Featured

Hope Now, a group focused on keeping distressed homeowners in their homes, reported they had successfully completed roughly 133,000 modifications

According to a new blog post by CoreLogic's Sam Khater, the number of REO properties nationwide is creeping back upwards.

Speaking before an audience at the Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Financial Decision Making, CFPB director Richard Cordray spoke on the effects of student loan debt on the future of the housing market. The oft-criticized director commented on the growing $1.2 trillion of student loan debt, and how student debt will have negative ramifications on the housing market in the future.

Zillow released its Negative Equity Report for the first quarter, revealing an estimated 9.7 million homeowners continue to owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. That number, down from about 9.8 million in Q4 2013, represents about 18.8 percent of mortgage-paying Americans, according to Zillow.

President Obama is expected to nominate current San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro as the new secretary of housing and urban development. Castro would take the place of current director Shaun Donovan, who is to become director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The number of REO properties increased to 430,000 as of March 2014, according to a new blog post by CoreLogic’s Sam Khater. March's figure reflects an increase of 15 percent from the low point of REO inventory in August 2013, when properties totaled 375,000.

In a survey of 106 economists, real estate experts, and investment and market strategists, Zillow found a slight majority—28 percent—pinned the most blame for declining affordability on stagnant income growth across the country, even as the rest of the economy has moved in a generally positive direction.

Despite many beginning-of-the-year predictions about spring growth in the housing market falling flat, and despite a still chugging economy that changes its mind quarter-to-quarter, economists at the National Association of Realtors and other industry groups expect an uptick in the economy and housing market through next year.