Market Studies

In the midst of continuing media coverage surrounding U.S. banks’ failure to lend and their use of federal bailout money, Anthony J. Carfang and Cathryn R. Gregg of Chicago-based Treasury Strategies, Inc.

According to a new report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) this week, pending home sales increased at the end of 2008, as more buyers took advantage of improved affordability conditions.

Fourth quarter 2008 home prices declined for the eighth consecutive quarter, and according to a Zillow Home Value Index, the 11.6 percent decline cost American homeowners a total of $1.4 trillion in home value, bringing the total drop in value for 2008 to $3.

The surge of mortgage applications the industry has seen during the past few weeks seems to have cooled off, as the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index dropped 38.8 percent from to 732.

There were many surprises in 2008. From the collapse of the housing market to the election of the country’s first African American president, Americans saw and experienced a lot. But what was most unexpected was the $700 billion government bailout of Wall Street’s financial institutions, according to a TrueCredit.

A surge in sales volume in the West sent existing home sales on an unexpected upswing and brought inventory down, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The existing home sales annual rate – a statistic derived from what the number of home sales would be for if a particular month’s pace was maintained for a year – jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.

A majority of Americans oppose using federal bailout funds to pay the mortgages of homeowners in default, according a survey released in the inaugural Reecon Advisory Report Tuesday. While 51 percent of Americans surveyed said they opposed the idea, 43 percent are in favor of using the funds to help homeowners.

The lack of mandatory earthquake insurance in California would result in high levels of mortgage defaults that would further cripple the United States housing market if a major earthquake occurred, according to an analysis released by the Chicago-based Impact Forecasting LLC, a division of international reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor Aon Benfield.

Broad-based declines in the prices of existing single family homes continued across the United States through the month of October, according to data released today by Standard & Poor’s. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices show that 14 of the 20 metro areas studied experienced record rates of annual decline, with 14 now reporting declines in excess of 10 percent compared to October 2007.

Broad-based declines in the prices of existing single family homes continued across the United States through the month of October, according to data released today by Standard & Poor’s. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices show that 14 of the 20 metro areas studied experienced record rates of annual decline, with 14 now reporting declines in excess of 10 percent compared to October 2007.