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Home Prices Rise 2.2 Percent in May
Tweet Share on Facebook July 31, 2012 CommentBringing to an end a painfully long streak of declines, home prices rose for the second straight month in May with no cities posting new lows, according to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price indexes.
Average home prices increased 2.2 percent in May over April numbers, according to the report released Tuesday, cementing the notion that the housing market is slowly healing. Prices in April rose 1.3 percent, after falling for seven consecutive months.
"May was a good month for housing with existing home sales almost 10 percent higher than year-ago levels, supply shortages in some markets, and a declining mix of foreclosure re-sales which particularly affect the Case-Shiller index," Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow, wrote in an E-mail.
[Read: Why Homeownership Is Stalling Even As Home Sales Improve.]
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Why Homeownership Is Stalling Even As Home Sales Improve
Tweet Share on Facebook July 30, 2012 CommentIt's an odd paradox: buyer demand is strong, year-over-year home sales are starting to heat up, and yet the homeownership rate barely budged in the first half of 2012, seemingly lodged in place at a near 15-year low.
This isn't the first time the housing market has been a web of mixed messages. This time around, a lot of it has to do with the ongoing foreclosure crisis and real estate investors who've been able to scoop up discounted properties and rent them out to a growing population of renters.
The nation's homeownership rate rose to 65.5 percent at the end of June, up from 65.4 percent at the end of the first quarter, according to a recent report from the Census Bureau. That figure is down from 65.9 percent a year ago.
"After a grueling housing recession, the homeownership rate is at last becoming a product of opposing forces—continued downward pressure from elevated foreclosure rates and modest upward pressure from recovering household formation rates and high housing affordability that is making buying attractive relative to renting," Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow, wrote in an E-mail.
[Read: Negative Equity Problem Could Make Foreclosure Crisis Even Worse.]
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Negative Equity Problem Could Make Foreclosure Crisis Even Worse
Tweet Share on Facebook July 27, 2012 CommentJust when you thought the housing market might be on the mend, news that foreclosure activity is on the rise across the country reopens a painful wound.
Almost 60 percent of the nation's largest metropolitan areas saw increased foreclosure activity in the first half of 2012, according to a recent report from foreclosure information website RealtyTrac, with troubled states California and Florida cropping up again as major sources of the country's foreclosure woes.
As if that weren't bad enough, things could get a lot worse thanks to the gigantic negative equity problem, which has pushed many homeowners to the brink of foreclosure and put immense pressure on household finances.
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June Pending Home Sales Slump
Tweet Share on Facebook July 26, 2012 CommentBuckle up, America. The nation's housing market is in for a bumpy ride.
After encouraging news last week that new construction and home prices picked up in June, spirits were high prompting many economists and experts to proclaim the housing market had finally "turned the corner."
But in another turn of events, construction is no longer the needle in the housing market's side. Thanks to tight inventory in many markets around the country, sales of previously owned homes are hurting now, muting gains made in the construction sector.
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Miami Housing Market Goes International—Literally
Tweet Share on Facebook July 24, 2012 CommentThe Miami housing market has been booming in recent months, thanks in large part to a flood of interest from foreign nationals looking to scoop up real estate selling at deep discounts.
This year alone, foreigners accounted for 40 percent of all residential purchases in Miami, according to some estimates.
While a fair number of out-of-towners from abroad come to Miami specifically to look at potential real estate investments, one company has taken a further step to make things easier for foreigners scouting deals from overseas.
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The Housing Market's New Problem? Not Enough Homes to Sell
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2012 CommentIt seems like just a few months ago, home values were plummeting as thousands of foreclosures flowed onto the housing market.
Now, the tables have turned. A huge draw-down in for-sale inventories around the country has tightened markets, fueling bidding wars and price increases. Housing, no longer blamed for dragging down the economic recovery, is being celebrated as the one bright spot amid a recent deluge of disappointing economic reports.
"It's like the Twilight Zone, isn't it?" muses Glenn Kelman, CEO of Seattle-based real estate website Redfin. "Consumer confidence and jobs are down, but real estate keeps going up. Now it's the plank that the rest of the economy is clinging to."
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Home Sales Drop to 8-Month Low
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2012 CommentWhile the floodgates of buyer demand are finally starting to open, it's would-be sellers that are now clamming up.
Contrary to when falling prices kept buyers on the sidelines wondering when the market would hit bottom, experts say rising prices have now encouraged many Americans who are contemplating selling their homes to wait it out—or rent it out—to capture the best return possible in a dinged-up real estate market. Underwater mortgages have forced another set of would-be sellers to the sidelines.
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June Housing Starts Highest in Four Years
Tweet Share on Facebook July 18, 2012 CommentAfter being blamed for stunting America's economic recovery for the past several years, the housing sector is now one of the lone bright spots, continuing to outperform economists' expectations.
Wednesday's housing start numbers were no different. In June, builders broke ground on the most new homes and apartments in nearly four years, according to the Commerce Department, with new constructions rising almost 7 percent from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,000.
Gains were broad based but strongest in the West and Northeast, which saw building surges of 37 percent and 25 percent respectively.
[Read: Retailers, Not Consumers, Swipe Victory in Credit Card Fee Settlement.]
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Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Refinances at 1.05 Percent
Tweet Share on Facebook July 16, 2012 CommentThere are certain perks of being a billionaire: fancy cars, expensive clothes, and really cheap mortgage rates.
At least for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who recently refinanced the $5.95 million mortgage on his Palo Alto, Calif. home at an unfathomably low 1.05 percent interest rate, according to Bloomberg.
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In 'Financial Tragedy' Wells Fargo to Pay $175M Over Predatory Lending Allegations
Tweet Share on Facebook July 13, 2012 CommentWells Fargo will pony up $175 million to compensate more than 30,000 minority borrowers who were allegedly steered into riskier, more expensive loans during the heyday of the housing boom, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
The Justice Department alleges the nation's largest residential home mortgage lender charged African-American and Latino borrowers higher rates and fees for home loans, even when they qualified for better terms.
The DOJ claims are based on a statistical survey of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage loans made between 2004 and 2009.
