A new study out by Standard & Poor’s is estimating it will take 46 months to clear out the nation’s supply of shadow inventory, one month less than predictions from 2011.
Liquidation rates for the residential mortgage markets appeared stable, the firm’s analysts said, though they did say that the difference between local markets made a national projection difficult for the market.

Builder confidence in the 55+ market posted big year-over-year gains in the first quarter, another sign of 2012 optimism in the construction industry.
Overall, the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI) increased 10 points to 27, which is the highest reading since the index was created in 2008.

Another round of foreclosures and delinquencies has once again put the FHA’s finances under scrutiny, as the agency’s boom-era loans continue to haunt its books.
According to the latest data from Lender Processing Services, lenders began foreclosure proceedings on 36,400 FHA-backed mortgages in April, which is twice the number from a year ago, according to a Bloomberg report on the agency’s loans.

In tune with the campaigning season, President Obama is stepping up his populist rhetoric to drum up support for his home refinancing plan.
Originally announced in January during his State of the Union address, the plan would allow homeowners with private underwater mortgages to refinance under the same conditions allotted to borrowers with government-backed loans, who were covered by programs such as the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP.

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 by NAR. By comparison, in 2011′s four quarter, only 29 areas were showing gains from a year earlier, which suggests that in 2012, more buyers have attained the necessary income levels to buy a home in their area.

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 foreclosures.

The homeownership/renting debate has gotten fierce in recent months, but a new chart may have settled the dispute.
A new chart of analysis has reinvigorated the homeownership vs renting debate, with another nod of economic approval heading for the homeowners’ corner.

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 in the same year’s fourth quarter, Fannie Mae earned a net income of $2.7 billion in 2012 Q1, a turnaround the firm is crediting to lower credit-related expenses from stabilizing home values and a decline in the company’s REO inventory.

Mortgage servicers have one warning for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) – keep your hands off our compensation methods, you regulatory agency!
As part of a wide-ranging effort by the the FHFA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to improve how mortgage servicing functions for servicers and borrowers, the industry’s method of compensation had been floated as a possible source for reform.

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 rationale for the wave anticipations was the “robo-signing” scandal, a controversy that erupted in late 2010, early 2011 that involved faulty (if not illegal) efforts by lenders to foreclose on homes as quickly as possible.