Foreclosure sales dropped dramatically first quarter. A total of 190,121 properties that were in some stage of foreclosure or were bank-owned (REO) were sold during the second quarter, a decrease of 18 percent from the previous quarter and down 22 percent from the first quarter of 2012. Read More »

You’ve heard of days on market for a listing? How about a year on market for buyers? A new survey found that one out of three buyers has been looking for a home for more than a year and now they are ready to grovel. Read More »

Foreclosure inventories fell 24 percent from last year at this time and completed foreclosures fell 16 percent year over year, according to the CoreLogic April National Foreclosure Report. Read More »

Just as the volume of concern was growing that the recovery would be short-lived, Case-Shiller reported double digit price increases in all three of its composites, which posted their highest returns in seven years. Read More »

For nearly two months, through the heart of the spring buying season, the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing’s Market Action Index has stayed stuck at 29, one point below the official level designating a seller’s market. Read More »

The Sold-to-List Price Ratio, one of the leading market indicators for predicting home prices, is helping analysts predict home prices in markets with varying economic condition, shortages of available housing inventory and its impact on home prices. Pro Teck Valuation Services’ May Home Value Forecast (HVF) Update analyzes the Honolulu, Tucson, San Francisco, and Chicago metro areas to determine how the indicator has been useful from a historical perspective and in current market conditions. Read More »

A new analysis of institutional investor purchases in Atlanta over the past year found that hedge funds are driving up prices and depleting inventories, yet they are still able to buy properties for less than the market rate. Read More »

The number of homes for sale in April inched 1.6 percent higher than in March, the first month-over-month inventory increase since June 2010, according to the April RE/MAX National Housing Report. Read More »

In the several California markets that have seen soaring prices and historically low inventory levels during this spring buying season, a flood of new listings drove inventories up. The increasing inventories are helping to moderate price increases in the hot markets. In Sacramento, for example, list prices actually declined on a monthly basis. Read More »

Despite the housing recovery and home sales running 10.3 percent above the level of a year ago, mortgage originations are falling, signaling weakening refinancings. Read More »