Latest News and Topics of Interest: The Treasury Department unveiled the "Making Home Affordable" program aimed at assisting existing home owners with refinancing or modifying their existing mortgages. For details, visit http://www.FinancialStability.Gov/MakingHomeAffordable/ or give me call and I will explain the program as I understand it. ---- One of the keys to housing recovery is the supply / demand balance. Sacramento County and El Dorado Hills inventory levels closed another month at their lowest levels in more than a year, while Folsom rose about 10%. ---- Interest rates rose a little bit with the avg. cost of a 30 yr. fixed mortgage in the Western U.S. rising from 5.03% on 1/29/09 to 5.06% on 2/26/09. Mortgage insider chatter continues to be focused on lower interest rates resulting from further government action.
On the Horizon: Rumors are floating around that the Securities Exchange Commission is going to review "Mark-to-Market Accounting" and the "Up-tick Rule," which impacts the stock market. Without getting into the complexities of these items, changing the current policies and practices would assist with stabilizing the banking sector, enhance bank valuations and lead to more liquidity and lending by the banking sector.
National & Regional Snap shot: 1,532 homes sold in Sacramento County last month, including 1,137 bank owned sales and 162 short sales. In all, 85% of the volume was distressed home sales. The average sales price was $166,100. The banks have aggressiveness has continued with lower price.
Folsom: Folsom closed the shortest month of the year with 45 home sales. 12 were bank owned sales and 6 were short sales, making distressed home sales 40% of the total volume. The average home sales price was popped up to $423k (highest avg. since last August) at an average of $195 per square foot.
El Dorado Hills: EDH home sales put in a multi-year low in February with only 26 closed escrows. 14 of the sales were bank repo's and 4 were short sales, making distressed home sales 70% of the volume. The average sales price dropped to $453k with an avg. of $169 per sq. foot. EDH is ripe for the picking!
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