News

A new report released by DataQuick revealed Las Vegas homes sold at the slowest pace in five years this January as median sale price dipped from the previous month. Home prices remained 22 percent higher than a year earlier, but mirroring a national trend, price growth has slowed.

The Demand Institute, a non-advocacy, non-profit think tank jointly operated by the Conference Board and Nielsen, released Wednesday a new report entitled: "A Tale of 2000 Cities: how the sharp contrast between successful and struggling communities is reshaping America." The report "finds that a large proportion of housing wealth is concentrated in a relatively small proportion of America's cities, towns and villages."

According to a report issued by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average size of a new home is increasing, and the population of buyers may be the main reason for the average home's expanding size. Data culled from the Census Bureau and presented at NAHB's International Builder's Show in Las Vegas showed some interesting trends in new home production.

Global DMS, a provider of Web-based compliant valuation management software, announced that Forsythe Appraisals, LLC, the largest independent provider of residential real estate appraisals in the United States, is leveraging the eTrac Enterprise platform. The platform is expected to help manage appraisal ordering, tracking, and review for all of Forsyth Appraisals branch offices covering 40 major metropolitan areas across the country.

Home prices rose 7.7 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, while prices for other goods and services ticked up 0.7 percent, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index, which calculates home prices among mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A total of 38 states reported rising prices in the fourth quarter of the year, a significant showing but fewer than the 48 from the previous quarter, according to the FHFA.

Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for the Trouble Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), announced Tuesday in a press release that David Weimert, of Madison, Wisconsin, has been charged with six counts of wire fraud involving a real estate development transaction.

A new report released Tuesday by the Wells Fargo Economics Group noted that consumer sentiment in Florida remained at 78 for the second straight month. Although consumers in the nation as a whole lost some confidence in February, the Florida Consumer Sentiment Index showed citizens of the Sunshine State remained steady.

"Looser financial institution credit standards on residential and commercial policies could lead to an increase in title insurance claims if the insurers fail to maintain rigorous underwriting procedures," Fitch Ratings said in a release put out Monday.

Homes.com has released its December Local Market Index, a price performance summary of repeat sales of U.S. properties. The index notes year-over-year gains for single-family properties in all 300 top U.S markets for the ninth consecutive month. The total markets that are considered "fully recovered" have increased to 89, up from the previous month’s 87.

Freddie Mac released its Monthly Volume Summary for January, 2014, noting their total mortgage portfolio decreased at an annualized rate of 1.9 percent in January. Despite a slight uptick in December, 2013, Freddie Mac’s ending balance has been declining since June, 2013.