Market Studies

At a national level, Clear Capital revised its 2.6 percent projected price gain over the year this year up to 6 percent. While lower than the current yearly gain of 8.6 percent, this forecast is still greater than historical norms, which rank between 4 and 5 percent. Meanwhile, 45 of the top 50 metropolitan markets will experience yearly price increases during the second half of the year, according to Clear Capital's forecast.

Fitch Ratings has observed inconsistencies in the way servicers report losses in cases of principal forbearance. According to the agency, before 2010, pooling and servicing agreements did not require servicers to report forborne principal as losses. Nationstar Mortgage announced it is revising losses on loans with principal forbearances acquired in 2012 from Aurora Bank FSB and Aurora Loan Services.

National home prices in May posted their biggest annual gain since February 2006, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. When including distressed sales, home prices shot up by 12.2 percent year-over-year in May, marking the 15th straight month of increases. From April to May, home prices climbed 2.6 percent. CoreLogic's pending home price index points to further improvements in June, with prices projected to exceed May's increase with a 13.2 percent gain.

So far, efforts from the GSEs have led to nearly 2.8 million foreclosure prevention actions since the start of the September 2008 conservatorship, the FHFA reported Monday. The agency also found the serious delinquency rate for GSE borrowers decreased to 3 percent compared to 8 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. However, more than half of the GSEs' seriously delinquent borrowers were past due by at least a year in the first quarter.

The reaction to Thursday's report on personal income and spending for May was generally positive. Personal income rose 0.5 percent from April--five times what was expected--and personal consumption expenditures (or PCE) were up 0.3 percent, matching economist forecasts.

May's percentage is the first time the recovery has passed 60 percent since the crash, according to the latest Housing Barometer from Trulia. April's barometer was 54 percent. A year ago, the barometer was at only 35 percent. The monthly report measures three key housing market indicators--construction starts, existing-home sales, and the delinquency-plus-foreclosure rate--to track how quickly the market is recovering to its normal, pre-bubble state.

Eighty-six percent of agents believe prices will rise over the next few months. The same percentage of agents say now is a good time to sell a home. Both of these categories have increased from the first quarter of the year to the second. However, while a majority of agents expect price gains, a minority expect prices to ""rise a lot."" The percent of agents who anticipate prices rising ""a lot"" in coming months fell from 44 percent in the first quarter to just 16 percent in the second quarter, according to Redfin's survey.

Home sales in the Las Vegas-area rose year-over-year for the second straight month in May after 10 months of declines, while the median price made its 14th consecutive annual gain, DataQuick reported.

While the current market environment is a haven for specialty servicers, Fitch Ratings suggests in time, these shops will have to rely more heavily on originations to survive. ""The decision by many banks to reduce or exit subprime and distressed mortgage servicing in part reflects regulatory risks faced by these institutions in the migration to Basel III,"" Fitch said.

When it comes to price appreciation, California markets are expected to continue leading growth over the next year, while certain markets concentrated in the Northeast should see a decline in home values, according to Veros Real Estate Solutions' most recent forecast ending June 1, 2014. The company's forecast covers 969 counties, 324 metro areas, and 13,502 zip codes.