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While reports on home prices have been mostly uninspiring, with some flickering of hope here and there, rent prices continue to make significant strides, with rent increasing more than 10 percent compared to a year ago in certain markets, according to findings Trulia released Thursday. Rent prices rose 5.6 percent in April compared to a year ago during the same month, Trulia reported. Good news was also in store for asking prices, which compared to the previous month of March, increased 0.5 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis.

During a CoreLogic economic webinar Thursday, the company's chief economist, Mark Fleming, Ph.D., was asked if the housing market has hit bottom and will it stick, as reports seem to be speculating. Apparently, the market was thought to have hit bottom twice before already. Fleming noted that this happened in 2010 when the home buyer tax credit was available and a second time in 2011 before the European debt crises, the Japanese earthquakes, and our own debt ceiling debate crushed consumer confidence.

Homebuyer affordability is even greater now with the fixed mortgage rates slipping to new record lows, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-year fixed averaged 3.84 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending May 3, down from the previous record low of 3.87 percent on February 9, 2012. The 15-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.07 percent (0.7 point), also below its all-time record low when it was 3.11 percent April 12 of this year.

First time claims fell a surprising 27,000 to 365,000 for the week ended April 28, the Labor Department reported Thursday after revisions drove the prior week’s report up by 4,000 to 392,000, the highest level in five months. Economists had expected initial claims would decrease to 378,000.

The Arizona capital of Phoenix was one of the hardest hit markets by the housing crisis, with home values plunging nearly 60 percent from 2006 through mid-2011 and foreclosure filings soaring. One analyst says it wasn't too long ago that Phoenix was considered ground zero of the housing market's collapse, but now, it's on a path to recovery that's considerably outpaced other distressed markets. So what's going on in the Valley of the Sun that's strong enough to lift the nation's sixth most populous city from the depths of the downturn?

Total delinquent first mortgage balances are under $500 billion in March 2012, the lowest since January 2009, according to Equifax's March National Consumer Credit Trends Report and Creditforecast.com, a joint product of Equifax and Moody's Analytics. As of March 2012, the number of outstanding first mortgages was 49.5 million, a nearly 11 percent decrease from the March 2008 peak when it reached more than 55 million. According to the report, the decline was caused by high foreclosures, loan payoffs, and low homebuyer demand.

While delinquencies saw a decline and reached their lowest level since August 2008, foreclosure inventory stayed near historic highs, according to data from the March Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services (LPS). The rate for delinquencies was 7.09 percent in March, down 6.3 percent when compared to the previous month and down 8.8 percent compared to a year ago in March. When broken down by judicial processes, non-judicial states had a significantly lower rate of properties in foreclosure inventory at 2.45 percent, while judicial states were above the national average at 6.51 percent.

Based on documents Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland.) and John Tierney (D-Massachusetts) received, Acting Director Edward DeMarco's reason for not allowing principal reduction appears to be based on ideology, not analysis, according to a May 1 letter they wrote to the director. The letter states beginning in 2009, Fannie Mae officials worked with Citibank to develop a ""shared equity"" principal reduction pilot program that was ""suddenly suspended"" in July 2010. In the letter, the representatives stated that on February 8, a former Fannie Mae employee informed them the pilot program on principal reduction was terminated by officials who were ""philosophically opposed to writing down principal balances.""

After just over two years as executive vice president over the single-family mortgage business at Freddie Mac, Anthony Renzi is stepping down. According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, Renzi submitted his resignation on April 24 and will officially depart from the organization on May 11. Renzi was responsible for managing and minimizing losses on Freddie Mac's nearly two trillion-dollar single-family guaranteed portfolio, which included overseeing the company's loss mitigation activities.

Just two months after matching its lowest reading in a year, the Trepp CMBS Delinquency Rate reversed course and is now close to matching the highest reading of all time. At 9.80 percent, the April 2012 rate for 30-day plus delinquencies is just 8 basis points shy of the July 2011 record when it was 9.88 percent, according to Trepp, a provider of information, analytics and technology to the CMBS, commercial real estate, and banking markets. April's rate jumped 12 basis points from March after already increasing 31 basis points from the month before in February.