REO

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) offered market projections into 2014 during a forum at the 2012 Realtors Conference and Expo. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun says he expects the market share of distressed sales to fall from about 25 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2014, according to a release on the forum. The housing recovery was expected to continue so long as credit does not further tighten and a fiscal cliff is avoided.

The price difference between a foreclosure and non-distressed sale is getting smaller, according to new analysis from Zillow. In September, the nationwide discount for bank-owned properties compared to non-foreclosures was 7.7 percent, Zillow reported. In September 2011, the foreclosure discount averaged 9.1 percent and in August 2009, foreclosure discounts peaked at 23.7 percent. Year-over-year, foreclosure discounts decreased in 76.9 percent of the metros analyzed, and all the metros showed a decrease from their peak.

Fannie Mae has experienced significant improvements in recent months. The GSE reported a $1.8 billion net income for the third quarter of this year, a notable improvement over the $5.1 billion loss reported in the same quarter last year. Fannie Mae's third quarter report states the entity will not require a draw from Treasury this quarter. Fannie Mae also incurred a net income of $9.7 billion over the first three quarters of this year, leading the GSE to expect an annual net income for the first time since 2006.

Even though President Obama and Governor Romney were criticized for evading housing issues when running for president, Clear Capital asserts the ""sprint"" in housing still spoke positively for Obama and assisted him in his recent re-election. But, now that Obama has won a second term, his administration is charged with leading phase two of the housing recovery, and this will happen by collaborating with the industry to reduce regulatory uncertainty, according to a Clear Capital report.

In September, the nation's delinquency rate suddenly spiked 7.7 percent from August, according to data from Lender Processing Services (LPS). The data provider explained the surge in its recent Mortgage Monitor report for September. For one, first time delinquencies increased by about 200,000 from the month before as more borrowers rolled into 30 day delinquency status. Despite the increase, other numbers were still down. Foreclosure starts hit their lowest level since September 2007 and were down 27.9 percent yearly.

In the third quarter of this year, servicers increased the pace at which they completed proprietary modifications and short sales, HOPE NOW data revealed Monday. In Q3 2012, proprietary modifications, or non-government mods, stood at 186,057 compared to 161,764 in Q3 2011, representing a 15 percent annual gain, according to the alliance. Quarter-over-quarter, proprietary mods were up 41 percent compared to Q2 2012, when there were 131,556 completed mods.

Home prices in September posted their biggest yearly gain in more than 6 years, but prices displayed a typical seasonal slowdown and fell month-over-month, according to the Home Price Index (HPI) report from CoreLogic. When including distressed sales, the report showed home prices moved higher by 5 percent from September 2011, the seventh straight month of yearly increases and the biggest annual gain since July 2006.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced a third bidder scooped up properties in three states for the agency's REO-to-rental initiative, leaving Atlanta as the sole metro in the program with no winning bidder. Colony Capital, LLC purchased 970 properties in Los Angeles and Riverside, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and Las Vegas, Nevada, the agency revealed Thursday. In a statement Monday, C.A.R. said, ""Fannie Mae and FHFA’s decision to move forward with the REO bulk sale in California amounts to another gift to Wall Street at the expense of taxpayers.""

A California real estate investor became the 26th person to plead guilty or agree to plead guilty as a result of antitrust investigations from the Justice Department into bid rigging and fraud at real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California. The ongoing investigations are focused on real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties. Norman Montalvo of Concord, California was charged with four felonies in San Francisco federal court, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Norman Montalvo, of Concord, California was charged with four counts of felony in San Francisco federal court, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The nation’s unemployment rate inched up to 7.9 percent in October as the economy added 171,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. The labor force--the sum of employed and unemployed--improved in October, causing the bump in the unemployment rate and signaling renewed confidence among those on the sidelines that jobs are available. Job creation for the two prior months was revised upward: 148,000 in September instead of the originally reported 114,000 and 192,000 instead of the 142,000 reported in August.