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Case-Shiller Indices Show Midwest Price Weakness

Despite weakness in the Midwest, home prices posted their strongest year-over-year gain in almost seven years in February, according to the Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city Home Price Indices released Tuesday. Home prices rose year-over-year in all 20 of the cities in the Case-Shiller survey. Month-over-month, the 10-city index improved 0.4 percent in February, while the 20-city index was up 0.3 percent. On a yearly basis, the 10-city index was up 8.6 percent, and the 20-city index rose 9.3 percent.

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Bank Failure Tally Rises to 10 After Two Weekend Closings

This year's bank failure tally rose to double digits over the weekend with the collapse of two more federally insured institutions. FDIC announced the closing of Parkway Bank in Lenoir, North Carolina, and Douglas County Bank in Douglasville, Georgia, bringing the total number of bank closings this year to 10. While this year has been slower in terms of bank failures, April has seen the pace pick up, with more than half of the year's closings occurring this month alone.

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More than 220K Foreclosure Review Checks Scheduled for May 3

The checks for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley borrowers covered under the foreclosure review settlement should be mailed out Friday, May 3, the Federal Reserve announced Monday. The next batch of payments will go out to more than 220,000 borrowers who had a mortgage in any stage of the foreclosure process in 2009 and 2010 that was serviced by one of the former subsidiaries, Litton Loan Servicing LP or Saxon Mortgage Services, Inc. The checks for the borrowers are valued at $247 million.

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New Jersey Plan to Rebuild After Sandy Receives $1.83B

New Jersey received approval and funding totaling $1.83 billion for its disaster recovery plan that will help homeowners and businesses rebuild after Hurricane Sandy, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced in a release Monday. The funds were from the department's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. The plan provides more than $1 billion for housing programs.

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Freddie Mac: Common Securitization Platform Will Benefit Market

In the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) Conservatorship Priorities for 2013, delivered in early March, Acting Director Edward DeMarco discussed his goal of creating a common securitization platform for the GSEs. As FHFA and the GSEs take the first steps toward developing this platform, Freddie Mac's SVP of conservatorship and corporate initiatives, Stephen Clinton, outlined some of the positive impacts the platform could have on the market.

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LPS: California, Washington Lead Monthly Price Gains in February

After tracking transactions in February, Lender Process Services, Inc. (LPS) found home prices rose 1 percent month-over-month, with California and Washington leading the gains. In dollar terms, LPS' Home Price Index (HPI) for non-distressed sales stood at $210,000, up 7.3 percent from February 2012. LPS data also showed short sales, which accounted for 12 percent of February sales, were sold at a 25 percent discount compared to non-distressed sales. Meanwhile, REOs accounted for 10.5 percent of sales and were discounted by 27 percent compared to non-distressed properties.

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Pending Home Sales Index Up For March

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 1.5 percent to 105.7 in March, the highest level in almost three years, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Economists had expected a 0.7 percent increase to 105.5 from February's originally reported 104.8. The February index reading was revised to 104.1. With the month-over-month improvement, the PHSI is 7.0 percent above March 2012, slightly below the 7.7 percent year-over-year gain in February. The index registered double-digit percent gains from April through October last year so the dip--on the eve of the homebuying season--is less than encouraging.

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Slow Wage Growth Holds Down March Personal Income

Restrained by slow wage growth, personal income rose a disappointing $30.9 billion (0.2 percent) in March--half of what economists expected--as spending rose $21.0 billion or 0.2 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, reported Monday. Personal income had improved $15.2 billion in February, largely on the strength of an $80 billion increase in dividend payments. Dividend payments in March increased by $4.5 billion over February.

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Over 1M Foreclosure Review Checks Cashed; 3rd Round Sent

A third round of 927,000 foreclosure review checks was sent out Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced. The most recent batch of checks is valued at $794 million. As of April 25, 1,150,328 recipients have cashed or deposited $1.1 billion in checks from the foreclosure settlement reached in January with federal regulators and 13 servicers. So far, more than 3.7 million checks worth $3.2 billion have been mailed off to eligible borrowers under the settlement.

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Redfin: 45% of Sellers Say Now Is a Good Time to Enter Market

After showing some reluctance at the beginning of the first quarter, homeowners polled for Redfin's second-quarter Real-Time Seller Survey seem far more interested in entering the market. According to responses collected by Redfin, 45 percent of sellers believe now is a good time to sell, up from just 22 percent in the first quarter and 15 percent in last year's fourth quarter.

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