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LA Land

The rapidly changing landscape of the real estate market in Los Angeles and beyond

Former Bush aide: Refinance everybody at 5.25%Today

Former White House economic advisor Glenn Hubbard -- that's him pictured just to the left of the president -- is proposing a sweeping plan to boost housing prices by offering across-the-board, government-backed, 5.25% refinancing to all American homeowners. Here's what Hubbard and Chris Mayer wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week:

We propose that the Bush administration and Congress allow all residential mortgages on primary residences to be refinanced into 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 5.25% (matching the lowest mortgage rate in the past 30 years), and place those mortgages with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Investors and speculators should not be allowed to qualify.

What's the point? To drive up housing prices. Yes, to drive housing prices higher -- to put value back in mortgage-backed securities, to end the credit crisis. Seriously:

... the cost of buying a house is now 10% to 15% below the cost of renting across most of the country. Rising mortgage spreads and down-payment requirements are what's still driving down housing prices. We n

Inland Empire leaders fear a bailout wipeoutToday

There's an excellent piece in today's Wall Street Journal reporting that business leaders in the Inland Empire are worried that the federal bailout could do lasting damage to the area's housing market.

The specific fear, according to the Journal, is that bulk purchase of foreclosed properties, and bulk sales to investors, will lead to a sharp drop in home-ownership in the area:

"We don't want the cure to be worse than the disease," said Steve PonTell, a business owner in the vast area east of Los Angeles known as the Inland Empire. He said he is worried that neighborhoods could be seriously damaged if the Treasury 'dumps' real-estate assets in such a way that leads to absentee ownership.

Government representatives in the area are now scrambling to muster support for a federal bill that would allow local businesses and governments to buy up some of the real estate to make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of speculators who have no stake in the community. The bill, introduced Sept. 27 by Rep. Gary Miller, a Republican who represents some of the areas in Southern C

As foreclosure flood ebbs, listing prices are flat for fifth week in a rowToday

The lull continues: Median listing prices in Los Angeles County were flat for the fifth week in a row, and inventory of for-sale homes and condos dipped slightly, according to Housing Tracker's weekly analysis of MLS listings.

Numbers: Median listing price is unchanged at $399,000, a drop of 22.5% over the past year, and inventory dips 400 units to 40,137, a decline of 13.2% over the past year.

Two cents: The trend that most likely explains flat pricing in a declining market: The flood of cheap foreclosed houses coming onto the market has slowed dramatically, according to several Realtors who specialize in selling bank-owned houses. One possible factor is a new state law that draws out the foreclosure process, but it's not clear that the delays from that law have yet hit the market. Expect more slowdowns for several reasons, including Countrywide's partial foreclosure freeze as part of a larger loan workout program and IndyMac's new workout efforts.

Alternatively, you could argue that flat pricing means the market is no longer declining, though I don't yet buy that argument. Those would be your two cents, not mine.

Date Median listing price Inventory

4/06 $579,666

L.A. County foreclosures: Up, up and awayYesterday

The third-quarter foreclosure report released by PropertyShark.com last week paints another bleak picture. Los Angeles County foreclosures, totaling 15,749 by their methodology, were up nearly 196% from the same quarter in 2007 when there were 5,322. From the second quarter of '08, which had 14,505 foreclosures, they were up 9% in the third quarter.

If that's not dramatic enough for you, way back in the third quarter of 2006 the county recorded just 1,539 foreclosures. That's a more than 923% increase to last quarter.

The ZIP Codes with the most foreclosures were, in descending order: Palmdale 93550, Lancaster 93535, Sylmar 91342, Pacoima 91331, Palmdale 93552, Norwalk 90650, Palmdale 93551, Long Beach 90805, Lancaster 93534 and Quartz Hill 93536. For Palmdale 93550 that translates into one in every 45 homes, and for Lancaster 93535, one in every 46.

Who was left holding the most bad loans in L.A. County? Countrywide Homes Loans, followed by Washington Mutual.

--Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Pho

Tracking L.A.: Mar Vista 90066Yesterday

Last week I linked to some Redfin stats about the overall L.A. housing market, and asked for some reader suggestions on which Zip codes I should begin tracking. Here's the first of three or four: Mar Vista 90066, a corner of the city of Los Angeles just east of Venice and just south of Santa Monica.

Pictured listing: 12677 Dewey St.

A three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home measuring 1,269 square feet. Located on a breezy hill about two miles from the beach, but close to the (noisy) Santa Monica Airport. From the listing: "Close to everything and cool ocean breezes. Motivated seller- Submit all offers."

Listing history:
Listed 7/29 $779,000
Reduced 8/23 $749,000
Reduced 9/22 $729,000

Sales history: Sold for $235,000 in May 1994.