by Jim Crowder | Jul 22, 2011 | HOUSING MARKET
According to two newly released price indexes, home values rose again in May. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index found a 0.4 percent increase from April. And though the improvement was slight, it market two-consecutive months of gains...
by Jim Crowder | Jul 21, 2011 | HOUSING MARKET
Sales of previously owned homes were flat in June, according to The National Association of Realtors. Existing-home sales declined 0.8 percent, despite sales gains in the Midwest and South. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said home sales had been trending...
by Jim Crowder | Jul 20, 2011 | HOUSING MARKET
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, mortgage application activity for both refinancing and purchase jumped 15.5 percent last week from the week before. It was the largest increase in four months. The spike in demand was...
by Jim Crowder | Jul 19, 2011 | HOUSING MARKET
Construction estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development show privately-owned housing starts up 14.6 percent, with single-family home construction rising 9.4 percent. The increase, which surpassed economists expectations...
by Jim Crowder | Jul 18, 2011 | HOUSING MARKET
Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes rose two points in July, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Bob Nielsen, chairman of NAHB, said the improvement is a positive sign that the...
by Jim Crowder | Jul 15, 2011 | HOUSING MARKET
From the 1960s through the 1990s, the homeownership rate was relatively unchanged, staying between 64 and 65 percent. During the last decade, when looser credit conditions and a less risk-adverse attitude toward investing in a house prevailed, that percentage jumped,...
