Market Studies

West coast states saw a decline in foreclosure starts in December, according to new data from the research firm ForeclosureRadar. In fact four of the five states tracked by ForeclosureRadar's monthly survey saw double-digit declines. The exception was Oregon, where foreclosure starts rose by 5 percent. Foreclosure sales in the West coast states were mixed but down far less than ForeclosureRadar says it was expecting, given lender announcements of holiday moratoriums at the close of last year.

A group convened on the steps of the South Carolina State House Thursday to express their support of homeownership and opposition to policy changes that might threaten the American Dream. The outlook expressed at the rally mirrors widespread sentiment uncovered in a recent industry survey. About three-fourths of American voters said it is ""appropriate and reasonable"" for the federal government to promote homeownership through tax incentives.

With property values across the country at depressed levels and interest rates dancing around historical lows for months now, housing affordability has hit an all-time high. That affordability inched even higher this week, as mortgage interest rates broke through their previous record-lows to fall further still. Freddie Mac says all loan products covered in its regular weekly market survey eased to set new all-time lows for the week ending January 12. The 30-year fixed rate is now at 3.89 percent.

With Atlanta as the exception, all of the metro areas on RealtyTrac's top 20 list for foreclosure rates in 2011 demonstrated declines in foreclosure activity from both of the previous two years. Foreclosure filings in the Atlanta area in 2011 were 2 percent higher than in 2009. Half of the metros in RealtyTrac's list of top 20 foreclosure rates for 2011 were located in California. Las Vegas had the highest foreclosure rate last year among metro areas with populations of at least 200,000.

RealtyTrac's year-end report released Thursday shows foreclosure filings - including default, auction, and bank repossession notices - were reported on 1,887,777 U.S. properties in 2011. Of that total, 804,423 homes were taken back by lenders as REO. Last year's tally of nearly 1.9 million properties with a foreclosure filing seems staggering, but it's actually the lowest reported since 2007. It's 34 percent below 2010, 33 percent below 2009, and 19 percent below the 2008 total.

Marking the fifth consecutive month of decline, home prices fell 0.8 percent in October, matching levels last seen in 2002, according to Lender Processing Services' (LPS) Home Price Index released Wednesday. As of October, the national home price average was $200,000. The year-to-date decline in October was 2.7 percent. The LPS index noted that price declines were consistent across the country. In fact, prices fell in October in 403 out of the 409 metro areas LPS tracks.

The U.S. Department of Justice released a 69-page report Tuesday on a foreclosure intervention method that is becoming increasingly popular across the country - mediation. The paper draws from an earlier workshop which was attended by dozens of mediation program stakeholders and researchers. A key finding that emerged, according to DOJ officials, is that the federal government should take an active role, both in helping to develop program and evaluation guidelines and in providing resources for mediation programs and research.

The number of housing markets showing measurable improvement nearly doubled in January, with the addition of 40 new metros to the Improving Markets Index put out by First American and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The index tracks housing markets that are showing signs of improving economic health based on three independent datasets - employment growth from the Labor Department, home price appreciation from Freddie Mac, and single-family housing permits from the Census Bureau.

The number of mortgage modifications completed during the month of November rose 5 percent from October, bringing the year-to-date total to about 969,000, according to data released Tuesday by HOPE NOW, a voluntary private sector alliance of mortgage industry participants. While completed modifications rose over the month, 60-plus day delinquencies also increased. After reporting 2.65 million 60-plus day delinquencies in October, HOPE NOW reported 2.77 million in November.

CoreLogic released its November home price report Monday, showing prices nationally fell 1.4 percent month-over-month and 4.3 percent year-over-year. November marks the fourth consecutive month CoreLogic's index has returned negative results, with the downward pressure coming from distressed REO and short sale transactions. When you exclude these distressed deals from the dataset, the year-over-year decline is just 0.6 percent. In fact, CoreLogic says the non-distressed market is expected to be down ""very modestly"" at year-end.