Market Studies

For the first time since 2007, home values saw a year-over-year gain in the second quarter of 2012, according to the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). The index showed homes increased in value by 0.2 percent to $149,300 from last year's second quarter. Adding to the gain in value, foreclosures decreased again in June, with 5.8 out of every 10,000 homes counted as a foreclosure. Foreclosures have been on the decline since January, when 7.9 out of every 10,000 homes were foreclosed on.

Following promising reports of sales in California's Southland Empire, DataQuick issued another release revealing that foreclosure activity is down in the state. According to the company's data, the number of California homes entering the formal foreclosure process dropped in the year's second quarter to its lowest level since early 2007.

After testing out different scenarios, Moody's Investor Services concluded a widespread adoption of San Bernardino County's proposed use of eminent domain will increase losses for RMBS pools by around 30 percent. The proposal calls for the seizure of underwater mortgages to address the problem of negative equity. Moody's argues seizing underwater performing loans ""would increase RMBS pool losses if other jurisdictions were to adopt it because it would force losses on performing loans that could otherwise have avoided default.""

A weakened second quarter may indicate a slowdown in economic activity for the rest of the year, Fannie Mae reported Monday. The GSE's Economic & Strategic Research Group revealed that it may have been too optimistic in its original 2012 GDP growth projection of 2.2 percent, revising its growth rate estimate to 2.0 percent. The group attributed the waning economic growth to drops in consumer confidence and employment opportunities.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report evaluating the Treasury’s monitoring of state housing finance agencies’ (HFA) and their implementation of the Hardest Hit Fund. One area in which the GAO found Treasury lacked transparency was administrative costs. A chart from the report showed that 27 percent of states' total spending was for administrative expenses as of March 2012. Beginning with the third quarter of this year, Treasury officials said states would be required to publicly report administrative costs, according to the report.

Home sales and prices picked up for Florida in June, according to housing data released by Florida Realtors. The organization's report shows a 5.3 percent year-over-year increase in closed single-family home sales in the Sunshine State, while pending sales jumped up 31 percent. Year-to-date, closed and pending sales are up from 2011 by 2.3 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively.

According to the firm's U.S. Housing report, single-family housing starts are expected to trend upward, matching the strength of multi-family starts that has driven the housing recovery over the past year. Barclays also anticipates that home price indices will close out the year strong, suggesting a broadening and lasting recovery. Based on improved affordability, increased demand, and falling inventory, the firm projected a year-over-year home price increase of 2.9 percent by the end of 2012.

Foreclosure petitions fell by nearly 30 percent last month in Massachusetts, reaching their lowest level this year as jobs crawl back to life and the economy at large continues to mend. The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, recorded some 1,254 petitions in June, a decline by as much as 29.5 percent from May.

A report released Thursday from AARP suggests that older Americans may not have escaped the foreclosure crisis unscathed, as some previously thought. The report, titled Nightmare on Main Street: Older Americans and the Mortgage Market Crisis, showed that many of the country's older citizens are taking their mortgage debt with them into retirement. Approximately 600,000 older homeowners were experiencing foreclosure, and another 625,000 were 90 or more days delinquent.

Servicers received higher scores from customers this year compared to 2011, according to a study from J.D. Power and Associates Thursday. On a 1,000 point scale, overall satisfaction with primary mortgage servicers increased to 725 from 718 in 2011. The study looks at four areas to gauge customer satisfaction: billing and payment process; escrow account administration; website; and phone contact. Overall satisfaction among customers who are considered to be at-risk improved the most, increasing by 27 points from last year.