REO

Inventory is shrinking and traffic for homebuyers seems to be increasing, but according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey, home prices were down in March. One reason for this, according to the survey, which includes about 2,500 real estate agents, is the high number of distressed properties - short sale properties in particular - on the market. Prices for damaged REO properties saw a 5.7 percent decline in prices between March 2010 and March 2011, according to the survey, while move-in ready REO prices fell 2.5 percent during the same period. Prices on short sales, however, dropped 14.3 percent during the one-year period.

With the number of short sales increasing and even outnumbering REO sales in certain states, experts are speculating short sales might become key to preventing an even greater swelling of foreclosed properties on the market. Compared to a year ago in January 2012, pre-foreclosure sales, which are typically short sales, increased 33 percent, according to a RealtyTrac report released Thursday. Short sales even outpaced bank-owned REO sales in 12 states, including Utah, California, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Colorado, New York and New Jersey.

Existing-home sales fell to 4.48 million (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) in March from an upwardly revised February rate of 4.60 million, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Thursday. Economists had forecast the March sales pace would be 4.62 million. At the same time, the median price of a new home rose to $163,800, its highest level since last November's $164,000 and up 2.5% since March 2011.

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) filed a federal housing discrimination complaint against U.S. Bank on Tuesday following an investigation of the bank's properties. The NFHA stated that the investigation of 177 foreclosed properties owned by U.S. Bank showed that REO properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods were not as well maintained and marketed as bank-owned properties in white neighborhoods. The U.S. Bank investigation evaluated REO properties in seven metropolitan areas.

Based on a metric devised by Moody’s Analytics, GMAC, SLS, and American Home performed better compared to other subprime servicers in terms of cash collected relative to losses on delinquent loans. This was mainly due to shorter liquidation timelines that resulted in lower loss severities on liquidated or foreclosed properties, according to an article in Moody's ResiLandscape. GMAC's high metric is due primarily to shorter liquidation timelines and because the servicer maximizes cash flow on modified loans by keeping the re-default rates in line with the industry average even though it offers relatively low levels of relief in terms of principal and interest.

After 16 months of declines, median home prices in California posted a year-over-year gain, according to the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.). The median price of a single-family home was $291,080, a 1.6 percent increase compared to a revised $286,550 for March 2011, and a 9.2 percent increase compared to February's median price of $266,660. The month-over-month increase is the largest since March 2004. C.A.R. reported that California's housing inventory declined, with the Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family homes down to 4.1 months in March, compared to a revised 5.4 months in February and a 5.4 month supply in March 2011.

Builder confidence fell three points in April to 25, matching the lowest point of the year, the National Association of Home Builders reported Monday. The month-over-month decline was the first since last September. All three components of the index - current sales, sales six months out, and buyer traffic - fell in April, with buyer traffic slipping to a four-month low. The builder assessment of present home sales conditions dropped three points to 26. The outlook for home sales in the next six months also fell three points to 32, retreating from a near five-year high. Buyer traffic slid to 18 from 22 in March.

eMortgage Logic, LLC is celebrating its 10th year in business. The company provides residential real property valuations, data, analytics, and customized solutions for mortgage lenders, servicers, and investors nationwide. The idea for eMortgage Logic originated with Ralph Sells during his tenure at Freddie Mac, after Sells revived a struggling internal broker price opinion company acquired by the GSE's HomeSteps division.

First time claims for unemployment insurance jumped 13,000 to 380,000 for the week ended April 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the highest level since the end of January. At the same time the previous week’s report were adjusted upward by 10,000, wiping out what had been a four year low and showing an increase of 4,000 initial claims instead of an originally reported drop of 6,000 for the week ended March 31.

Foreclosure filings - default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions - were reported on 572,928 properties during the 2012 first quarter, down 2 percent from the previous quarter and down 16 percent from the first quarter of 2011, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market report. Also, the number of days it took to foreclose on properties in the first quarter took longer, averaging 370 days, up from 348 days in the previous quarter and the highest average number of days going back to the first quarter of 2007.