U.S. government scientists say they’ve found a home’s proximity to wind energy facilities has no pervasive or widespread adverse effect on property values.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said their study was based on site visits, data collection and an analysis of nearly 7,500 single-family home sales. They said their research is the most comprehensive and data-rich analysis to date on the potential impact of U.S. wind projects on residential property values.

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The U.S. Treasury Department announced new guidelines this week designed to make short sales go more smoothly.

 To qualify under these new guidelines:

• The property must be the home owner’s principal residence.
• The home owner must be delinquent on the mortgage or close to defaulting.
• The loan must have been made before Jan. 1, 2009, and be for less than $729,750.
• The borrowers’ total monthly mortgage payment must exceed 31 percent of their before-tax income.

Under the plan, borrowers will receive $1,500 from the government for selling homes for less than the amount of their mortgages.   Mortgage-servicing companies will get $1,000 for each completed short sale.

Second-mortgage holders can receive up to $3,000 of the sales proceeds in exchange for releasing their liens.

Investors who hold the first mortgage can collect up to $1,000 from the government for allowing the payments.

Borrowers who complete a short sale under the program must be “fully released” from future liability for the debt, according to the guidelines.

Source: Associated Press, J.W. Elphinstone (11/01/2009) and The Wall Street Journal, Ruth Simon (11/01/2009)

Washington, December 01, 2009

Pending home sales have risen for nine months in a row, a first for the series of the index since its inception in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, increased 3.7 percent to 114.1 from 110.0 in September, and is 31.8 percent above October 2008 when it was 86.6. The rise from a year ago is the biggest annual increase ever recorded for the index, which is at the highest level since March 2006 when it was 115.2.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said home sales are experiencing a pendulum swing. “Keep in mind that housing had been underperforming over most of the past year. Based on the demographics of our growing population, existing-home sales should be in the range of 5.5 million to 6.0 million annually, but we were well below the 5-million mark before the home buyer tax credit stimulus,” he said. “This means the tax credit is helping unleash a pent-up demand from a large pool of financially qualified renters, much more than borrowing sales from the future.

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