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Mortgage Rates Remain
Flat
Reflecting continued uncertainty
in the economy, mortgage rates barely budged
Aug. 26 in Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage
Market Survey.
The survey
reported the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate
(FRM) on conforming loans remained below 6
percent, rising a notch to 5.82 percent with 0.7
points, up from 5.81 percent a week earlier. A
year ago the rate was 6.28 percent.
The average
rate on a one-year, adjustable rate mortgage
(ARM) for conforming loans rose to 4.05
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percent with 0.6
points, up from last week's 4.01 percent.
The average
for the 15-year FRM rose to is 5.21 percent,
with an average 0.6 points, up from last week
when it averaged 5.19 percent.
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Home Owners Reap
Large
Returns
 Home owners, on average, in the past
year, earned more than $15,000, thanks to home
value appreciation chugging along at nearly 9
percent.
Continuing
to behave like a regional market on fire, the hot
national market yielded a median price in July of
$191,300 up from $176,000 in July 2003 -- an 8.7
increase in value.
Condo owners fared even better as the condo/co-op
median price rose 12.1 percent to $189,400 in the
second quarter this year, said NAR.
And second home
owners were jumping for joy as well. Values in 10
select markets, known to attract second and
vacation home buyers, rose 22 percent.
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One In Three Baby Boomers Leaving Empty
Nests
 Grown kids of one in three baby
boomers had better make sure they have a roof over
their own heads and don't need to return to the
coop because their parents will have flown -- for
good.
Most baby
boomers plan to stay put when they retire, but
more than one in three say they plan to leave
their empty nests, move miles away and settle into
smaller digs.
Home
builder Pulte Homes' "Baby Boomer Report," found
that 36% of empty nest baby boomers won't be far
behind when the kids leave home. One third of
those who plan to move, want to move more than
three hours away. One third of those who want to
move plan to move into a more urban locale.
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Affordable Housing That Keeps Up With Changing
Lifestyles
 Like the extraterrestrial's subterranean
Antarctic temple in the Alien vs. Predator (aka "AVP")
film -- with much better lighting -- a new concept home
will adjust to meet the changing lifestyle needs of its
occupants.
The United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development's
(HUD) Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing
(PATH) program has designed an architectural model of a
factory-built home that comes with movable interior
walls, utility systems independent of the building's
structure and "smart" materials, all of which can be
plugged together -- from ground breaking to completion
-- in 20 days.
Like
something from the set of a science fiction movie, the
PATH Concept Home can be packed with out-of-this-world
materials including electro-textiles that deliver
current through wall coverings and photovoltaic roof
shingles that inconspicuously generate power.
The concept model went on
display at HUD's Washington, D.C. headquarters this
summer to underscore efforts by building engineers and
scientists to put more technologically-achieved
customization in housing. By 2010, the PATH program will
bring down costs to make home ownership affordable for
90 percent of the population. |
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