California median home price – September 06: $553,050   California highest median home price by C.A.R. region September 06: Santa Barbara South Coast $1,025,000   California lowest median home price by C.A.R. region September 06: High Desert $329,040   California First-time Buyer Affordability Index – Second Quarter 06: 23%   Mortgage rates – week ending [...]

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a national nonprofit group that promotes equal access to credit and capital for underserved communities, recently filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging Zillow.com knowingly provides consumers, real estate professionals, and financial service providers with inaccurate home valuations. Zillow.com uses an automated home valuation model to provide “zestimates” for [...]

Home sales will remain stable in the months ahead, according to NAR’s most recent Pending Home Sales Index. In September, the PHSI stood at 109.1, down 1.1% from the previous month and down 13.6% from September 2005. The index gauges home sales activity for upcoming months based on the number of transactions that have signed [...]

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee last week decided to maintain the target for the federal funds rate at 5.25%. This is the third consecutive month the committee opted not to raise the target rate, which steadily increased from 1% to 5.25% between June 2004 and July 2006. The federal funds target rate is the [...]