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Barclays: Trends Suggest Recovery is Sustainable

According to the firm's U.S. Housing report, single-family housing starts are expected to trend upward, matching the strength of multi-family starts that has driven the housing recovery over the past year. Barclays also anticipates that home price indices will close out the year strong, suggesting a broadening and lasting recovery. Based on improved affordability, increased demand, and falling inventory, the firm projected a year-over-year home price increase of 2.9 percent by the end of 2012.

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Q&A with RealtyTrac VP Daren Blomquist on Short Sales

DS News recently caught up with RealtyTrac VP Daren Blomquist to talk to him about short sales. Although data shows the alternative to foreclosure is becoming more widely used, anecdotal evidence points to frustration and difficulty when pursuing a short sale. So, we decided to have a conversation with Daren about the obstacles that get in the way of short sales, what can be done, and what the upcoming trends might be.

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Foreclosures Wane in Bay State as Economy Mends: Report

Foreclosure petitions fell by nearly 30 percent last month in Massachusetts, reaching their lowest level this year as jobs crawl back to life and the economy at large continues to mend. The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, recorded some 1,254 petitions in June, a decline by as much as 29.5 percent from May.

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HomeValueForecast.com Releases Negative Equity Data

Negative equity in eight counties in New York and California has risen significantly since 2005 according to HomeValueForcast.com’s July Lessons from Data. The counties analyzed were Suffolk, Nassau, Ulster and Westchester in New York; and, Merced, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Joaquin in California. According to the report, the authors concluded that negative equity was below 5 percent for all eight counties in 2005 but then began to rise rapidly, especially in the four California counties.

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AARP: Older Homeowners Hit Just as Hard by Foreclosure Crisis

A report released Thursday from AARP suggests that older Americans may not have escaped the foreclosure crisis unscathed, as some previously thought. The report, titled Nightmare on Main Street: Older Americans and the Mortgage Market Crisis, showed that many of the country's older citizens are taking their mortgage debt with them into retirement. Approximately 600,000 older homeowners were experiencing foreclosure, and another 625,000 were 90 or more days delinquent.

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Study Reveals Customers Are More Satisfied with Servicers

Servicers received higher scores from customers this year compared to 2011, according to a study from J.D. Power and Associates Thursday. On a 1,000 point scale, overall satisfaction with primary mortgage servicers increased to 725 from 718 in 2011. The study looks at four areas to gauge customer satisfaction: billing and payment process; escrow account administration; website; and phone contact. Overall satisfaction among customers who are considered to be at-risk improved the most, increasing by 27 points from last year.

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Median Price for Existing Home at Highest Level Since 2008

The median price of an existing single family home rose in June to the highest level since almost four years, the fifth straight month-month gain, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Thursday.. The median price was up 7.9 percent from June 2011. Existing home sales dropped to 4.37 million in June to the lowest level since last October, the NAR said. It was the fourth drop in the last five months. Economists had expected the sales pace to increase to 4.65 million from 4.62 million in May.

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Initial Jobless Claims Rebound to 4-Week High

First-time claims for unemployment insurance rose 34,000 for the week ended July 14 to 386,000 - the highest level in four weeks - the Labor Department reported Thursday. The prior week's total was revised up to 352,000 from the originally reported 350,000.

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