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 »

Home prices are rising at double digit rates. Inventories are at historic lows. Two out of five applicants for a purchase mortgage are rejected. Yet nearly three quarters of Americans say it’s a good time to buy a home. Read More »

March home prices rose at double digit rates-increasing faster than they have in seven years-and the outlook is nearly as good for April. 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 »

Neither an upswing in home sales nor a wave of new multifamily construction is affecting apartment vacancy rates so far this year. Rates are down and rents are strong across the nation. Apartment markets improved across all areas according to the National Multi Housing Council’s (NMHC) April Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. All four indexes — Market Tightness (54), … Read More »

Most sellers are getting as much or more than they are asking for their homes in eight out of 24 major metros tracked by a new market report released yesterday, a sign that the metros have crossed over from buyers’ to sellers’ markets. Read More »

While the median national list price rose by only a modest amount in March, all indicators suggest that a broad-based housing recovery is beginning to take hold across the nation as a whole. List prices are appreciating at a year-over-year basis in more than 100 of the 146 markets tracked by Realtor.com and nearly all are within reach of achieving positive year-over-year price growth by the end of the year. A successful spring market could move the entire nation into the black.

The hottest housing prices in the nation at last are encourage more sellers to list their homes, promising more sales and cooler price hikes in the weeks come. Read More »

Perhaps the greatest advantage of a short sale to beleaguered homeowner facing default and foreclosure is the opportunity to move on with life and put the bad debt behind them as quickly as possible. That advantage is shrinking as short sales take longer to sell than foreclosures. Read More »

Realtor.com listing data for February suggest buyers are getting an early start to the 2013 home buying season despite the bad weather in many parts of the country and inventories that are still at record lows. Sellers are finally responding to the positive market by replenishing depleted inventories. Read More »