Home Purchase Mortgage Activity Remains Weak As Distressed Properties and Cash Sales Color Market
May 26, 2011
Home purchase mortgage activity is limping along in 2011 as high levels of both distressed properties and cash sales continue to weigh down the housing market. According to new numbers released by the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey, the Distressed Property Index decreased slightly in April but still remained at an elevated level of 47.7 percent. An abundance of distressed properties in the housing market is cutting into home purchase lending. The new HousingPulse Survey results show that the share of damaged real estate owned the hardest sector of home sales to obtain traditional financing jumped from [Includes one graph]