Asking home prices are losing steam as mortgage rates rise, inventories expand, and investor demand declines. Nationally, asking prices dropped 0.3 percent in July – the first month-over-month (M-o-M) decline since November 2012. Seasonally adjusted, prices rose 3.3 percent quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q), down from a peak of 4.2 percent in April. Year-over-year (Y-o-Y), prices are up 11 percent nationally, according to Trulia’s July market report. Read More »

Real estate ranks second as America’s favorite long term investment despite the three trillion dollars in equity homeowners lost during the housing depression, according to a new survey by Bankrate.com. 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 »

In some markets–many of them in California–the home price rebound has pushed prices above their EHP level, which should be a caution sign for investors seeking to make money in a quick re-sale, according to the latest HomeVestor/Local Market Monitor Best Market Ratings for investors. Read More »

Real estate investors are responding to higher prices by buying fewer properties in the next 12 months and holding their rental properties at least five years or longer, according to a national survey of real estate investors conducted by ORC International for MemphisInvest.com and Premier Property Management Group. Read More »

Boasting of spending up to $8 billion dollars to buy tens of thousands of foreclosures to convert into single family rentals, nearly 50 Wall Street investment firms set real estate markets on fire over the past 18 months. Now they are running for cover as soaring prices water down their return on investment. Read More »

After accounting one out of four home sales in the depths of the housing recession and fueled turn-arounds in dozens of markets where waves of foreclosures and battered home values scared off other buyers, real estate investors today are playing a greatly diminished role in the housing recovery. Read More »

In another sign of institutional investors’ appetites for foreclosures, inventories of presale foreclosures have declined nearly twenty percent since last year as lenders have made volumes of foreclosures available via REO tapes to well-funded hedge funds eager to buy in bulk. Read More »

Have real estate investments peaked? After years of growth during the Foreclosure Eva, investment purchases declined slightly last year after surging 64.5 percent in 2011. With the cost and competition to buy distress sales growing and prices for normal homes rising, will investors pull back and start cashing in their assets? Read More »

The inventory of properties in the foreclosure process expanded by nearly 10 percent in the first quarter, casting a pall over the housing recovery as local markets prepare for more foreclosures than expected. However, a high level of demand driving by investor activity may mitigate their impact. Read More »