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Distressed home sale activity declined in a number of western states last month. Sales have dropped this year in California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Washington. Oregon and Arizona filings did, however, increase in February, but were offset by the declines seen in January. Foreclosure sales fell by: (more…)

The spring season has started off strong for builders this year. Building starts climbed an extra 10,000, from the 689,000 in December. Barclays Capital, an investment bank, remarked “We believe the spring selling season has arrived strongly enough to kick-start a positive feedback loop in housing for (more…)

In 2011, foreclosure inventories were cut back, nearly in half. A drop of 49 percent was seen in the inventories for Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Distressed home inventories declined by: HUD: 47 percent; selling 30,000 homes. Fannie Mae: 27 (more…)

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling Website administered a survey that included over 1,400 Americans. The voting results showed the value of home ownership: More than 50 percent wanted to purchase a home if their finances were improved Next highest in the polls was making home improvement (more…)

Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey, conducted in February, reported that apprehensions American’s were feeling about the economy and housing market, are being to subside. It went on to credit the advancing employment market. The Chief Economist for Fannie Mae, Doug Duncan, commented “The pickup I the pace (more…)

In a report issued by the Lender Processing Services’ (LPS), disclosed that in January starts and sales of distressed homes increased 28 and 29 percent from December, respectively. Experts suppose that this indicates an improving market as distressed backlogs are becoming less cluttered. The CEO of the (more…)

The housing crisis is anticipated to come to a close this year, by one of the leading independent macro economic research consultancies, Capital Economics. Mortgage lending standards and credit availability are being loosened. Lending volume has increased 3.5 times the income of the borrower and banks are (more…)

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has expressed apprehensions over some Rental programs, saying that “[NAR] supports efforts to reduce the high inventories of foreclosure, but all real estate is local and we are concerned that REO-to-rental programs are not necessary in some areas and could even (more…)

At the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum held last week, Federal Reserve officials, members of foreign central banks and economists from prestigious banks and schools, discussed the negative influence the current housing market has on our economic development. Despite efforts in bringing interest rates down to practically nothing (more…)

Due to the negative impacts of foreclosures hitting the market, banks are now more easily persuaded to short sale homes. Brandon Moore, RealtyTrac’s CEO, commented that lenders are recognizing “short sales as a better option for the many of their non-performing loans.” In fact by the 4th (more…)