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, Jun 3 1992 Date: Wed, 3 Jun 92 05:20:41 EDT Message-ID: 06-03 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update June 3, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network APRIL HOME SALES SLUGGISH: A slow-moving recovery seems on track, even though new home sales - crucial to a strong economy - were sluggish again in April. Sales of new single-family homes rose a listless 1.3% in April from March, to an annual rate of 530,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. April's poor performance followed a dismal March, in which sales plunged 15.9% to a 523,000 annual sales rate. (For more, see special Sales package.) MORTGAGE DELINQUENCIES FALL: Mortgage loan delinquencies fell last quarter and are expected to drop further this quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association says. Delinquencies - payments 30 days or more late - made up 4.5% of mortgages, compared to 4.78% in the fourth quarter. The MBA attributed the third straight quarterly drop to a stronger economy and a drop in mortgage rates. N.Y. TO UPDATE VALUES: New York will update its estimate of property values around the state, officials said Tuesday. The state's estimates need to be closer to the current value, considering the downturn in the real estate market, according to David Gaskell, executive director of the state's Board of Equalization and Assessment. The new values will likely be available in late 1993, Gaskell added. VERMONT PARK GETS ENDORSEMENT: Rep. Bruce Vento, D-Minn., chairman of the House Interior subcommittee, voiced support Tuesday for Vermont's first national park. The subcommittee is expected to vote next week on a bill that would create the 550-acre Marsh-Billings National Historical Park in Woodstock. The Senate has already approved a companion bill. PA. LIEN LAW PROTESTED: Nearly 100 people rallied at the Pennsylvania capital Tuesday, urging the repeal of a 1937 law placing liens on the homes of state welfare recipients. The lien, based on the welfare benefits a person receives, must be paid off before the home can be sold. More than 85,000 state families have welfare liens totaling $648 million on their homes. Only New York and Connecticut have similar laws. FEDERAL HOUSING AID SOUGHT: Painesville, Ohio, officials are asking the federal government for $250,000 to improve housing for migrant workers, mostly Mexican men who work for Lake County nurseries and landscapers. The city would use part of the money to rehabilitate substandard and overcrowded houses and apartment buildings. N.Y. TOWN ENDS FIGHT: Southhampton, N.Y., has called off a legal fight against a study of the impact of development in the 100,000-acre pine barrens preserve, officials said Monday. The town doesn't want to spend more money on lawyers, the officials said. Two other towns are still fighting against the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, which says growth would harm wildlife and water supplies. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES STABLE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.60% Tuesday, unchanged from Monday, but up from 8.53% the week before. They were at 9.45% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 5.96%, unchanged from Monday but up from 5.93% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.17%. ARM INDEXES UNCHANGED: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 4.27% Tuesday, unchanged from Monday, but up from 4.12% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.13%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.427%, unchanged from Monday but down from 5.611% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.501%. T-BONDS DECLINE: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds showed a decline Tuesday, listing at 7.86%. That's down 0.02 from rates of 7.88% Monday and down 0.05 from rates of 7.91% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.34%. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SALES: HOUSING MARKET HAS `FLATTENED': An estimated 51,000 new homes were sold in April, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. The housing market won't likely reach the 650,000 to 750,000 annual sales rates of the late 1980s, economists say. But the market did lead the recovery, and it now has now flattened, waiting for the rest of the economy, says David Berson, chief economist of the Federal National Mortgage Association. WEST POSTS BIGGEST GAINS: New home sales rose 22.5% in the West and 1.9% in the Northeast in April. The rise in the West follows a drop of 24% in the previous month. Midwestern sales fell 5.5%, while sales in the South fell 8.1%. (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. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM