Tag Archives: CoreLogic

The industry's ominous shadow inventory of REOs that have yet to hit the market and soon-to-be-REOs increased by more than 10 percent between August 2009 and August 2010, according to new figures released by CoreLogic Monday. The company's calculations show the shadow supply of residential properties reached 2.1 million units in August of this year, a volume that will take eight months to clear at today's sluggish sales pace. CoreLogic puts the industry's ""visible"" inventory of homes for sale at 4.2 million.

Home prices in the United States have declined for two months in a row, according to CoreLogic's market index, after rising for the first seven months of the year. The latest CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) shows that national home prices, including distressed sales, declined 2.79 percent in September 2010 when compared to September 2009. That follows a drop of 1.08 percent in August 2010 from a year earlier. All but seven states saw a decline in residential property values during the month of September.

Mortgage fraud has increased by more than 20 percent since fraud rates reached their lowest point in early 2009, according to CoreLogic. The company says higher risk, high-volume programs, including those offered by the Federal Housing Administration and the Treasury's Home Affordable Refinance Program, as well as REO and short sales accounted for much of the increase. All are areas where activity has risen sharply over short periods of time, or where safeguards are not squarely in place, CoreLogic says.

Home prices in the U.S. declined 1.5 percent in August compared to a year earlier, CoreLogic reported Monday. It's the first time this year the company's index has recorded an annual drop. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, warned that price declines are expanding geographically. Seventy-eight of the largest 100 metros included in the firm's study posted lower prices in August. CoreLogic's assessment is in line with what's expected to be a downward trajectory for home prices in the months ahead.

CoreLogic released its Home Price Index Wednesday, which showed that residential property values in the United States remained flat in July as transaction volumes continued to decline. It was the first time in five months that CoreLogic reported no year-over-year gains, and the company says a growing number of declining markets underscore weakness in the housing market without tax-credit support. Home prices actually fell in 36 states in July, the highest number since last November when national home prices were steadily declining.

CoreLogic has announced the launch of its new Short Sale Monitoring Solution. The company says it's the industry's first short sale fraud prevention and pricing technology. The solution alerts lenders to ""risky"" pending and closed short sales. It matches details against other pending loan applications in CoreLogic's database and public records for the same property, and continues to watch properties for a period specified by the lender after short sales have closed.

The number of underwater homeowners has declined for the second consecutive quarter. CoreLogic reports that 11 million borrowers owed more on the loan than their home was worth at the end of June. That equates to 23 percent of all residential properties with mortgages, and is down from 11.2 million, or 24 percent, at the end of March. It seems like good news on the surface, but the company says foreclosures, rather than meaningful price appreciation, were the primary driver behind the change in negative equity.

CoreLogic reports that home prices in the United States increased in June, marking the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year gains in residential property values. But the company says price appreciation has slowed considerably--a sign that we're likely in for further declines heading into the fall season. According to CoreLogic, national home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 1.4 percent in June compared to a year earlier. That follows a 3.7 percent jump in May. CoreLogic says June's 2.3 percentage point deceleration from May is ""very large by historical standards.""

The number of short sales has more than tripled since 2008, with the estimated annual volume now at 400,000, according to CoreLogic. The company says the hard-hit markets of California, Florida, and Arizona, along with Texas, account for more than half of all short sales. But as with any modus operandi that rapidly picks up steam, this proliferation can open the gate for fraud. Lenders' losses resulting from preventable short sale fraud are estimated to be as high as $310 million by the end of this year, CoreLogic says.

The analytics firm CoreLogic has renewed and expanded its longstanding data licensing agreement with the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR). According to CoreLogic, the agreement extends the permitted use of HAR's listing data beyond automated valuation models (AVMs) to other risk management solutions.