Market Studies

Home ownership in the United States lost a little more ground last quarter, declining to a new 19-year low as consumers—particularly young adults—continue to grapple with debt and difficulties obtaining credit.

Black Knight Financial Services released a report showing that the national Home Price Index (HPI) improved in general throughout the month of May across 18,500 examined zip codes in the United States. Home prices are now just 11 percent off of their 2006 peak. The HPI represents the price of non-distressed sales by taking into account price discounts for REO and short sales.

U.S. consumer confidence jumped up more than four points from June to July, signaling a brighter economic outlook among Americans. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index reached 90.9 in the group's July survey, up from 86.4 in June. As of July, the index stands at its highest level since before the Great Recession.

Despite an anticipated pickup in economic growth and housing recovery in the second half of this year,Fannie Mae expects the economy to grow at just 1.5 percent overall this year.

Credit standards at large lenders appear to be loosening somewhat, while criteria at small and mid-sized lenders appear to be tightening, according to a new survey from Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae surveyed executives at its lending customers during the first two quarters of this year for its first ever Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey.

Seattle based Regional Trustee Services Corporation (RTS) announced that it has completed an asset purchase agreement effective immediately. Prior to the agreement RTS was a privately owned company that provided non-judicial foreclosure services to investors, mortgage servicers, and outside law firms ...

The national housing market moved slightly farther away from stability in May as applications for home purchase mortgages remained subdued. Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) for the month slipped to a value of -2.64 in May, indicating a slightly weaker market than in April, when the index measured -2.59.

Real estate website Zillow is reportedly making moves to acquire rival site Trulia in a deal that could see the merging of two of the country's most popular online real estate resources.

The labor market has taken significant steps in the quest to return to pre-recession employment levels. Still, concerns remain among many about the quality of jobs being created. Wages have increased over the past year but at only a 2.3 percent growth rate, they lag behind the growth rate that they should be experiencing at this point in the business cycle. A change may be in the air.

In a positive sign for the housing market, RealtyTrac reported Thursday a decrease nationwide in homes that were classified as “seriously underwater”, down to 9.1 million homes in the second quarter of 2014, representing 17.2 percent of all homes nationwide. The number is a decrease from the 17.4 percent of underwater homes recorded in the first quarter