Roughly one in every seven mortgages either was past due or in foreclosure by the end of the third quarter—the highest delinquency rate in the 37-year history of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey.  Two factors are expected to drive delinquencies even higher next year: Underwater homeowners and unemployment.  Nearly one in four homeowners [...]

Median home prices and sales in California both increased in November in year-to-year comparisons, according to a recent report released by the California Association of Realtors. The median home price of an existing, single-family home rose 5.8 percent in November compared with a year ago, the first time the median home price has increased in [...]

Consumer confidence declined to a new all-time low of 38 (1985=100) in December after posting a modest increase the previous month when it stood at 44.7, according to a report released yesterday by The Conference Board. The Board’s Present Situation Index fell to 29.4 in December compared with 42.3 last month and its Expectations Index [...]

According to October’s S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released today, the prices of existing single family homes across the United States showed continued broad based declines, with 14 of the 20 metro areas showing record rates of annual decline and 14 now reporting declines in excess of 10 percent compared with October 2007. The 10-City and [...]

The Pace of home sales at California new-home communities was extraordinarily slow in October, primarily due to the global credit crisis, according to a recent California Building Industry Association report. The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (HWMI) New Home Sales and Pricing Report showed that new home sales in October were 63 percent below October [...]

Over the last few months, the Federal Reserve has reduced its key interest rate, the overnight LIBOR, to as low as 1 percent.  However, mortgage rates have not declined as dramatically.  One of the most commonly-followed indicators to determine where mortgage rates are headed is the yield on the 10-year United States Treasury note.  During [...]

Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 279,561 U.S. properties in October, a 5 percent increase compared with the previous month and a 25 percent increase compared with October 2007, according to recent report from RealtyTrac®. One in every 452 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing [...]

Employment figures fell 0.8 percent in September to 108.4, a 10 percent decline from where they were one year ago, according to the latest Conference Board Employment Trends Index from The Conference Board, which is predicting the trend in job losses to continue well into the first quarter of 2009. “The deterioration in the Employment [...]

The federal government on Tuesday announced the launch of a new program designed to assist with ongoing efforts to help stabilize the U.S. banking system and restore confidence in the country’s financial markets, as well as those abroad. So far, nine of the nation’s largest banks have agreed to participate in the program, which will [...]

Builder confidence climbed two points to 18 in September, the first increase in seven months, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). NAHB attributes the increase to recently enacted federal tax credits for homebuyers and lower mortgage rates in the wake of the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Builders have several [...]