Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Wed, Jul 8 1992 Date: Wed, 8 Jul 92 05:13:09 EDT Message-ID: 07-08 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update July 8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network EXTENT OF RATE DROP UNKNOWN: Mortgage rates will remain flat or dip slightly in the weeks ahead, but nothing's guaranteed, say economists. Borrowers should heed last winter, when rates dipped to around 8%-8.25% in January but remained there only for three weeks. By mid March, rates were at 9%. A survey of 100 large banks by Bank Rate Monitor Tuesday shows that the average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages at 7.99%. (For more, see special Rates package below.) FORMER HUD OFFICIAL CHARGED: Deborah Gore Dean, executive assistant to Samuel Pierce, the Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Reagan administration, Tuesday was charged with 13 felony counts in the HUD influence-peddling scandal. Prosecutors said Dean used her HUD position to enrich herself and others by steering housing money to developers represented by favored consultants. L.A. DEBATES PROPERTY TAX HIKE: The Los Angeles City Council votes Wednesday on a property tax increase proposal that would add 1,000 officers to the smallest big-city police department in the USA. The measure would need the support of two-thirds of voters Nov. 3. Similar proposals were rejected in 1981 and 1985 and the state is grappling with an $11 billion budget deficit that threatens to slash services. TOKYO HOUSING COSTS REMAIN HIGH: A new house in Tokyo cost an average $535,000 last year, compared to $322,700 in San Francisco, the USA's most expensive city, according to 1990 data from the Census Bureau and Japan's National Land Agency. The cost in Tokyo was eight times the average income of Tokyo residents, while San Francisco's figure was more than seven times the average income of its residents. BILL WOULD ALLOW ROOFING RULES: Local governments in California would be authorized to impose tougher building standards under a bill before the state Assembly, according to Thomas F. Conneely, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies, which supports the bill. The bill would allow governments to set more stringent standards for fire retardant roofing. HOMART PLANS ILL. CENTER: Homart Community Centers Inc., announced Tuesday plans for a 600,000-square-foot shopping center in Schaumburg, Ill. The center, to be located on 61 acres of land to be bought from Unocal Corp., will cost $50 million to $60 million by next year's opening, Garo Kholamian, senior development director, told Bloomberg Business News. Homart is a unit of Sears, Roebuck and Co., MOST TIME-SHARERS CONTENT: A study on time-share ownership shows that more than 82% of owners are pleased with their purchases and would recommend time-sharing. The study was conducted for the American Resort Development Association by Ragatz Associates Inc. The study, out Tuesday, said that 72% agreed that time-sharing has had a positive impact on their lives. FLA. APPROPRIATES HOUSING FUNDS: Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles Tuesday signed a bill that will put $114 million into affordable housing programs by 1995. The bill also earmarks $41 million over two years to back bonds for an environmental land purchase program. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES HOLD: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.29% Tuesday, unchanged from Monday but down from 8.43% the week before. They were at 9.62% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 5.69%, unchanged from Monday but down from 5.78% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.25%. ARM INDEXES STABLE: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 3.96% Tuesday, unchanged from Monday but down from 4.14% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.40%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.290%, unchanged from Monday and unchanged from the week before. A year ago they were at 7.329%. T-BONDS DECLINE: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds showed a decline Tuesday, listing at 7.60%. That's down 0.02 from rates of 7.62% Monday and down 0.18 from 7.78% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.53%. SPECIAL PACKGE ON RATES: GOOD NEWS COULD RAISE RATES: Interest rates, although expected to hold or fall slightly in the weeks ahead, could easily rise again. Last winter, for example, good economic news increased bond yields, which lenders use to set mortgage rates. Bond investors fear a strong economy will boost inflation which eats at the value of bonds' interest payments. Any good economic news could cause rates to rise quickly. REFINANCING WAVE HITS LENDERS: Many consumers, particularly homeowners who missed the big wave to refinance last winter, are acting fast. First Union Mortgage in Charlotte, N.C., reports logging 4,275 calls Monday, compared to 1,500 the week before. Countrywide Funding, in Pasadena, Calif., says 8,000 people called Monday about refinancing - triple the number last week. (End of package.) Real Estate Editor: Christopher Goldthwaite. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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