A new Harris Poll released yesterday found that the percentage of homeowners having difficulty paying off their mortgages has fallen from 29 to 22 percent over the past year, a 24 percent decline. Read More »

Lenders, home builders and real estate agents fighting a new regulation that could significantly raise down payments and loan-to-value ratios are gaining support from an unlikely quarter. Read More »

Outrage over legislation that would require appraisers to ignore distress sales in selecting comparable properties for appraised houses forced Maryland legislators to back down from the idea, though three other states are still considering the idea., including Nevada which is holding a hearing on the bill today. Read More »

The inventory of unlisted properties that are in the foreclosure pipeline shrank slightly over the past year but remains at a nine months’ supply. Read More »

Despite a steadily improving economy and declining mortgage delinquency rates over the past year, more homeowners still are paying credit card bills before their monthly mortgage payment, a three year old practice than roughly parallels the foreclosure era and the emergence of “strategic defaults,” where mortgage holders walk away from their homes even though they can afford the mortgage payments Read More »

Home prices officially reached the long feared double dip in January as prices of single-family homes in 20 major cities fell for a sixth straight month, according to the authoritative S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s. Read More »

An enormous backlog of foreclosures dominates the foreclosure picture at every level, outpacing the monthly sales volume by a factor of thirty and promising to continue the Foreclosure Era for months and years to come. Read More »

A panel of 111 leading housing economists, real estate experts, investment and market strategists have lowered their expectations of the housing markets and now see only a weak recovery taking place two years from now. Read More »

The delinquency rate on mortgages 30 days or more past due fell by more last month than it has in nearly a year, according to Lender Processor Services’ Mortgage Monitor report to be released later this week. Read More »

The potential default risk on nonprime mortgages that were closed in the first quarter rose to the same level as loans closed last spring and fall after a drop in the fourth quarter, according to the UFA Default Risk Index, which measures the risk of default on newly originated nonprime mortgages. Read More »