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Pending Home Sales Surge
Tweet Share on Facebook November 30, 2011 Comment (4)Pending home sales jumped in October to their highest level in almost a year, an encouraging sign that pent up consumer demand building over the past several years could finally translate into meaningful improvement for the housing market.
Pending sales, which reflect contract signings not closings, were up more than 10 percent in October and more than 9 percent above last year's numbers, according data released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.
[Read: Home Prices Decline Again.]
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Huntsman: Shut Down Fannie and Freddie
Tweet Share on Facebook November 29, 2011 Comment (26)If GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman had his way, there would be no Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
According to his 9-point plan for financial overhaul released Monday, Huntsman would "shut down" the government-backed mortgage giants and sell off their assets, a move he says "should not be controversial."
Controversial or not, Fannie and Freddie still purchase more than 90 percent of new mortgages today, in large part due to the private sector's aversion to housing finance in the wake of the housing market meltdown. Many argue that the housing market simply cannot stand on its own without the government's support.
[Read: Federal Housing Administration Could be the Next Housing Bailout.]
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Home Prices Decline Again
Tweet Share on Facebook November 29, 2011 Comment (1)It's more of the same when it comes to home prices this fall. After some encouraging news about housing starts and existing home sales over the past few weeks, it seems real estate values will remain in the doldrums for the time being.
Nationally, home prices returned to levels seen in the first quarter of 2003, according to Standard & Poor's latest Case-Shiller home-price indexes. That's not too surprising if you've been keeping your thumb on the pulse of the housing market, but it's still disappointing and yet another reminder that we have a long way to go in this recovery.
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Mortgage Rates Are Falling Again
Tweet Share on Facebook November 23, 2011 Comment (1)Mortgage rates are sinking again. Surprised? You shouldn't be. With a debt mess abroad and a debt mess at home, interest rates have once again benefited from investor angst.
That's because mortgage rates track yields on 10-year Treasury notes. As nervous investors have piled into Treasuries on news of the escalating euro zone crisis and the breakdown of the super committee in Washington, yields on government bonds have dropped as demand has increased.
[Read: Federal Housing Administration Could be the Next Housing Bailout.]
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Report: 45 Months to Clear Distressed Housing Inventory
Tweet Share on Facebook November 23, 2011 Comment (1)It's a ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy housing forecast, but still a chilling reminder of how deep a hole housing is in. According to a new report from Standard and Poor's, the United States won't burn through its supply of distressed homes for nearly four years. While that's a slight improvement from previous estimates, it still underscores the massive "shadow inventory" weighing down the housing market.
That means housing prices are likely to remain depressed and could see more declines in coming months.
S&P includes properties for which borrowers are 90 days or more delinquent on mortgages, foreclosures, and bank-owned properties, in its shadow inventory estimates.
[Read: Federal Housing Administration Could be the Next Housing Bailout.]
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Welcome
Tweet Share on Facebook November 23, 2011 CommentMore than two thirds of Americans own homes—often their largest financial asset—which makes the long, hard slog the housing market has been going through in recent years a unique source of common interest in an otherwise diverse and sometimes fractured society.
