Housing News Digest, January 26

Mortgage loan payoffs fall in Springs area
Mortgage loan payoffs — technically referred to as a release of a deed of trust — take place after homes are sold, owners refinance or they complete their purchases by making their last mortgage payment. An increase in payoffs indicates an uptick in buying and selling and the ability of homeowners to qualify for a refinancing; a reduction points the opposite way.
In 2011, mortgage loan payoffs totaled 32,040 in the Springs and surrounding El Paso County, according to the Housing Division report released Wednesday. That was a 6.6 percent drop over the previous year and the lowest number since 30,187 in 2000, when the state began tracking releases of deeds.

Foreclosures keep pushing house prices lower
Foreclosure-related properties, which made up roughly one in five home sales in the third quarter of last year, sold for an average 34 percent less than homes that were not “distressed sales,” according to the latest data from RealtyTrac, a housing data research firm.

Foreclosures accounted for a smaller share of total sales as banks already glutted with properties slowed the pace of new seizures until they could unload the houses they already owned. The share of distressed sales also slowed last year following a slowdown in new foreclosures after consumer complaints and lawsuits challenging seizures that resulted from “robo-signing” and other questionable document practices

Manufactured-housing portfolio sells for $330 million
A 16-property, multistate manufactured-housing portfolio with nearly half of its sites in Colorado sold for $330 million, the brokers announced Wed- nesday.

ARA National Manufactured Housing Group said Chicago-based Hometown America sold the portfolio to the American Manufactured Communities REIT.

The Inn Between in Longmont makes a difference for homeless
LONGMONT — Some clients and staff at the Inn Between in Longmont say the nonprofit's 93-year-old main building is haunted by ghosts, but executive director Donna Lovatohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif says it's angels at work and play.



U.S. December New Housing Sales Report
Sales of new single-family houses in December 2011 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 2.2 percent (+/-13.2%)* below the revised November rate of 314,000 and is 7.3 percent (+/- 16.6%)* below the December 2010 estimate of 331,000.

Madigan Sues S&P; For Role In Housing Market Meltdown
CHICAGO (STMW) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s claiming the credit ratings agency fraudulently gave high ratings to risky mortgage-backed investments in the years prior to the 2008 housing market crash.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court, alleged that S&P; compromised its independence by giving its highest ratings to unworthy, risky investments as a corporate strategy to increase revenue and market share, a release from the AG’s office said.