meetings tend to shake up the mortgage markets -- for good and for bad.
Since September, the momentum has picked up. Credit risks have reduced further, home sales are surging, and, although unemployment remains high, the Fed remains optimistic about a full economic recovery.
Today's FOMC press release will be closely watched. If the Fed alludes to strong growth with inflation in 2010, mortgage rates should rise. Reference to slower growth should help keep rates steady.
The FOMC is expected to leave the Fed Funds Rate within its target range of 0.000-0.250 percent -- the lowest it's been in history. However, it's what the Fed says Wednesday that will matter more than what it does.
If you're floating a mortgage rate or wondering if the time is right to lock, the safe approach is to lock prior to 2:15 PM ET Wednesday.
As reported by the National Association of Realtors®, the Pending Home Sales Index posted its 8th consecutive monthly gain in September.
It's the longest winning streak in the history of the index and Pending Home Sales are now at their highest levels since December 2006.
A Pending Home Sale is a home under contract to sell, but not yet closed. It's the precursor to an Existing Home Sale.
Trade group data shows that nearly 80 percent of "pending" homes close within 2 months. The majority of those remaining close within months 3 and 4.
When the Pending Home Sales Index rises, it tells us that market activity has picked up. September's data confirms what we've been noticing since February -- the Buyers Market is ending.
With more homes under contract in the marketplace, homebuyers typically face one or more of the following:
Therefore, if you're buying a home in the next several months, know that the 8-month run in Pending Sales will lead to a run in closed sales. It should result in higher home prices, too
Mortgage markets improved last week after a series of hugely volatile trading sessions.
Rates carved out a wide range on the week, culminating in a late-Friday plunge that dropped rates by about 1/8 percent.
It was the first time in 5 weeks that mortgage rates fell.
Volatility like that of last week is nothing new on Wall Street; it's been a running theme in 2009. Volatility occurs when markets don't agree on what's next for the economy and, this year, there's been a lot of disagreement like that.
Data has been inconsistent. Take last week for example.
At 9:00 AM Tuesday morning, the Case-Shiller Index showed home prices rising nationwide. Because many analysts believe housing fueled the recession, strength in the sector is widely construed a positive for the economy.
Mortgage rates rose on the news.
But then, an hour later, the national consumer confidence report revealed a substantial deterioration in sentiment versus the month prior. The data forced Wall Street to do an about-face.
Housing is important to the economy, but it can't affect growth like consumer spending can. When Americans are less confident about their future income, they tend to keep their wallets closed, retarding economic growth.
Holiday Shopping Season is getting underway and the last thing businesses want to see is a suddenly reserved American shopper.
This week, the volatility should continue.
In addition to the release of key employment and housing data, the Federal Open Market Committee has a scheduled 2-day meeting. The group's Wednesday afternoon adjournment will influence mortgage rates.
The Fed is widely expected to keep the Fed Funds Rate in its target range near 0.000 percent, but it won't be what the Fed does that will matter as much as what the Fed says.
If the FOMC's press release shows optimism for the economy, mortgage rates will rise in response. Alternatively, if the Fed appears more dour, rates will fall.
Either way, consider locking your rate before the Wednesday afternoon announcement.
This is an article by Jeff Collins, in this morning's Orange County Register:
Home-data firm First American CoreLogic predicts that Orange County house prices will be up 9.5% next August from this past summer.
If accurate, the median price of an Orange County house would increase by nearly $48,000 from the $500,000 median reported by DataQuick in August and September.
Those price gains would outstrip appreciation rates for the nation’s 10 largest metro areas, First American reported. For example, Los Angeles County is forecast to see home prices rise 6.3%, the highest rate among the big 10. That’s followed by Miami-Dade County’s projected 6.1% gain.
First American projected that California’s house prices will increase 7.9% by August, while nationwide prices will go up 4.6%. First American expects U.S. home prices to hit bottom in March.
First American’s forecast is just the latest in the past five weeks. Among the others:
Veros, specialists in automated real estate valuations, said their housing model shows Orange County housing values for their benchmark “single-family residential mid-price tier properties” rising 2% in the year ended Sept. 1, 2010.
First American’s Home Price Index showed that Orange County house prices fell 7.9% in August, its most recent data. Prices for non-distressed homes only — which excludes bank-owned houses and short sales (where prices are below debt) — had dropped by a slightly smaller margin: 7.1%.
Here’s a sampling of what we’ve covered in recent weeks:
The national housing supply fell to a 2-year low last month, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
At the current sales pace, existing home inventories would sell out in 7.8 months -- 30 percent faster versus November 2008.
For a 10-month window, that's a major housing supply reduction and it helps to explain why multiple-offer situations have been so common lately.
Moreover, the same report from NAR showed sales activity reaching its highest point since July 2007, too.
If you're looking for evidence that the long-standing Buyers Market is ending, this month's Existing Home Sales report might be it.
Even median sales prices -- typically dragged lower by distressed and foreclosed properties -- declined at its slowest pace in a year. The market may have turned a corner.
Home prices are rooted in the basic economics of supply and demand.
When supply outweighs demand, home prices fall
When supply lags demand, home price rise
Since March 2009, the market has been moving in the right direction. Low mortgage rates, ample housing supply and a first-time home buyer tax credit fueled buy-side demand so that home prices are now rising in many U.S. markets.
Of course we already knew all this in Orange County, California. We have been experiencing multiple offers as commonplace, in the lower price ranges, since February.
If home supplies stay on this path into 2010, expect home prices to rise even more.
For August, the Case-Shiller Index showed annual home values improving across 19 of 20 U.S. markets. It's the first time in 3-plus years that the benchmark housing index has shown such strength.
According to a Case-Shiller Index spokesperson, "The rate of annual decline in home price values continues to improve."
It's yet another sign that housing may have already bottomed.
However, just because the Case-Shiller Index shows a stabilization in home values, that doesn't necessarily make it true. This is because real estate happens on the local level and the Case-Shiller Index is more "national". It tracks data in just 20 U.S. cities.
Homeowners everywhere else are unaccounted for.
Furthermore, even within the 20 tracked Case-Shiller markets, there's no allowance for the natural sub-markets that exist. Some neighborhoods under-perform and some neighborhoods out-perform.
Case-Shiller treats them all the same.
Despite its imperfections, though, the Case-Shiller Index remains a helpful, broader measurement of U.S. real estate. Economists believe that housing led the U.S. into the recession and they believe housing will lead us out, too.
If that's true, August's Case-Shiller data is another step in the right direction.
Mortgage markets were volatile last week, making it very difficult to shop for mortgage rates.
On most days, lenders issued multiple rate sheets with the trend putting rates higher in the morning, and lower in the afternoon.
Overall, mortgage rates were unchanged on the week. It broke a three-week streak through which mortgage rates rose.
Rates remain roughly one-half percent higher than the lows of early-October.
The biggest positive for rate shoppers last week was tame economic data -- specifically concerning the Producer Price Index and the housing sector.
The Producer Price Index is an inflationary, Cost of Living-like measurement for businesses and it went negative in September. Analysts weren't expecting that and the surprise pulled rates down an eighth.
Similarly, in housing, both the Home Price Index and Housing Starts figures were softer than expectations. These, too, tugged mortgage rates down.
At least temporarily.
We say "temporarily" because -- all week long -- a steadily-weakening U.S. dollar was leading mortgage rates higher.
All things equal, mortgage rates rise as the dollar loses value and, last week, the dollar touched a 14-month low versus the Euro. The greenback's weakness countered most of the "positive" news for rate shoppers and is a major reason why rates were so volatile.
The volatility should continue into this week, too. With little data and no Fed speakers, look for mortgage rates to move with the market's momentum.
Lately, momentum has been pulling rates higher so if you're floating a rate and trying to time a bottom, the chances are good that we already passed it. Consider locking your rate before rates rise much further.
Once rates break 6 percent, they may not come back down.
According to the government, home values edged lower last month.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's Home Price Index report shows values down by 0.3 percent from the month prior -- the index's first down month since April.
The Home Price Index is based on the value of homes financed via Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and, in this sense, the FHFA Home Price Index is more of a "national" real estate index than its private-sector cousin, the Case-Shiller Index.
But like the Case-Shiller, the HPI is as notable for what it specifically excludes as for what it includes. Most notably, the Home Price Index doesn't account for homes meeting any of the following descriptions:
Is considered new construction
Is a multi-unit property
Is financed by an entity other than Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac
Given the resurgence of FHA financing this year, this last exclusion is especially glaring. FHA represents about one-third of all mortgage loans in 2009.
Because of these exceptions, some analysts label the Home Price Index incomplete. The same could be said of every method of home valuation, however. Case-Shiller only collects data from 20 markets, for example.
In light of these shortcomings, therefore, what's most important to today's home buyers and sellers is to know that each of the "popular" home valuation reports show similar patterns -- home prices have leveled and may be starting to recover in earnest.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Congress both extended and expanded the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program Thursday. 
The Federal Open Market Committee caps off a scheduled, 2-day meeting today in the nation's capital, its 8th meeting of the year.
The housing market continues to steam forward.
Mortgage markets improved last week after a series of hugely volatile trading sessions. 
Some days, newspaper headlines are a terrible place to get your real estate news. 
The national housing supply 
Mortgage markets were volatile last week, making it very difficult to shop for mortgage rates. 
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