National News

First Quarter Activity Strong for Median Home Values

Median home values, improving sales and stronger inventories were all features of the 2012 first quarter report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Median existing single-family home prices rose year-over-year in 74 out of the 146 metro areas tracked

Mortgage Delinquency Data Spotlights Judicial Divide

After a brief lull in activity, serious mortgage delinquencies picked up in the second half of 2011, according to new report from Foreclosure-Response.org, and along the way, they highlighted some of the most interesting nuances of the judicial handeling of

Realtors to Rally for Homeownership by the Thousands

Thousands of Realtors from across the country are planning a May 17 rally in Washington, D.C. in an effort to ensure that homeownership, housing and real estate issues are still public policy priority as the presidential election season

HUD Modernizes Planning Process with New Technology

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching the eCon Planning Suite, a set of 21st Century data and technology tools to help communities ensure that scarce federal dollars are targeted to where they are needed most

New Chapter in the Homeownership vs Renting Debate

A new chart of analysis has reinvigorated the homeownership vs renting debate, with another nod of economic approval heading for the homeowners’ corner. Assembled by analyst Ben Walsh for Felix Salmon of Reuters, the chart uses the most recent data from

What Wave of Foreclosures?

The wave of foreclosures that many analysts had anticipated has, thus far, failed to materialize (knock on wood), and its absence is making some reconsider the housing market. As the Wall Street Journal explained in a recent story, the biggest

Fannie Mae Avoids Losses in 2012 Q1

Fannie Mae, the much-beleaguered GSE, is reporting a financial scenario for 2012’s first quarter that stands in stark contrast to past reports – it’s positive. After quarterly losses of $6.5 billion in the first quarter of 2011 and $2.4 billion

Stability Key Feature in Obama's April Housing Scorecard

Greater stability and sales activity were the big takeaways from the Obama White House’s latest Housing Scorecard, a detailed report on the nation’s housing market. Released in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and

Housing Values Increase in CoreLogic Price Index

Home values increased 0.6 percent from February to March in CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) for the first time since July 2011. Though prices did decline by 0.6 percent from March 2011 to March 2012, they also rose by

Improving Markets Index Retain Triple-Digit Status

The NAHB’s Improving Markets Index (IMI) held steady at 100 in May, the second month in a row of triple-digit totals for the index. First released last summer, the IMI has grown by wide margins in the months since,

FHFA Puts Finishes Touches on REO-to-Rental Program

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is putting the final finishing touches on its closely watched REO conversion program, according to FHFA official Meg Burns. A plan to sell distressed Fannie Mae properties to investors, who will then rent

Despite Soft Jobs Report, Housing Attitudes Stabilizing

The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, a relatively small amount that nonetheless reduced the unemployment rate, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but homeowner interest remains high in Fannie Mae’s latest National

Millennials Now Outnumber Boomers

By Lani Rosales, AGBeat Do you know who your clients are? It seems that today, the type of client you have – one who prefers texting and Facebook vs. one who will only communicate through phone calls – depends

Non-Conforming Practices in Lending

The federal conforming loan limit was one of the most highly contentious issues in the tail end of 2011, but based on recent statistics, all that controversy seems to have been for naught. Originally passed in late 2008 to

Mansion vs. McMansion

Just as many consumers ponder what McDonalds burgers are really made of, real estate professionals and journalists ask an equally probing question: What is a “McMansion”? According to research completed by Brian Miller, a sociologist at Wheaton College who has

Supply-Side Economics in the Construction Field

A mill fire in the British Columbia is impacting the current price of lumber, though the future for the construction material is still debatable. The result of wood dust, the fire has pushed the Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite

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