The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Thursday that existing home sales decreased 2.6 percent, in March, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.48 million units, falling short of the 4.62 million economists had forecast. In response to this data, economists representing different institutions provided their insight to explain what the recent numbers might indicate.

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.

Bank of America reported a net income of $653 million, or $0.03 cents per share for the first quarter of 2012. This includes charges of $4.8 billion, or $0.28 cents a share, from accounting adjustments due to a rise in the value of its debt. After the first quarter a year ago, the bank reported a net income of $2 billion, or $0.17 cents per share. The bank's revenue was $22.5 billion when including the negative valuation, compared to $27.1 billion a year ago; when excluding the valuation adjustments, revenue was down about 3 percent for the first quarter of 2012 to $27.3 billion.

Fixed rates made a slight upward tick this week, Freddie Mac reported in its weekly market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.90 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending April 19, up from last week's average of 3.88 percent, and down from last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.80 percent. The 15-year fixed rose to 3.13 percent (0.7 point); last week the 15-year averaged 3.11 percent and 4.02 percent a year ago at this time.

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.

Data through March 2012, released this week by S&P Indices and Experian showed that, with the exception of bank cards, all consumer loan types saw a decrease in default rates for the third consecutive month and in March, posted their lowest rates since the end of the recent economic crisis. The first mortgage default rate decreased to 1.88 percent in March, according to the agencies' report. Second mortgage defaults declined to 1.03 percent over the same period.

After finding that property valuation mortgage fraud risk has risen since 2006, Interthinx responded to its own research by incorporating satellite images from Google Maps as a solution.Interthinx stated that the inclusion of satellite image data within the company's FraudGUARD can improve loan quality, provides users with a more comprehensive fraud prevention report, and enables a more concise overall risk review.

ISGN Corporation hired Tim Anderson as director of corporate technology strategy. Anderson's background includes more than 30 years of mortgage industry and technology experience. In his new role, Anderson will lead ISGN in its delivery of products, services, and technology. Anderson has been involved in many aspects of the mortgage industry during his career, most recently on the technology side where he helped to develop one of the first e-mortgage platforms, and e-signature and e-vaulting technologies.

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.

While the term foreclosure victim generally brings to mind images of struggling homeowners, one report released by First Focus addressed the impact of foreclosures on an overlooked segment: children. Julia B. Isaacs of the Brookings Institution authored the report, which revealed five years into the housing crises, 2.3 million children have lost their homes to foreclosure, and 3 million more are at serious risk of losing their homes in the future. In addition, approximately 3 million children were evicted, or may face eviction, from rental properties.