With expectations high heading into spring, it’s been a decidedly underwhelming season. May marks the fifth consecutive month national yearly home price growth has softened. By year’s end, home prices are expected to normalize in the sub 5% annual growth range according to Clear Capital’s latest forecast in July’s HDI Market Report. Despite a lethargic spring buying season, the range … Read More »

Housing markets overall are largely flat compared to a month ago and especially since last year at this time. Of those markets that are improving or experiencing a stable range of housing activity, most are benefiting from the energy boom taking place along the country’s mid-section. Freddie Mac’s Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) reports that: The national MiMi value stands at … Read More »

Halfway through the spring buying season, mortgage applications fell 1.2 percent for the week ending May 21 and the  unadjusted Mortgage Bankers Association’s Purchase Index fell even more.  It was down 2 percent in just one week-15 percent lower than it was a year ago at this time. Such a decline in borrowing to buy a home in the third … Read More »

A few eyebrows raised when the latest FHFA House Price Index (HPI) reported the Charleston market led the nation in price increases during the first quarter (See South Carolina Plays Catch Up).  Charleston is not the only southeastern market to join the housing recovery. According to the latest monthly poll of southeastern broker and builder contacts by the Atlanta Federal … Read More »

Prices have sagged in South Carolina for several years, making markets like Myrtle Beach and Charleston popular sites for dozens of best bargain lists. The latest quarterly report from the government’s FHFA House Price Index (HPI) reports the Charleston market led the nation in price increases during the first quarter. As measured with purchase-only indexes for the 100 most populated … Read More »

Sales rose in April by 1.3 percent over March, a weak tick upward at the height of the traditional sales season.  Sales reached an annual rate of 4.65 million units, marking only the second increase in sales in nine months, short by 6.8 percent from a year ago. The April sales disappointed economists who had expected  4.68 million sales.  Sales … Read More »

April sales were 10.9% better than they were in a rather dismal March, but they were still slower than they were a year ago by 7.8%, according to RE/MAX’s monthly  market report. In March, all 52 surveyed metro areas reported monthly sales increases, a trend continued in April with 50 of the 52 metros experiencing sales increases from the previous … Read More »

More than 100 housing economists and experts participating in a quarterly survey expect nationwide home values to appreciate 4.4 percent through the end of this year.  The most optimistic group of panelists predicted a 5.8 percent annual increase in home values this year, on average, while the most pessimistic predicted an average increase of 3.2 percent. .Panelists said they expect … Read More »

  By Octavio Nuiry                                                                                                 Home prices continue to rise in many major … Read More »

The mortgage delinquency rate has declined more than 24% in the last year and is now at 3.61%, the exact same level as it stood in Q2 2008. according to TransUnion’s latest mortgage report. Though delinquencies are down, non-prime loans are up and TransUnion has nearly 10 million fewer  mortgage accounts than it did six years ago. “It’s encouraging to … Read More »