News

The National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) fell 0.4 percent to 104.8 in January, the third month-over-month decline in the last four months, the association reported. Economists had expected a 0.7 percent drop to 105.2 from January's originally reported 105.9 The January index reading was revised to 105.2. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun attributed the drop in the PHSI to weak inventory of existing homes for sale.

Radar Logic reports a seasonal price dip in January but a 12.7 percent increase year-over-year. The firm continues to find heavy investor influence in many markets, though investor activity may be shifting somewhat into new markets. Radar Logic's RPX Composite Index, which measures prices in 25 metros, posted a 2 percent decline in January. Prices remain 31 percent below their June 2007 peak. Institutional investors are playing an active role in many markets but appear to be shifting out of some markets where they previously played a major role and into some smaller markets previously largely ignored by the group.

A new report from the watchdog for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) charges that the department isn't doing enough to make sure companies doing business with the GSEs are adhering to consumer protection laws. The Office of the Inspector General for FHFA (FHFA-OIG) released an audit report Tuesday examining the agency's oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's monitoring of businesses that sell and service loans.

Single-family home sales in Massachusetts were down year-over-year in February after 13 consecutive months of increases, The Warren Group reported. Home sales for February stood at 2,246, down 5 percent from 2,366 sales in February 2012. According to the real estate data provider, February marked the first decrease since December 2011.

BankersLab, the minds behind Banc-it: Scoring Edition, announced the launch of another gamified mobile learning app designed to help collections and risk managers stay on top of the latest industry best practices. Banc-it: Collections Edition tests technical knowledge of collections management, scoring, debt collection, and customer service. Players are challenged to ""beat the rat race"" up the virtual corporate ladder, working from ""Intern"" up to ""Executive"" and collecting badges for expertise, speed, and persistence.

The mortgaged delinquency rate in February slipped below 7 percent, according data from Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS). On Tuesday, LPS provided an early look at month-end mortgage performance data for February and found the delinquency rate is at 6.80 percent, down 3.16 percent from January's 7.03 percent and a decrease of 6.51 percent from February 2012. At the same time, the foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate averaged 3.38 percent, which represents a 0.98 percent month-over-month decline and a 19.58 percent decrease year-over-year.

In January, the number of homes still hidden in the shadows fell to 2.2 million, a 28 percent decrease from the January 2010 peak when an estimated three million housing units were in shadow inventory, data from CoreLogic revealed. The 2.2 million units represent a supply of nine months and a year-over-year decline of 18 percent from January 2012, CoreLogic reported. Seriously delinquent loans were the main drivers of shadow inventory, accounting for one million of the distressed properties yet to be released.

New home sales fell 4.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 in February, the sharpest drop in two years, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Tuesday. At the same time, the months' supply of new homes for sale rose to the highest level since December 2011. The median price of a new home, according to the Census/HUD report, rose $7,200 in February after falling $20,500 in January. The median price is up 2.9 percent in the last year, the weakest year-over-year gain in eight months.

Home prices posted their strongest year-year gain in almost seven years in January according to the Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city Home Price Indexes released Tuesday. Home prices rose year-year in all 20 of the cities in the Case-Shiller survey. Month-over-month, the 10-city index improved 0.2 percent in January, while the 20-city index was up 0.1 percent. Year-over-year, the 10-city index was up 7.3 percent, and the 20-city index rose 8.1 percent. Prices rose in nine cities in January over December while falling in eight.

Company experts at Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. (NTC) revealed a trend showing an increase in documents recorded electronically in the nation’s Recorders' Offices.