News

After tracking home price trends in 25 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), Radar Logic found prices in October are now 6.9 percent higher than a year ago, according to the company's RPX Composite price. ""However, this increase was driven by a change in the composition of sales rather than price appreciation,"" Radar Logic stated in a recent report. Upon closer scrutiny, the analytics company explained the price increase is mainly the result of a decrease in distressed sales, or ""motivated sales,"" and the actual price increase for ""non-motivated sales"" is much smaller than the overall yearly gain.

Sixty-five percent of real estate professionals say home values will increase over the next six months, according to HomeGain's fourth-quarter survey. The third-quarter survey found 51 percent of professionals shared this optimistic view. Optimism is not as high among homeowners, 39 percent of whom say home values will rise over the next six months. This is up from 34 percent in the previous quarter. The outlook for the next two years is even more optimistic than the outlook for the next six months – both from real estate professionals and from homeowners.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) offered an early look into delinquency and foreclosure trends for November. The data provider found the delinquency rate increased slightly to 7.12 percent from 7.03 percent in October, representing a 1.2 percent increase. Compared to November 2011, the delinquency rate has fallen by 9.06 percent. The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate decreased to 3.51 percent, with inventory falling monthly and yearly by 2.84 percent and 16.42 percent, respectively.

Personal income jumped 0.6 percent in November--twice what economists forecast--improving $85.8 billion, while spending rose a hefty 0.4 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The growth in spending matched economists’ forecasts.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have lost billions of dollars as a result of borrowing rate manipulation, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA-OIG). The banking world was rocked in late June as it was revealed that traders at Barclays spent years rigging the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), a global interest rate at which banks lend money to each other. As those probes continue, the Wall Street Journal is now reporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have sustained more than $3 billion in losses from the rate-rigging.

Industry data suggests by the end of 2010, more than 5 million homes had been foreclosed as a result of the recent housing crisis, and some anticipate another 8 million to 10 million more foreclosures will make their way through the pipeline over the next few years. However, as the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) points out, this is only part of the picture. About 20 percent of all foreclosed properties have been rental properties, according to a recent NLCHP report. In fact, about 40 percent of all families evicted in foreclosure are renters not owners, according to NLCHP.

Year-to-date, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have refinanced nearly 800,000 loans through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Thursday. Since HARP's 2009 inception, the program has refinanced 1.8 million loans, with 790,619 of those loans refinanced in 2012 as of October. In October alone, more than 81,613 homeowners were refinanced through the program. Underwater loans continued to find relief through the program, with a little less than half of the loans refinanced in October in negative equity.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued a statement Thursday that served as a reminder that the California Homeowner Bill of Rights will soon take effect. The official start date for the landmark bill is January 1, 2013.

As Zillow continues to grow its rental offerings, the company announced it's providing a free service to help rental professionals grow their business. The company added Property Management Websites to Zillow Rentals.

Mortgage rates went in both directions this week as investors mulled over recently released data on inflation and housing construction. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.37 percent, up from the previous week's 3.32 percent. On the other hand, the 15-year fixed fell one basis point to 2.65 percent. Bankrate's weekly national survey of mortgage rates saw its biggest week-to-week increase since March, with the benchmark 30-year fixed averaging 3.62 percent--a 10-basis point jump.