News / Features

New Home Sales Increase 11.4 Percent From 2011

For the second month in a row, new home sales were down monthly but up yearly, increasing 11.4 percent from February 2011 but decreasing 1.6 percent from January 2012’s revised rate of 318,000, according to data just released today

Demand Remains High for Design Services in February

The Architecture Billings Index (ABI), a leading economic indicator of future construction activity, reported positive numbers yet again in February, marking the fourth straight month that the index has been in such territory, according to the most recent press release from the American Institute of

CoreLogic Brings Shadow Inventory Into the Light

Research firm CoreLogic released its latest residential shadow inventory study yesterday, reporting that the ever-nebulous sector of housing in January 2012 stood at 1.6 million units, or a six months’

Construction Start-ups the Latest Indicator of an Industry Recovery

The news cycles have been been abound with positive developments in construction the past couple weeks (and we’ll have a new issue on construction out on Monday), but the Wall Street Journal has just reported on perhaps the most encouraging detail of all

The Shifting Foreclosure Landscape

Two developments in the foreclosure market this week, one involving completions and the other construction, have shown that housing is slowly but surely working its way through the distressed inventories that have long plagued the

February Existing-Home Sales Up 8.8 Percent over 2011

Existing-home sales continued their strong year-over-year increases with the latest data for February, as sales rose 8.8 percent from last year to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million, according to the National Association of

Default Rate Declines the Newest Chapter in Improving Homeowner Finances

Standard & Poor’s continued what has been an entire month of credit-friendly news with its reports on first-time default rates, which declined on consumer credit for the second straight month while nonpayments on second lien mortgages hit a new

FHA Delinquencies Remain Foreground Topic

Throughout most of 2011, the finances at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) received considerable media attention, with analysts and politicians alike predicting the end of the agency. An recent infusion of funds was thought to have alleviated those concerns, but new

New Construction Data Points to Flourishing Spring

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development released hugely promising data on February building permits earlier today, reporting a 5.1 percent increase from January and 34.3 percent increase from last year at an annual rate

Builder Confidence Unswayed in March

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) maintained its highest level since June 2007 in March, with the national measure holding steady at 28 and gaining two points in the Midwest to settle at

HUD Grants Restored Housing Funds in Record Time

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced late last week that it has granted $42 million in restored housing counseling funds in the last three months, a reduction of the agency’s normal timeline by 70 percent. According

U.S. Mortgage Bond Program Wraps; Gains $25 Billion

The U.S. Treasury Department says it has sold off the final portion of $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities it purchased during the height of the financial crisis, and in addition, the sales of securities issued, primarily by troubled mortgage

Economists Anticipate Home-Sale Spike for February

Overall home sale data for February is still a few days away, but economists surveyed by Bloomberg are already anticipating a decent uptick in sales for the month. According to the economists, sales – bolstered by gains in jobs

Psychoanalysis in the New Home Market

Real estate is an industry of hyper-local interests, and few sectors of the market better demonstrate that than construction. Though some builders are growing, and raising prices as a result, others are still pursuing incentives, such as price cuts,

Challenges and Opportunities for Housing

The Bipartisan Policy Center made a splash earlier this month with a wide-ranging study of the Echo Boomer generation that highlighted many of the demographic, economic and sociological factors that would contribute to the generation’s economic impact, and it

Most Americans in the Dark on Government Mortgage Programs

A new survey by FreeScore.com has uncovered a most interesting anomaly in the housing landscape – although 22.1 percent of homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, according to CoreLogic, more than 70 percent are unaware of government programs created specifically to

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