National News
Early reports on Augusts’ Year Over Year (YOY) forecast have lead to competing forecasts between financial and economic analysts. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) estimated that home sales this July ran at a SAAR of 4.67 million, a
Pop star Rihanna is a good girl gone bad – at least when Beverly Hills real estate is concerned. The chart-topping singer is suing Prudential California Realty, the company that sold her a 10,000-square-foot mansion for $6.9 million in
Housing experts were none too kind to President Obama after his non-specific mention of housing in a major jobs speech last week, but it appears that his jobs bill, the more heavily promoted policy of the speech, does contain aid
Freddie Mac has finalized requirements on a new “Standard Modification,” a loan modification program for delinquent homeowners who did not meet requirements for the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Officially launching in January, the new program will begin
The Market Composite Index, a study of mortgage loan application volume that is compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association, rose 6.3 percent last week, bouncing back from a disappointing 4.9 percent decline the week before. Despite historically-low interest rates, mortgage
September is the National Association of Realtor’s “Realtor Safety Month,” and to coincide with the month, real estate website AgentGenius conducted surveys and interviews to assess Realtor safety in 2011. The site’s findings were both frightening and educational. Andrew
Continuing in its goal of creating universal lending documents for the mortgage industry, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has begun a fourth round of product testing this week, focusing on two different loans that appear on the same
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the major delinquency rates for multifamily units fell in four of the five major investor groups, which includes FDIC-insured banks, life insurance providers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The rates
According to analysts at Barclays, a global financial services provider, the new housing plans recently announced by President Obama amount to a revamp of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), not an all-out expansion. Fears over the President’s comments
New historically-low interest rates, positive builders indexes, and speculation and analysis of President Barack Obama’s housing policies were some of the top national stories this week on Chicago Agent magazine’s
Federal loan limits are set to decline on Oct. 1, and New York Congressman Gary Ackerman, along with 36 other lawmakers, is lobbying to stop that from
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) launched the First American Improving Market Index (IMI) today to track metropolitan regions showing significant signs of growth. This comes as good news to a housing industry that has become accustomed to
In a much-touted speech on the economy last night, President Barack Obama largely skipped the topic of housing, opting instead to comment what many had predicted: that the White House was looking to revise its “Home Affordable Refinance Program” to
The Multifamily Production Index (MPI), a statistic compiled by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) that measures multifamily unit construction, increased for the fourth consecutive quarter, another sign that the multifamily market is
So much for history – after reaching 50-year lows on Aug. 18, the 30-year FRM from Freddie Mac has hit a new historical low, this time reaching 4.12
President Obama is scheduled to address the nation tonight on the economy, and the real estate industry is filled with anticipation – apprehension, even – on what the President will say about housing, if anything at
