Rising inventory levels during the final months of the buying season are dramatically boosting sales and prices have continued to increase as the forces driving the housing recovery shift from lack of supply to demand. Sales are soaring despite new evidence that investors are buying fewer properties. Read More »

Some 20 percent of owners of properties making their way through the torturous foreclosure process are abandoning their homes rather than hoping for a miracle or waiting until the bitter end eventually comes. Read More »

The inventory deficit that jump started the recovery is now filling up fast with new listings as home sellers get the message. But are they hastening the day prices slow down? Read More »

Last week two Federal Reserve researchers answered that question with an analysis of returns on investment since 1926 and their findings won’t make the housing industry happy. Read More »

As the spring home buying season transitions into summer, month-over-month inventories are rising faster than they were as sellers respond to price increases at a faster pace than earlier in the buying season. On a national basis, both list prices and Inventories rose in last month, according to Realtor.com’s May data. Read More »

Tough lending standards have cut the risk of mortgage defaults lower than they have been in nearly a decade, but high unemployment is making it premature to declare victory in the mortgage crisis. Read More »

Investors desperate for foreclosures to buy got a break in May as banks cracked down on overdue defaulters, increasing starts and repossessing homes occupied by defaulters. Read More »

Zillow reported today that the greatest year-over-year decreases in inventory have been among more expensive homes, with the availability of top-tier and middle-tier properties each falling 15.7 percent year-over-year. The number of bottom-tier properties for sale on Zillow nationwide fell only 2.5 percent in early June compared to June 2012. Read More »

Four times more homeowners returned to positive equity in the first quarter of year as the recovery drove home values higher across the nation. Read More »

Multi-bid offers have declined from 73.3 percent of offers written in April to 69.5 percent of offers written in May by Redfin agents, basically the same as May 2012, when 69.3 percent of Redfin offers went into bidding war. Most Redfin agents are located in West Coast markets. Read More »