Wealth of Women

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RealtyTrac reported this morning that foreclosure activity rose 3 percent in January as several states posted spikes in one or more steps in the process. Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 210,941 U.S. properties or one in every 624 housing units during the month, however, even with the month-over-month increase in filings overall activity was 19 percent below that in January 2010. RealtyTrac, an Irvine California company, compiles a U.S. Foreclosure Market Report TM each month by tracking documents filed in the three stages of foreclosure: 1. Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS). This is the first legal notification from a lender that the borrower on a mortgage loan has defaulted under the terms of their mortgage and the lender intends to foreclose unless the loan is...()

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Statistics on building permits and housing starts increased slightly in January according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and there was a substantial increase in the number of new homes that reached completion during the month. Building permits for privately owned housing units were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000 in January, 0.7 percent higher than the downwardly revised December figure of 671,000 and 19.0 percent higher than one year earlier when 568,000 permits were issued. The number of permits issued in December was originally estimated at 679,000. Permits were issued for the construction of single family houses at the rate of 445,000, 0.9 percent above the revised December rate of 441,000 (originally estimated at 444,000...()

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At a press conference accompanying release of the results from its Fourth Quarter 2011 National Delinquency Study (NDS) , the Mortgage Banker Association's ( MBA ) Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Research and Education Jay Brinkmann said he is frequently asked how long it might be before delinquencies and foreclosures return to "normal." He said he typically answers that "we are about halfway there." Delinquencies during "normal" times averaged around 5 percent but spiked to 10.1 during the recession. Now the rate is at 7.6, half-way there. Foreclosure starts generally run around 0.40 percent but hit 1.41 percent in 2009 and are now just below 1percent; almost halfway there. Foreclosures however are not halfway there. They were running around 1 percent pre-recession and rose to...()

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MBS and Treasuries are having a rough day after a one-two punch from European headlines and a lousy 30yr TIPs auction. We'll start with the latter as it's a bit less straightforward and paradoxically more confusing than the EU news (which almost always seems to be more confusing). Confusing because markets traded this weak 30yr TIPs auction as if it were a regular 30yr bond auction, selling the long end of the yield curve (moves rates higher) after seeing a higher-than-expected yield at the auction as well as weaker-than-average demand. TIPs rarely ever move markets as noticeably as they did today. We're not sure why the fact that accounts don't want to sign up for lower than-market-yields in exchange for an inflation adjustment during a period in economic history where inflation is very much...()