30-Year Rates Dip Again, to 6.26%

Rates on 30-year mortgages dipped for a second week as financial markets responded to signals of lower inflation. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.26 percent this week, down slightly from 6.30 percent last week. Rates on 30-year mortgages had hit a two-year high of 6.37 on Nov. 17 but have declined in four of the past five weeks.

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Housing Starts Rise 5.3% in November

Housing starts rose 5.3 percent in November, and 17.5 percent compared with the same month last year, according to a Commerce Department report, baffling some housing-industry analysts who had predicted that housing starts would level off or decline slightly.

Permits for new construction climbed as well, rising 2.5 percent in the month and 3 percent from the same month in 2004, according to the government report.

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Greenvest seeks OK for 1,112 homes in Loudoun

Greenvest is plotting another large-scale project in Loudoun County, and the latest proposal would bring 1,112 residences to an area off Gum Spring Road. The Vienna-based company is seeking zoning changes that would clear the way for Seven Hills, a 464-acre development with 53,000 square feet of commercial space and a day care center. The residential component has a mix of single-family and multifamily homes, including 139 units reserved as affordable dwellings.

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Poll: Housing bubble won't burst

Rising home costs have led to speculation recently over when and if housing prices will take a plunge, possibly dealing a blow to the nation's economy. But the majority of respondents to an informal Los Angeles Business poll say that won't happen. Forty-one percent said they believe the housing bubble never will burst. To some, that means there never was a bubble to begin with.

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Mortgage rates slip a bit

Mortgage rates, which have notched higher almost every week since August, fell slightly this week. Freddie Mac's weekly rate report says 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.30 percent this week, down from 6.32 percent last week. A year ago, 30 year mortgages were averaging 5.68 percent.

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Planning Body Foresees Housing Shortfall

Montgomery and Fairfax counties will have to rethink land-use policies to provide housing for tens of thousands of workers projected to fill new jobs in the area over the next 25 years, according to a new report.

In its latest round of regional growth forecasts, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments said that while the area's economy will generate about 1.6 million new jobs by 2030, current building patterns would leave a shortage of about 92,000 homes.

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Minimum-Payment Loans Get Maximum Crackdown

Federal financial regulators appear to be on the verge of reining in one of the most popular mortgages in hot housing markets nationwide -- loans that allow 1 percent to 2 percent payment rates leading to "negative amortization."

In a speech last week to the Consumer Federation of America, Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan hinted strongly that banks and their mortgage subsidiaries can expect significantly toughened rules for 2006 governing "payment-option" home loans. Payment-option mortgages have accounted for about a third of all new home loans originated by some major lenders this year.

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Fairfax courts foreign presence

Fairfax County sent representatives from its Economic Development Authority to Mexico this week to try to persuade Mexican corporations to locate in the county. Foreign companies have been helping to make Fairfax one of the fastest-growing segments of the Washington area's real estate market.

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Mortgage Stress Seen for '06

Mortgage delinquencies among homeowners with high-cost loans will rise by 10 to 15 percent in 2006, as borrowers struggle with higher interest rates, high debt levels and higher energy costs amid flattening home prices, a new report from investment analyst Fitch Ratings predicts. Consequently, overall mortgage delinquencies are likely to rise next year, as well, according to the report's authors.

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District agency has $41M for new housing project grants

D.C.'s hot residential market has pumped a lot of money into the city's affordable-housing fund. The Department of Housing and Community Development is accepting applications for a piece of a $41 million pot that can be used by private and nonprofit developers of affordable housing.

The grant pool -- the richest the city has ever distributed -- includes $30 million from the Housing Production Trust Fund, which is backed by real estate transfer taxes.

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Housing prices still among nation's best

The runaway rise in housing prices nationwide is starting to show signs of slowing, but prices in the Washington area continue to rise at one of the fastest paces in the nation.

A report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight says U.S. house prices ended the third quarter up 12 percent from a year ago. Home prices ended the second quarter up 14 percent, the fastest pace in 26 years.

Prices in The District posted the fourth-biggest year over year gains, up 20.53 percent. Maryland ranked fifth at 19.29 percent. Virginia ranked seventh at 18.66 percent.

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Long-Awaited Revival for H Street Corridor

Just east of Union Station, a church is turning what was a rundown, boarded-up building at the corner of F and Second Streets NE into what is intended to be a hip, neighborhood coffeehouse.

National Community Church, which has a largely young flock and holds its services in a movie theater at Union Station, bought the building that was once a diner for $325,000 in 2002 and is spending $2.2 million to fix it. Pastor Mark Batterson said the goal is to raise money for charitable projects and provide a gathering spot in a changing neighborhood.

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Prices Keep Rising As Home Sales Fall

The mounting evidence that home sales are slumping in the Washington area has been attracting attention. Inventories of homes for sale are up across the region, houses are sitting on the market longer, and buyers are more sparse at open houses.

But according to newly released data from the National Association of Realtors, the prices paid for houses in the area kept rising in the third quarter. Among existing single-family homes that changed hands in the three months ended in September, the median sale price was $441,400, a record. That's up from $349,400 a year earlier, a 26 percent increase, and up from $429,200 in the second quarter of the year.

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