What Will it Take to Bring Mortgage Rates Down?
Mortgage rates above 7% are having somewhat of a chilling effect on the residential real estate market across Indiana and Southern Indiana. Across Indiana, pending home sales are already down 10% from last year. For Southern Indiana, pending home sales are down 15% in September, and closings have also declined from last year. Higher mortgage rates will also intensify the "lock-in" effect that originated with the ultra-low mortgage rates of 2021.
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America's Housing Affordability Squeeze: Black Families Need 21 Years to Save for a Home
It now takes 16 years for renters earning a median income of $58,000 to save for a down payment and closing costs, double that of 2019 when the savings horizon was 8 years, according to new research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), Homeownership Further Out of Reach. This calculation assumes a family saves at today's national savings rate.
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Trump's Latest Housing Move Promises Major Relief, but Which Buyers Will Actually Save Thousands?
Last month, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at housing affordability. The multipart order runs the gamut, touching on everything from manufactured housing to permitting to direct the Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs to reduce interest rates on their direct single-family loan programs to adjusting closing cost fees paid by certain homeowners. But while the math works out for some, it's important to recognize some of the serious caveats as well.
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Carrollton Man Pleads Guilty In $1.5M Deed Fraud Scheme As Property Scam Attempts Rise
According to court filings summarized by prosecutors, Levi and alleged accomplices identified vacant properties without liens whose owners lived out of state. They obtained fake driver's licenses and passports and created email and internet-based telephone accounts under the owners' names. Those identities helped them persuade real estate professionals to list properties, negotiate sales, and transfer deeds to unsuspecting buyers, prosecutors said.
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Nearly Half Of Foreclosures Involve Newer Loans As FHA Auctions Surge
Mortgages originated since 2022 now account for nearly half of completed foreclosure sales, while foreclosure auction activity involving those newer loans has surged 73% over the past year, according to separate reports from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Auction.com. The findings point to a significant shift in the foreclosure pipeline, with loans originated during the higher-rate, higher-home-price environment increasingly appearing among distressed properties.
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