News

Another spike in home prices drove Massachusetts sales down for the third straight month in April, according to the Warren Group. The group reported 3,504 single-family home sales in the Bay State in April, a 1 percent decline from last year. The median price for single-family homes sold in April was $313,000, a 14 percent year-over-year spike.

Over the last year, sales for distressed properties showed steep declines amid a backdrop of slower foreclosure activity and rising prices, according RealtyTrac's foreclosure and short sale report. The share of foreclosure-related sales represented 21 percent of all sales in Q1, down from 25 percent a year ago. At its peak in Q1 2009, foreclosure-related sales accounted for 45 percent of all sales. In addition, the share of properties that were not in foreclosure but sold as a short sale fell to 15 percent, down 10 percent from Q4 2012 and down 35 percent from a year ago.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose a disappointing 0.3 percent to 106.0 in April, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Thursday. Both the new homes sales and the pending home sales reports measure contract signings and are designed to be forward looking indicators. With the month-over-month improvement, the PHSI is 10.3 percent above April 2012, the strongest year-over-year gain since October when the PHSI was up 12.1 percent from a year earlier. The index has improved month-over-month in three of the last four months.

The nation's economy grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.4 percent in the first quarter, slightly slower than originally reported, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. At the same time, corporate profits in the first quarter were $1.97 trillion, down almost $44 billion from the fourth quarter. The last time corporate profits showed a quarter-over-quarter decline was in the first quarter of 2012. Corporate profits are considered a key indicator of employment trends. Residential fixed investment was essentially unchanged from the initial report at $397.3 billion.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance rose for the third time in the last four weeks, increasing 10,000 to 354,000 for the week ending May 25, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Citigroup have reached a settlement over allegations of fraud in the selling of $3.5 billion of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). A filing on Tuesday revealed FHFA had dropped its suit against the bank, having reached a settlement. A spokesperson for FHFA did not comment on the amount of the settlement or the terms, saying that it was ""satisfactory."" A spokesperson for Citigroup remarked only that the company is ""pleased to put this matter behind us.""

Freddie Mac is giving servicers more time to adopt several new requirements concerning its default-related legal services.

Younger Americans are more likely to have a home that is underwater, according to a survey from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation). Based on survey findings, 25 percent of Americans between 18 and 34 years of age said they have an underwater mortgage. On the other hand, 18 percent of adults aged 35 to 54 said they were underwater. The survey also reported more than half of Americans would not be prepared to cover living expenses if a financial emergency, such as a job loss or sickness, were to occur.

Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS), a national property preservation and inspection company, announced it is teaming up with Pruvan, a Round Rock, Texas-based company that offers a photo app for field-based businesses.

According to the CFPB, Wednesday's amendments are the result of months of input offered by industry groups and the public at large. The Ability-to-Repay rule, set to take effect January 10, 2014, establishes basic requirements designed to ensure consumers don't take on loans they can't pay back. The new amendments exempt certain nonprofit and community-based lenders who work to help low- and moderate-income consumers get into affordable housing.