California's home sales recorded its weakest performance since 2007 in November 2015 when the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) requirement took effect. As a result, December became one of the hottest for house sales in California.
In a report by Housing Wire, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began implementing the TRID in November which delayed many transactions for California home sales. Realtors initially thought the market will struggle for some time but when the numbers came in December they were surprised.
The California Association of Realtors reported that sales of single-family homes increased by 9.6 percent in December and a big percentage of the increase came from deals that were bumped off due to the TRID and only closed in the last month of 2015.
Ziggy Zicarelli, president of the association, pointed to the sales growth as historically one of the biggest by far. He said, "As we speculated, sales that were delayed in November because of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new loan disclosure rules closed in December instead, which led to the greatest monthly sales increase in nearly five years. Sales increased across the board in all price segments in December, but improvement in the sub-$500,000 market was more pronounced as many homes affected by the new loan disclosures were priced under the conforming loan limit."
According to AZ Central, it is not just California home sales that will be affected by the TRID rules. All real estate transactions are required to adhere to the stipulations of the new ruling and buyers are advised to work with lenders to give accurate information so deals can be closed quickly.
The TRID was enacted via the Dodd-Frank Act and its design is aimed at improving consumer loan disclosures and was a brainchild of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Experts say that this rule will change how home buyers apply for loans.