In CY 2010 GSE's Purchased 8,100 Loans Made to Millionaires.

I have put together an Excel workbook with loan level detail for $3 billion/8,139 loans purchased by the GSE's in 2010 that were to borrowers with incomes of $1 million or more.  

( I have also added the state level summary of loans to Millionaires to my PDF compilation in the right pane, Picture of GSE Assisted Households, CY 2010). Look for Table 9.  

Millionaires make up a VERY small percentage (2/10ths of 1%) of the more than 4.8 million loans purchased by the GSE's in CY 2010 and a substantial number of these loans could have been refinances of existing loans (users can research that more closely using this Excel workbook). 

In Oregon in CY 2010 there were a total of 104 GSE loans that went to millionaires, totaling $25.8 million; this represented only 1/10th of 1 percent of all loans in Oregon.

How to Download GSE Excel Workbooks

1. All of these Excel posts are included in a folder I have created on a cloud data sharing service, SpiderOak.  A link to that folder is HERE and it has also been added to the right pane as GSE CY 2010 Excel Files. [Ask me sometime about what a pain it was to find a web site that can host large file sizes].
2. The link above will open a web page.
3. From that web page you will see a “download” radio file on the right side that is supposed to allow you to download all Excel files in this folder as a single compressed file-I DO NOT recommend this method as I encounter errors in the size of the downloaded compressed file and in trying to open the file.
4. INSTEAD you should A. Left mouse click on the underlined folder name on the LEFT side of the page [GSE 2010 Public Shared Excel]  to open the folder AND THEN B. Click the “download” radio button on the right side for that file to download each file individually in an uncompressed format.
5. After downloading the file(s), navigate to the directory where you downloaded the file and double click to open.

GSE Loans Excel Workbook 3: GSE Loans to Millionaires [3.7 MB]

The data in this Excel workbook consists of $3 billion/8,139 loans purchased by the GSE’s during CY 2010 where borrower income of $1 million or more was reported.  The GSE CY 2010 data dictionary with all 39 field names and values can be found HERE:

In addition, to make the workbook easier to use,  I created lookup formulas to add fields with NAMES for 8 of the 39 data elements; those additional columns begin at column “AN” of the Oregon CY 2010 GSE Data worksheet. These include columns with the county and MSA names, names for race and ethnicity, a name for the purpose of the loan, and a column that places the ratio of borrower income to median area income in one of 5 categories /“bins”.  [For this workbook only I added one additional column that shows the ratio of borrower annual income to the median income for the census tract where the loan was purchased].
 

This workbook also includes a pivot table, allowing users to focus on geographies or demographics of interest; the default view is for a count of all loans by state showing by GSE the number of loans to millionaires. Users can change the fields displayed in the pivot table to retrieve any combination of data using the data fields available.  A summary worksheet in the workbook includes a ranked order by state of the % of all GSE loans that went to millionaires.

NOTE:
Loan records in this workbook are limited to ONLY borrowers with incomes of $1 million or more.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Update, CORRECTED: Income Recertification Staff Cost Savings From Switch to 3 Year Cycle: Really Less than $5 Per Household Annually?

 Update: Moving Forward advises that visitors to their prior hapdx.org website will be switched to their new HomeForward.org website.  Text has been change below.

CORRECTION: 
NLIHC staff were kind enough to take the time to advise me that the regulatory relief provisions I referenced below were NOT included in the bill that passed the House and Senate. 

I must have pulled the wrong version of the bill. I have corrected the text below and included the link to the FINAL version of the bill.

Information on projected savings remains accurate. 

My apologies for the confusion.

-------
The recently passed HUD FY 2012 appropriations bill [HERE] DID NOT ALLOW housing authorities  a switch to a 3 year cycle for income recertifications for those on "fixed incomes".  Presumably this would have included the elderly and persons with disabilities.

However, Portland's Home Forward (previously known as HAP) has the same plan for a 3 year cycle in their HUD approved FY 2012 Moving to Work Plan. (HERE)

Savings of Less than $5 Per Household Per Year?

As part of that plan, Moving Forward projected staff time savings by switching to a 3 year cycle for the elderly and disabled. As the table from the plan [pg 18] pasted below shows, the staff savings for 5,663 disabled and seniors are projected at only $24,800 a year.  Doing the math it would appear that Home Forward has projected a savings of only $4.38 per household per year ( $24,800/5,663=$4.38) as a result of switching to a 3 year recertification cycle.

Because this estimate is based on a projected staff time of less than a half hour per year, [ 5,663 households/ 2,832 hours= .5 hours per review] I am wondering if this includes all the staff time spent on this activity (mailing, interviewing, checking automated systems, etc). 

I would be interested in other housing authorities adding comments about their projected staff time per review and their hourly staff costs. 

PS . Visitors to the previous hapdx.org website will now with sent to the the new website: homeforward.org

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD Income Limits for FY 2011 are Out.

Hmm....8 months into the Fiscal Year HUD has finally released its FY 2011 income limits. 

Main page is HERE, lots of downloading options, read carefully to view income limit data appropriate for each program of interest. If you're a glutton for punishment, documentation of the FY 2011 MFI for each area can be reviewed in great detail; start your search HERE.

To keep it simple, I prepared HERE an Oregon county table of HUD Median Family Incomes, including one year and 10 year comparisons. 

Some observations: 

1. Several counties got one year median family increases of 10% or more: Baker (12%), Curry (18.6%), Hood River (12.5%), Lincoln (10.4%).
2. Only one county saw a one year decrease of 10% or more: Sherman County (17.1%).
3. Benton Count has the largest FY 2011 MFI ($73,200) while Wheeler has the lowest ($43,100).
4. The Portland metro MFI increased by 1.1% to $72,000.
5. Not on table: FY 2010-FY 2011, Oregon statewide MFI went up from $61,800 to $63,100, a 2.1% increase. I calculate 120% of FY 2011 statewide MFI (used for Hardest Hit program) as $75,720, but I would check with OHSI to confirm any income limit change for HH program.
6. Future reference:  A $400 annual increase in annual income means that a monthly rent increase of $10 would use 30% of the increased monthly income. Said differently, monthly rent increases of more than $10 would be a cost burden if income went up $400 a year. 
7. Over last 10 [fiscal] years the Portland metro HUD MFI has increased by 25.9%; the largest increase over those 10 years was in Wheeler County (71.7%), while the lowest  was in Lake County (15.1%).
8. Will be interesting to see how HUD reported FY 2010 and FY 2011 median family incomes compare to Census 2010 data--my guess is that HUD median family incomes will be higher than Census. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

May 2010 PDX Wage Data: Salaried Real Estate Agent Median Wages Were at 42% of 4 Person HUD Median Family Income.

Annually the Department of Labor releases occupational wage data by metro area.  The latest release occurred this week, and reports on data as of May 2010; the national metro data as a zipped Excel file is HERE.  

I dug into the reports and looked at the classification: 41-9022.00 - Real Estate Sales Agents. It is IMPORTANT to note that the data below is ONLY for salaried agents and does NOT include the self employed, who represent the largest share of real estate agents. (I am not aware of a public source of information on median wages of self employed real estate agents, if you know of one please let me know).

As you will see in the table pasted below for the Portland Metro area as of May 2010:

1. There were 670 jobs in this category.
2. The median wage for this classification was $29,610.
3. Dividing that real estate agent median wage by the 2010 HUD 4 Person Portland Median Family Income of $71,200 means that the Portland Metro median real estate sales agent wage was at 42% of the HUD median family income.
4. If the average real estate agent wage of $39,000 was used this would raise the average real estate agent wage to 55% of the HUD Portland Median Family Income.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD FY 2010 Income Limits FINALLY Out.

HUD has finally published the FY 2010 income limits HERE.

 

Oregon summary PDF page is HERE.

Oregon's Median Family Income went UP slightly from $61,100 to $61,800; Portland MFI also went up from $70,000 to $71,200.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD FY 2010 Income Limits Late--When Issued Will be Latest Issuance Date in Last Decade.

Must be some serious number crunching going on at HUD.

The FY 2010 HUD income limits have yet to be issued. Last year they were issued in March, in many years they were issued in January or February, and latest in last decade (FY 2001) had been April 6th.

FY 2010 income limits have got to be coming soon; HUD Income Limits web page is HERE.

Did I mention that FY 2010 started on October 1, 2009? Jeez...

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New CRS Report: Income of Americans Aged 65 and Older, 1968 to 2008.

Lots of details about sources and amounts of income for the elderly in the new CRS report HERE.

My money take away:

The poverty rate among people aged 65 and older fell from 25.0% in 1968 to 9.7% in 2008.

Originally created and posted by the Oregon Housing Blog.

Wages, July 2008: Portland Metro Wages Were HIGHER than 51% to 96% of Other Metro Areas, Depending on Occupational Group.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data yesterday on July 2008 wage comparisons by Metro area. Data were released as "pay relatives:

"A pay relative is a calculation of pay—wages, salaries, commissions, and production bonuses—for a given metropolitan area relative to the nation as a whole. The calculation controls for differences among areas in occupational composition, establishment and occupational characteristics, and the fact that data are collected
for areas at different times during the year."

How Do Other Metro Areas Compare to Portland?
One table (HERE) shows the wages of metro areas surveyed vs. the Portland metro area, with Portland values set at 100. Values below 100 indicate that the comparison metro area had a wage LOWER than Portland, while values higher than 100 indicate that metro area had a HIGHER wage than Portland for that occupation group.

Using that table , I did an analysis of the relative wages for the Portland metro compared to 76 other metro areas.

My PDF is HERE (on pages 2-4, any metro area with wages LOWER within an occupational group than Portland is formatted with green fill).

A summary of how Portland wages compare to 76 other metro areas is the first page of the PDF, and is also pasted below.That table shows that for the "all occupation" grouping, Portland metro wages were higher than 79% of the metro areas surveyed, but for the "Mgt. Business and Financial Services" occupational grouping, Portland wages were higher than only 51% of the other metro areas surveyed:

Occupation Group	Metro Areas With Wages Lower Than Portland	% of Metro Areas With Wages Lower than Portland
All	60	79%
Mgt, Business, and Financial	39	51%
Professional and Related	48	63%
Service	63	83%
Sales and Related	67	88%
Office and Admin Support	65	86%
Construction and Extraction	68	89%
Installation, Maint, and Repair	73	96%
Production	48	63%
Transportation and Material Moving	40	53%

How Does Portland Compare to the US Average?
Another BLS table HERE sets the US value at 100, with metro area wages values shown relative to that index. Values BELOW 100 indicate that wages for a given metro were BELOW the US average,while values HIGHER than 100 were HIGHER than the US average.

This table shows that Portland wages were HIGHER than the US average for ALL occupational groupings EXCEPT for the Management, Business and Financial category.

A BLS website with a further explanation of major occupational groupings is HERE.

I encourage the addition of comments if anyone has additional perspective on this new data.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New Income Limits Announced; Oregon Spreadsheet Compiled.

HUD has published new SEPARATE income limits for LIHTC (and bond financed) projects and HUD assisted projects.

Main income page is HERE, read it CAREFULLY as there are signficant changes this year.

A FAQ page is HERE.

I have constructed an Excel worksheet with all OREGON income limits in two separate tables. Be sure to read the READ ME sheet in that workbook and the links to SEPARATE explanations for LIHTC/bond financed and HUD income limits. You can download that Excel file HERE.

(I do not see any difference this year for Oregon between LIHTC/Bond Financed income limits and Section 8 at the 50% MFI level)

HUD Income Determinations Final Rule and Comments: Delayed Implementation.

Interesting story on on HUD income rule changes from NLIHC Memo to Members is HERE.

Story says:
"HUD issued a proposed rule on these issues in June 2007 and a final rule on January 27, 2009. Advocates used the opportunity presented by the new Administration to voice strong concern about the impact of the final rule, which was to go into effect on March 30, 2009, and HUD pulled the final rule and announced it would accept additional comments on the rule before delaying its implementation and/or amending the rule prior to implementation."

Story includes copies of comment letters on the income changes, including the most recent March 13, 2009 comment letter HERE.

HUD's January 27,2009 final rule is HERE.

The Feb. 11, 2009 HUD announcement of the delay can be found HERE.

Oregon Example: Postive Family Income Impacts of Mainstream Programs.

With the annual Oregon poverty conference coming up soon and my recent stories about SCHIP and the Healthy Kids Ballot measure, I thought it would be interesting to develop an example showing the impact of mainstream programs on family incomes and the variable share of costs paid for by those programs. The programs I chose for this example were health insurance, food stamps, rent assistance, and earned income tax credits.

Using a variety of data sources, I estimated the share of costs for these items paid for by the government, and the resulting family savings, for a working family with two adults and one child, with one adult working at 110% of the 2008 Oregon minimum wage.

The details are found in the PDF HERE. The summary is that these four support programs:

• Increased income by 56%, more than $10,000 a year.

• Moved the family from 104% of the poverty level to 162% of the poverty level.
  

Oregon Progress Board Renter Median HH Income Is 26% Below ACS Estimate for 2006, Invalidates OPB Rent Burden %'s

This is the first in a series of reviews of Oregon Progress Board Housing Benchmark Data and focuses on Renter Household Incomes and Rent Burdened Percentages.

Progress Board: The Oregon Progress Board [OPB] has changed the statement of this goal over time, invalidating comparisons to early periods. The now stated goal is that no more than 70% of renter households [HH's] below rental median income will pay more than 30% their income for rent. [See page 7 of 2007 Benchmark summary report HERE]

The Progress Board reports that the median rental household income for 2006 was $22.669 and that 82% of renters at that income level paid more than 30% of their income for rent in 2006. (You can confirm renter median income from OPB by generating a specific report HERE).

ACS 2006: The Census American Community Survey [ACS] estimates (Table B25119) that Oregon 2006 renter median household income was $28,582. (The 2005 ACS reported Oregon Renter Household Median Income estimate was $26,385, increasing to $27,236 in 2006 inflation adjusted dollars].

Analysis: OPB's estimated median renter household income for 2006 is $5,913 and 26.1% BELOW the 2006 ACS estimate and $1,346 and 4.9% BELOW the one year earlier inflation adjusted 2005 ACS renter household median estimate.

This wide variance in income directly impacts the accuracy of the rent burdened estimate, as rent burdens generally decrease as incomes increase. Higher ACS estimated renter median HH incomes would suggest that the percentage of below median rent burdened HH's was less than OPB reported.

[Note: ACS data available in the Fact Finder site does not directly provide rent burdens for median income renter HH's, so that no direct comparison can be made with OPB counts and percentages. Those with more skill , time, and software tools than I have MAY be able to calculate such a direct comparison using downloaded PUMS data and I encourage users to try that if they wish ].

Recommendation for Oregon Progress Board: Use ACS Data on Rent Burdens and Renter Median HH Income.

While I appreciate that there are differences in survey methods, including the size of sample and the period sampled, there is no way IMO that a difference of 26.1% in renter HH median income can be explained away by those variations.

OPB already selectively uses other ACS data. With ACS gradually expanding coverage to include smaller areas, if the Oregon Progress Board switched to using ACS data on rent burdens and median renter HH income:

• More valid year to year to year comparisons could be made.
• Some local geographies could be added to track this benchmark.
  
• Direct comparisons to other states could be made.
  

Moreover, OPB would be improve this benchmark to report not only above 30% , but also above 50% rent burdens, which disproportionately affect the lowest income Oregon renters.