CSBJ: FHA borrowers to save under Obama proposal to lower insurance rates

From The Colorado Springs Business Journal | Published January 11, 2015 | Written by Bryan Grossman

President Obama last week proposed lowering insurance premiums on FHA-insured loans by 50 basis points, claiming this would save 250,000 borrowers an average of $900 annually in house payments.

“The annual premiums on FHA loans, an especially popular source of financing for first-time home buyers, have increased five times since 2010,” according to an article in the Washington Post. “They jumped from .55 percent of a loan’s value to 1.35 percent. Those fees will drop to .85 percent toward the end of January. The White House projects the lower premiums will entice 250,000 buyers to take out FHA loans in the next three years, and that the new borrowers will save an average of $900 annually.”

According to a news release issued by RealtyTrac, a national source of comprehensive real estate data and housing information, “this reduction in insurance premiums means that instead of paying 1.35 percent for the loan amount each month in mortgage insurance, borrowers will now be paying just 0.85 percent of the loan amount each month.”

RealtyTrac analyzed the data and found this would save $917 a year on median-priced homes nationwide, according to the release, which is close to the claim Obama made.

“But we all know that no one actually pays the national median price for a home,” the release said. “People pay the price of a home in their market.”

RealtyTrac analyzed this on a county-by-county basis and created a heat map to show where homebuyers will save the most, and also what markets would be considered affordable for median income earners — where a median income earner would need to spend 28 percent or less of his or her income to purchase a median-priced home — after the reforms, and which markets would still be unaffordable after the reforms.

Approximate anticipated average annual savings by county in Southern Colorado:

El Paso: $960

Pueblo: $552

Douglas: $1,645

Teller: $886

Read on CSBJ: http://csbj.com/2015/01/19/fha-borrowers-save-obama-proposal/

Cimarron Hills Named Third Least Expensive Suburb in U.S.

from Colorado Springs Business Journal | November 19, 2013

Cimarron Hills was named the third least expensive suburb in the United States, according to Movoto, a blog about “the lighter side of real estate.”

Located in Colorado Springs, the suburb lies between Powers Boulevard and Marksheffel Drive, bordered also by Colorado Highway 24.

Movoto Content Editor Randy Nelson studied the cost of living, food and utility costs, housing affordability, property tax rates and state income tax rates and sales tax. Nelson reviewed 139 suburbs of the 50 largest cities in the country.

Using the U.S. Census as a source, Movoto listed the suburbs from the most affordable, at number 1 to the least, at 139.

Colorado Springs is the westmost suburb in the top 10, behind Midwest City, Okla., and Moore, Okla.

 To continue reading about Colorado Springs suburbs click here.

ColoradoRealEstateNews.com: Colorado Apartment Vacancies at 4.6%

Published by ColoradoRealEstateNews.com | November 15 2012 | Written by John Rebchook

The overall apartment vacancy rate for Colorado fell to 4.6 percent in the third quarter, the lowest it has been since the first quarter of 2001, when the vacancy rate stood at 4.3 percent, according to a report released today by the Colorado Division of Housing.

In the third quarter of 2011, the overall vacancy rate stood at 5 percent for the state.

Demand for rental units continued at high levels in Colorado during the third quarter, and demand was especially strong in northern Colorado.

The vacancy rate fell year over year to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent in the Fort Collins-Loveland area for the third quarter, although it rose to 3.1 percent from 1.8 percent in Greeley from the third quarter of 2011.

A vacancy rate below five percent is generally regarded by industry observers as a sign of a tight market.

The vacancy rate dropped by half in Grand Junction, falling to 3.8 percent in the third quarter from 7.7 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

The metro Denver vacancy rate during 2012’s third quarter, released last month in a separate survey, fell year over year to 4.3 percent from 4.9 percent.

“Northern Colorado vacancies are at the low levels we saw back in the late ‘90s,” said Ron Throupe, a professor of real estate at the University of Denver’s Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management, and the report’s author. “The strong employment in the region is helping drive that, and statewide, a lack of new construction is also an important factor.”

Rents headed up as vacancy rates declined.

The statewide average rent in Colorado increased 5.1 percent from 2011’s third quarter to 2012’s third quarter, rising from $898 to $944, which is a record high.

Across the state, the average rent increased in all metro areas except Grand Junction. The average rent in the Fort. Collins-Loveland area, for example, increased 7.3 percent, year over year, while the average rent in Pueblo grew 8.4 percent. During the same period, the average rent in Colorado Springs increased only 1.1 percent, although it reached a new all-time high during the third quarter. The average rent fell 2.6 percent in Grand Junction, year-over year.

“This is the second quarter in a row in which the average rent grew all along the Front Range and by fairly sizable amounts in most cases,” said Ryan McMaken, an economist with the Colorado Division of Housing. “Demand is strong enough to the point that even in markets where unemployment is still above eight percent, as in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, landlords were still able raise rents.”

Average rents in all metropolitan areas measured were:

• Colorado Springs; $787.
• Fort. Collins/Loveland, $1,024.
• Grand Junction, $638.
• Greeley, $693.
• Pueblo, $587.

The metro Denver average rent, measured in a separate survey, was $986 during the third quarter.

Read more on ColoradoRealEstateNews: http://insiderealestatenews.com/2012/11/colorado-apartment-vacancies-at-11-year-low/

Gazette: Rising Housing Prices Elevate Colorado Springs Living Costs

Published in The Gazette | September 7, 2012 | Written By Wayne Heilman

It’s still a relative bargain living in Colorado Springs. But rising housing prices in the Springs area pushed local living costs to the closest they have been to the national average in 7½ years, according to a quarterly survey.

Living costs in the Springs were 3.9 percent below the national average during the second quarter, up from 4.5 percent below the average during the previous quarter and 8.2 percent below the average a year earlier, according to the survey by the Arlington, Va.-based Council for Community and Economic Research. That is the closest to the national average the council’s cost-of-living index for the city has been since the end of 2004. The index hit a 20-year low in the second quarter of 2011 in comparison with the national average.

“That our growth in housing prices is so far ahead of the rest of the nation is surprising,” said Tom Binnings, a senior partner of Summit Economics, a local economic research and consulting firm. “On the whole, that is good news from the standpoint that our housing sector is growing stronger.”

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/local-144368-prices-push.html#ixzz2660u2ebg