The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Know Before You Owe TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure actually delays closings, causing the California housing market to slow down, the California Association of Realtors says.
"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Know Before You Owe TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure, or TRID, which was implemented in early October, may have affected home sales in the last couple of months," said C.A.R. President, Ziggy Zicarelli. "Some sales may have been either pulled forward into September to beat TRID's effective date or been delayed. The impact, however, should be transitory as the roll-out and implementation process move further along."
The Know Before You Owe mortgage initiative is designed to empower consumers with the information they need to make informed mortgage choices.
According to the press release of C.A.R. in PR Newswire, the closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 369,680 units in November, dropped by 8.4 percent from the revised 403,580 level in October, and went down 1.6 percent compared with home sales in November 2014 of a revised 375,740.
The median price of existing homes in California last November is $475,000, which dropped 0.2 percent from $475,990 in October, and is 6.8 percent higher than the revised $444,630 recorded in November 2014.
According to C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist, Leslie Appleton-Young, the increase rate hike announced by the Federal Reserve this month was something to be expected and will not have any significant adverse impact in the housing market. However, it may influence potential buyers in the sidelines to finally transact because of the possibility of a continual slow increase of rates in the next couple of years.
The California Association of Realtors' November 2015 Resale Housing Report was based on the information gathered from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide.