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Half Of Surveyed Cities See Price Increases In August
The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices shows home values up 0.2 percent in August for both the 10- and 20-city composites. Home values increased in ten of the 20 cities covered by the indices. It was the fifth consecutive month that at least half of the surveyed...
Program Changes Hope To Help Underwater Homeowners
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is easing the terms of the Home Affordable Refinance Program in order to help the estimated 11 million homeowners who have been making their mortgage payments but are unable to refinance because their loans are worth more than their...
Existing Home Sales Dip, Remain Above Last Year
Total existing home sales, which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, dipped 3.0 percent from the upwardly revised August estimate but remain 11.3 percent above September 2010, according to The National Association of Realtors. Lawrence Yun,...
Housing Starts Surge 15.0 Percent In September
In September, housing starts rose at their fastest pace in 17 months, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Privately-owned housing starts were 15.0 percent above August's estimate and 10.2 percent...
Mortgage Rates Rise To 4.33 Percent
According to The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances was 4.33 percent last week. The average 30-year rate for jumbo loans increased to 4.64...
Builder Confidence Hits Highest Level Since May 2010
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose four points to 18 in October, the largest one-month increase since April of 2010. The index measures builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes on a scale where...
Senators Urge Administration To Adopt Changes To Refi Plan
With mortgage rates hovering near all-time lows, a bipartisan group of senators has sent a letter urging the Obama administration to make changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program in order to help more homeowners take advantage of the historically low rates....
For Sale Inventory Falls 20 Percent From One Year Ago
The number of homes for sale at the end of September was down 3.27 percent from August and 20.09 percent from one year previous. According to data released by the National Association of Realtors, the national inventory of single-family homes, condominiums,...
Foreclosure Filings Down For 12th Straight Month
RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for the third quarter shows foreclosure filings were reported on 214,855 properties in September, which is a 6 percent drop from August and the twelfth straight month foreclosure activity was down on a year-over-year basis....
Mortgage Loan Demand Up 1.3 Percent Last Week
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage loan application volume, rose 1.3 percent last week from the previous week. The Refinance Index was up 1.3 percent and the Purchase...