Owner: RealEstateFacts.org URL:www.realestatefacts.org Join Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:12:03 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: RealEstateFacts.org provides consumers and industry insiders with the latest news from the Real Estate Industry. Site statistics:Click here
Average Rents For U.S. Apartments Continue To Rise 2008-04-07 14:34:11 The average asking rent for U.S. apartments rose 1 percent in the first three months of 2008, the 24th consecutive quarterly gain, as the U.S. housing slump deterred people from buying homes, according to real estate research firm Reis Inc.
San Francisco had the most rapid rental growth at 11.1 percent, followed by San Jose, California, [...] Read more:Average
, Rents
, Apartments
, Continue
21 Out Of 25 Markets Show Price Declines From Year Ago 2008-04-04 14:10:57 RPX Monthly Housing Market Report for January 2008
Despite the influx of bad news about the U.S. housing markets, segments of the U.S. residential market are showing signs of stability and improvement. As the data are from January, the low point in the seasonal cycle, we could continue to see improvement in the coming months, [...] Read more:Markets
March Unemployment Rate Up To 5.1 Percent From 4.8 2008-04-04 08:22:11 The unemployment rate rose from 4.8 to 5.1 percent in March
, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down (-80,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the past 3 months, payroll employment has declined by 232,000. In March, employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, [...] Read more:Unemployment
, Percent
Reports Of Suspected Mortgage Fraud Rose 42% In 2007 2008-04-03 14:20:16 The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today released an update to its November 2006 mortgage loan fraud assessment, which is based upon analysis of suspicious activity reports (SARs) provided by the financial industry. The previous study examined a statistical sample of SARs reporting mortgage fraud filed between April 1996 and March 2006. This updated study [...] Read more:Mortgage
Zillow.com Officially Launches Zillow Mortgage Marketplace 2008-04-03 07:53:51 Real estate Web site Zillow
.com today announced the launch of Zillow MortgageMarketplace
, an open and transparent lending marketplace, offering borrowers an anonymous and hassle-free way to request custom loan quotes directly from registered lenders. In turn, lenders can respond to an unlimited number of loan quote requests directly from borrowers — for free. Zillow [...]
Manhattan Home Prices Hit New Record Highs In The First Quarter Of 2008 2008-04-02 09:14:33 The 1Q 2008 Manhattan
Market Overview written by Jonathan Miller for Prudential Douglas Elliman is now available. The reports indicates the median price of a home in Manhattan rose to $945,276, that’s up 13.2% over the same time last year. While the number of sales in the first quarter of 2008 declined 34.3% from the [...] Read more:Prices
, Record
, First
, New Record
U.S. Construction Spending Falls 0.3 Percent in February 2008 2008-04-01 13:18:49 The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during February
2008 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,121.6 billion, 0.3 percent (±1.3%)* below the revised January estimate of $1,124.8 billion. The February figure is 3.5 percent (±1.9%) below the February 2007 estimate of $1,162.2 billion.
During the [...] Read more:Percent
, Construction
, Spending
, Falls
HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson Stepping Down 2008-03-31 12:50:01 U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Alphonso Jackson
announced today he will be stepping down as the nation’s chief housing officer. Jackson will conclude his government service as the nation’s 13th HUD Secretary on April 18, 2008.
“During my time here, I have sought to make America a better place to live, work and raise a [...] Read more:Stepping
Vacation and Investment Home Sales Declined With The Overall Market In 2007 2008-03-28 11:05:07 The combined total of vacation- and investment-home sales declined with the overall market in 2007, but still accounted for 33 percent of all existing- and new-home sales, which is close to historic norms, according to the National Association of Realtors®.The market share of homes purchased for investment last year was 21 percent, down from 22 [...] Read more:Vacation
, Sales
, Overall
, Market
Curb Appeal Can Get Buyers in the Door 2008-03-27 14:38:27 When it comes to purchasing a home, buyers do indeed judge a book by its cover, according to a new nationwide survey of real estate agents commissioned by JELD-WEN® Windows & Doors.
Curb appeal has traditionally been an important part of the sales process; however, the recently released Real Estate Agent Community Trends (REACT) survey found [...] Read more:Appeal
, Buyers
, Curb Appeal
Pending Home Sales Index Declines 1.9 Percent In February 2008-04-08 09:58:09 Little change is expected in existing-home sales over the next few months, before improving notably during the second half of the year, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the market will come into clearer focus this summer. “Existing home sales could start to show [...] Read more:Sales
, Index
, Percent
, February
Best Cities For Home Sellers by Forbes 2008-04-08 01:29:05 Behind The Numbers
To find the other cities on our list, we looked at the country’s 40 largest metro areas and assessed how friendly conditions are expected to be for sellers this year. Each city was ranked by its 2007 unsold vacancy rate, calculated by the U.S. Census American Housing Survey, and how much the market [...] Read more:Cities
, Sellers
, Forbes
Banks Offer Foreclosed Homeowners Cash To Move Out 2008-04-09 19:20:06 A cash for keys offer is usually sent to the foreclosure victim by a representative of the lender. The offer consists of asking the homeowners to give up possession of their home voluntarily in exchange for a small sum of money, usually around $500-$1,000. The bank agrees to give the homeowners this small amount to [...] Read more:Offer
, Homeowners
Senate Passes Foreclosure Bill 2008-04-10 19:28:11 The Senate
on Thursday passed a bipartisan package of tax breaks and other steps designed to help businesses and homeowners weather the housing crisis.
The measure passed by an impressive 84-12 vote, but even supporters of it acknowledge it’s tilted too much in favor of businesses like homebuilders and does little to help borrowers at risk [...] Read more:Passes
, Foreclosure
Nevada, California, Florida Still Top States For Foreclosures 2008-04-15 07:55:28 RealtyTrac®, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its March 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 234,685 properties nationwide during the month, a 5 percent increase from the previous month and a 57 percent increase from March [...] Read more:Florida
, Nevada
, California
, States
, Foreclosures
Builders Are Dramatically Limiting Starts Of New Homes 2008-04-16 13:37:09 Builders continued to reduce the pace of new-home construction in March amidst ongoing erosion in the overall economy and credit markets, according to the latest figures released today by the U.S. Commerce Department. Total housing starts fell nearly 12 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 947,000 units for the month, while single-family starts [...] Read more:Builders
, Limiting
, Homes
Freddie Mac To Buy $10-$15 Billion in Mortgage Sales 2008-04-17 15:30:24 McLean, VA – Freddie
Mac has agreed to purchase billions of dollars of new conforming jumbo mortgages with original loan amounts up to $729,750 from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
, Chase, CitiMortgage and WaMu. Freddie Mac conforming jumbo mortgages can be used to finance properties in hundreds of high cost markets designated in the Economic Stimulus [...] Read more:Sales
Economic and Housing Rescue Legislation Introduced in the House 2008-04-17 14:27:37 In response to the nationwide economic downturn caused by the housing and credit crisis, members of the House
Financial Services Committee today introduced legislation to combat the unprecedented rise in foreclosures, and the associated impact on cities and states.
The legislation first announced by Chairman Barney Frank in March, will be divided into two measures: H.R. [...] Read more:Economic
, Housing
, Rescue
, Legislation
Existing Home Sales Down 2.0 Percent In March 2008-04-22 10:58:16 April 22, 2008 - Existing-home sales edged down in March
, remaining within a narrow range of sales activity that has persisted since last September, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – were down 2.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (1) of 4.93 million units [...] Read more:Sales
, Percent
, Existing Home
, Existing Home Sales
U.S New Home Sales Decline 8.5 Percent In March 2008-04-24 14:05:36 Sales of new one-family houses in March
2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 8.5 percent (±16.1%)* below the revised February rate of 575,000 and is 36.6 percent (±11.1%) below the [...] Read more:Sales
, Decline
, Percent
, New Home
, New Home Sales
National Vacancy Rates Increase For The First Quarter Of 2008 2008-04-28 12:38:44 National vacancy rates in the first quarter 2008 were 10.1 (+ 0.4) percent for rental housing and 2.9 (+ 0.1) percent for homeowner housing, the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau announced today. The Census Bureau said the rental vacancy rate was not statistically different from the first quarter rate last year (10.1 percent), but was [...] Read more:National
, Rates
, First
U.S. Foreclosure Activity Up 112 Percent From Q1 2007 2008-04-29 08:09:55 RealtyTrac® (realtytrac.com), today released its Q1 2008 U.S. Foreclosure
Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 649,917 properties during the first quarter, a 23 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 112 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007. The report [...] Read more:Activity
, Percent
Federal Reserve’s Survey Reports Are Banks Tightening Mortgage Standards 2008-05-06 10:40:53 The FederalReserve
released it’s April 2008 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices which reports lending standards at U.S. banks are increasingly stringent.
Majorities of domestic respondents reported that they had tightened their lending standards on prime, nontraditional, and subprime residential mortgages over the past three months. About 60 percent of domestic respondents—a [...] Read more:Mortgage
, Standards
The House Begins Debate On $300 Billion Housing Rescue Bill 2008-05-07 08:05:37 The House
today will begin debate on the American HousingRescue
and Foreclosure Prevention Act which would let the government back loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure and a move many Republicans have opposed.
The bill is sponsored by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass and had this to say about the housing [...] Read more:Debate
House Passes The $15 Billion Dollar Neighborhood Stabilization Act 2008-05-09 08:52:31 The U.S. House
of Representatives acted today to help communities hit hardest by the housing foreclosure crisis, passing legislation introduced by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35), the Chairwoman of the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee.
By a vote of 239-188, the House passed The NeighborhoodStabilization
Act (H.R. 5818), which authorizes a $15 billion federal grant and [...] Read more:Passes
, Dollar
, Billion Dollar
Housing Slump Has Yet To Bottom Out 2008-05-08 13:44:14 A flat pattern in home sales activity should continue for the next couple months before improving over the summer, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the extent of an expected recovery hinges on better access to affordable loans. “Things are beginning to improve, but the [...] Read more:Housing
, Slump
, Bottom
Single-Family Home Prices Dropped 7.7 Percent From Q1 Of 2007 2008-05-13 10:58:54 One out of three the metropolitan areas in the United States showed rising home prices in the first quarter, with only a small number of jumbo loan originations and higher foreclosures resulting in greatly mixed conditions around the country, according to the latest quarterly survey by the National Association of REALTORS®.
In the first quarter, 48 [...] Read more:Family
, Prices
, Dropped
, Percent
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