ThinkstockThe U.S. Census Bureau this morning released data on new single-family home sales for December. Sales fell 7.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 369,000 from a revised November sales figure of 398,000.…
ThinkstockThe Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported this morning that U.S. home prices rose 0.6% month-over-month in November, following an upward revision of the October housing price index to a gain of 0.6%. For…
ThinkstockThe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning, noting a rise of 7% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, following a rise of 15.2% for the previous…
ThinkstockThe National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing home sales in December fell 1% to 4.94 million from a downwardly revised total of 4.99 million in November.…
ThinkstockResearch firm Zillow reported home prices rose 5.9% last year and should be up another 3.3% in 2013. As ought to be expected, given the magnitude of the drop in some markets and only modest…
ThinkstockOne of the big ideas floating around for the past year or so is the securitization of single-family rental payments into securities that could then sold to investors. If this sounds like a mortgage-backed…
ThinkstockFitch Ratings is out with its 2013 outlook for housing, and the news appears to remain favorable after solid single-family housing starts and an unexpected jump in multifamily starts. The single family housing starts…
ThinkstockThe U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported this morning that new housing starts in December rose to an annual seasonally adjusted rate of 954,000, a sharp increase of…
ThinkstockThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has set new rules to block what it sees as abuses of the foreclosure process. The Washington Post reports that the action is to: … prevent such problems…
ThinkstockForeclosures in the U.S. are falling, data released today by foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac shows. Last year, 1.8 million properties were foreclosed, down 2.7% from 2011, and down 36% from 2010. Click here to see…
ThinkstockThe National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo housing market index remained unchanged in January, at 47, still clinging to the highest index reading since April 2006. An index reading below 50 indicates that more…
ThinkstockThe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning, noting a rise of 15.2% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, following a rise of 11.7% for the previous…
ThinkstockHome prices rose 7.4% in November compared with the same month a year ago, the largest monthly increase since May 2006 according to research firm CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX). The firm had previously forecast a…
ThinkstockLennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) reported fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results before markets opened this morning. The homebuilder reported quarterly diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.56 on revenues of $1.35 billion. In the…
ThinkstockThe number of people with underwater mortgages has begun to contract quickly, in what is likely to be a sign that real estate values have risen, or that people have paid down their home…