The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in March, rose 5.3 percent to 102.9 from 97.7 in February, and is 21.1 percent above March 2009 when it was 85.0; this follows an 8.3 percent increase in February. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said favorable affordability conditions have been working with the tax credit. “Clearly the home buyer tax credit has helped stabilize the market. In the months immediately following the expiration of the tax credit, we expect measurably lower sales,” he said. “Later in the second half of the year, and into 2011, home sales will likely become self-sustaining if the economy can add jobs at a respectable pace, and from a return of buyer demand as they see home values stabilizing.”

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“Our goal is to make sure consumers can sustain their mortgages and remain in their homes over the long term, while helping our lender partners offer a range of mortgage products for qualified borrowers,” said Marianne Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Single Family Credit Policy and Risk Management at Fannie Mae. “These policy changes reflect our intention to continue providing liquidity to different market segments by ensuring that support for ARM products remains in appropriate circumstances.”

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As part of the campaign, the Network has launched a consumer-friendly Website, www.PreventLoanScams.org, which is designed to support national, state and local law enforcement efforts. The Website serves as a nationwide clearinghouse and destination for loan modification scam information on complaints filed, laws and regulations, and enforcement actions.

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Existing-home sales increased 24 percent last month with a total of 16,294 homes sold statewide compared to 13,090 homes sold in March 2009. That means home sales activity in the Sunshine State has increased in the year-to-year comparison for 19 months. In addition, existing-home sales in March increased 37 percent over statewide sales activity in February.

The increase in sales for existing condos was even more impressive. Florida Realtors reported a 63 percent jump in statewide sales of existing condos in March compared to the same month last year. On a month-to-month basis, existing-condo sales surged 40.6 percent.

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Year-over-year, sales are up 16.1 percent. According to NAR, the March numbers are just the beginning of what will be a strong spring season. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, called the latest report a sign of “broad home sales recovery in nearly every part of the country.”

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Housing starts climbed to an annual rate of 626,000 last month, up 1.6 percent from February’s revised 616,000 pace that was higher than initially estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Building permits, a sign of future construction, climbed to the highest level since October 2008.

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ML 2009-51 outlines two additional prohibitions on the use of an appraisal report. First, an original appraisal report can only be updated one time using the Appraisal Update Report (AUR). Second, the AUR may not be used when ordered by a lender who is not identified as the intended user in the original appraisal report unless the original report is incorporated into the update. The appraiser must include a completed Market Conditions Addendum for the subject property. An appraisal with no AUR has a 150 day validity period (120 day validity period for the original appraisal plus 30 day extension period as permitted by HUD). An appraisal with an AUR has a 240 day validity period.

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The report cites $823.6 billion in funding the company provided last year to help keep the single-family and multifamily mortgage markets operating. The report also notes that the company enabled 1.7 million low- and moderate-income families to obtain affordable housing in 2009, and helped more than 160,000 struggling borrowers with Fannie Mae-owned loans keep their homes through loan modification or other loan assistance.

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