Trends

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45 Percent of Consumers See Home Prices Rising in 2013

Americans’ price expectations have increased to a record high, according to Fannie Mae’s February 2013 National Housing Survey results, while views on their personal financial situation, household income and the direction of the economy fell or remained

Will Lending Standards Ease at All in 2013?

It’s become the eternal question in real estate – when oh when will lending standards ease up? Though the housing market has put up some of its strongest numbers since 2006, the mortgage markets, from the perspective of many

2.8 Million: Number of Foreign Homeowners Expected by 2020

The number of foreign-born homeowners in the U.S. is expected to rise more than 16 percent and hit 2.8 million by 2020, according to new research sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Research Institute for Housing America. According to the

CoreLogic Home Price Index Rises 9.7 Percent in January

The CoreLogic Home Price Index put up its best numbers in nearly seven years in January, with national home prices rising 9.7 percent year-over-year. That’s the 11th consecutive month of of home price increases, and the largest yearly increase

Student Loan Debt and Homeownership – A Tricky Combination

After issuing sweeping judgements on mortgage lending, mortgage servicers and appraisals, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has set its sights on another controversial aspect of the homebuying and selling process: the highly lucrative private student loans

Mortgage Delinquencies/Foreclosures Show Improvement in 2012

Every other day, it seems, more information trickles out showing that the real estate markets are on a slow, yet steady, path to recovery, and Lender Processing Services (LPS) has contributed to that trend with its latest data on

Asking Prices Increase 7.0 Percent in Trulia Price Monitor

Asking prices in February rose 7.0 percent in the Trulia Price Monitor, as the increasing demand in the U.S. housing market continued to push asking prices higher. From January to February, asking prices rose 1.4 percent, and prices are

Freddie Mac Reports First Annual Profit in Six Years

Well, it finally happened. After six years of jaw-dropping losses, many of them in the tens of billions of dollars, embattled GSE Freddie Mac has emerged victorious in 2012, riding the wave of the housing recovery and reporting its

Foreclosure Markets Show Improvement in RealtyTrac Report

The foreclosure markets showed definite signs of improvement in the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure & Short Sales Report, which studied distressed property sales in 2012. Altogether, there were 947,995 distressed property sales in 2012, which is down 6 percent from 2011

Housing Market Recovery is a Bright Spot for the Nation

It’s no secret that the United States is going through a rough economic patch right now. However, the nation’s housing market recovery is a sign that the economy is slowly improving and rebounding from the

Residential Construction Spending Flat in January

Residential construction spending was flat in January, though overall construction spending remained above where it was a year ago, according to the latest analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of

HARP Refinancings Surged in 2012

The government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, started out as a terrific punchline. Though sincere in its aims, the program was saddled with overly restrictive requirements for the nation’s troubled borrowers, and very few were able to take

Freddie Mac Posts Record Multifamily Housing Business in 2012

Freddie Mac’s multifamily housing business increased dramatically in 2012, with the GSE posting its highest volume of multifamily housing business in its

Robert Shiller: Conan the Housing Contrarian

News regarding the housing market has been uniformly positive the last couple of weeks. New home sales in January hit their highest level since 2008. Negative equity is improving. Contract activity has been strong, and the mortgage markets continue

Will GSE Reform Actually Happen?

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission threw its hat into the GSE reform ring earlier this week, issuing a detailed report calling for a gradual, yet transformative, change to how the nation’s mortgage markets currently operate – and one

Zillow: Negative Equity in the U.S. Continues to Improve

The negative equity situation in the U.S. is one of improvement, reported real estate website Zillow, though there is still progress to be made. As Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, put it, the benefits of an improving equity situation are

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