By Peter Ricci It was just last week that Mitt Romney announced Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan as his  running mate for the 2012 election, and already, analysts and journalists alike are combing through Ryan’s voting records and position statements

New household formation increased by 125,000 year-over-year in 2012’s second quarter to 74.8 households, and amidst those increases, one ethnic group stood apart: Hispanic homebuyers. While white and black households declined (by 649,000 and 81,000, respectively), Hispanic households grew,

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors’ Confidence Index Report (RCI) is one of the broadest measures around for Realtor business, and the latest index’s finding on average listing time seems to be one of the most optimistic

By Peter Ricci Foreclosure filings in July fell by 10 percent from a year ago, according to the latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report from RealtyTrac. Encompassing default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, there were 191,925 filings in July,

By Peter Ricci It’s one of the titanic arguments in the world of real estate – rent or buy? Indeed, few arguments in our beloved business inspire such fervent support, and few have been fueled more successfully by the

By Peter Ricci According to analysis of government documents, the three big government housing institutes – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – have decreased their REO housing inventory by more than

By Peter Ricci The seasonally adjusted delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four unit residential properties declined by 10 percent year-over-year in 2012’s second quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest National Delinquency Survey. Though the delinquency rate

By Peter Ricci Real estate website Trulia is reporting that, boosted by fewer housing vacancies and relatively impressive job growth, asking prices have risen in its Trulia Price Monitor for the sixth straight month. A leading indicator on home

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae released the findings of its second-quarter financial report earlier today, highlighting its net income, loan volumes and, naturally, its continuing health in the recovering mortgage markets. Overall, the GSE reported a net income of $5.1

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors completed the long-anticipated merger of its virtual Realtors Federal Credit Union (FCU) with the Northwest Federal Credit Union on August 1, effectively opening to its members a new range of financial

By Stephanie Sims Home mortgage rates are hovering near a record low. And home prices are still lower than a few years ago. But that doesn’t mean Texans are getting a break when it comes to some of the

By Peter Ricci National home prices increased 2.5 percent year-over-year in CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) for June, marking the fourth consecutive month of yearly gains for the index. In addition, the index, which is used by the Federal

When it comes to the  housing market and the real estate industry, few things could be more clear – the two are among the most important contributors to economic growth. Indeed, the amount of economic activity involved in a

The housing vacancy rate is among the most important measures of the real estate recovery. After all, excess supply was one of the big side effects of the housing boom, as the preponderance of vacant homes wrecked havoc on property

By Peter Ricci In case you haven’t noticed, it’s hot outside – quite hot, in fact! All throughout the Midwest, temperatures have been raging (they hit 107 in Evansville, Indiana in June), and they’ve made the home searching process

The $25 billion mortgage settlement received quite a bit of press when the documents were signed back in February, and for good reason. Encompassing several states attorneys general and the largest financial institutions in the country, the settlement was