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Are There Really Two Housing Markets?
As we head toward the end of the year, for some reason the drumbeat to claim that housing has bottomed is growing louder.
Realtors Report Even Higher Cancellations; And It’s Not Why You Think
For the past several months, Realtors across the nation have been reporting an ever-increasing number of cancelled existing home sale contracts. The latest Realtors Confidence Index now puts the cancellation rate at 20 percent, way up from the historical norm of around four to six percent.
Average Foreclosure Time Sets New Record
Foreclosures are setting new records again, this time not in their overall numbers, but in the time it is taking for all of these properties to be processed through the legal system. The average loan in foreclosure has now been delinquent a record 631 days.
Cancellations Plague Pending Home Sales
At first glance it seems like a huge and hopeful headline: Pending home sales, based on contracts signed, rose 10.4 percent in October from September. It certainly gives the impression that buyers are hopping off the fence and into the market. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
As Home Prices Sink, Home Ownership Heads to New Lows
Home prices across the nation are now right back where they were at the beginning of 2003. All that was gained is largely now lost, and the effect on home ownership could continue for decades.
New Home Prices Facing Growing Pressure
Sales of newly built homes are bouncing around a bottom, but prices are now at the lowest level of the year. The fact that October of this year saw the lowest price of the year so far is not good news going forward. What this means for the nation's big builders has the analysts split.
Is It Really That Hard to Get a Mortgage?
The realtors say it, the home builders say it, the architects say it, I've said it: For better or worse, tight mortgage lending standards are one of the big roadblocks to housing's recovery. Now one economist is saying that's not true.
Home Sales Split By Price
Sales of existing homes in October beat expectations, registering a gain of 1.4 percent from the previous month, but that number masks a market that is heavily weighted to the low end. Realtors say they expect sales to bounce around the same levels for the rest of the year, with a very slight annual gain from 2010.
Lawmakers Contradict on Speeding up Foreclosures
Wednesday morning House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Elijah Cummings issued a press release detailing a letter he sent to the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco.
Housing Crash Causing Record Stagnation
Just over 11 million Americans moved between March of 2010 and March of 2011, according to a new report from the U.S. Census. That might sound like a lot, but it's actually a record low.
