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Though home values in the United States continued to decline in the second quarter of 2010, the percentage of single-family homeowners with mortgages who are underwater fell to 21.5 percent from 23.3 percent in the first quarter and 23 percent one year ago., according to the Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

Nearly Half of Sellers Cut Prices

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Aug 6, 2010

The number of price-reduced homes on the market increased 5.3 percent in July as compared to June, according to a monthly review of MLS-listed properties within 26 of the country's largest housing markets conducted by the national online real estate brokerage ZipRealty.

Prices Rise 7.9 Percent

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 5, 2010

Despite reports that sellers were dropping prices following the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit April 30, a new national report found that prices rose an average of 7.9 percent in the second quarter over the first, though price increases on listings slowed in June.

RE/MAX Finds Low Rates Lift Sales

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jul 20, 2010

In the wake of the homebuyer tax credit, home sales and prices are holding their own, due largely to record low interest rates and the most affordable prices in years, according to the RE/MAX June survey of 54 metropolitan areas.

Home Prices Expected to Weaken

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 14, 2010

4 Comments

Virtually every other indicator from Pending Sales to Mortgage Purchase Applications is showing home sales headed south with the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit ended April 30.

Falling Jumbo Rates Raise High End Sales

By: Steve Cook; Sun, Jul 11, 2010

6 Comments

High end sales have been picking up through the spring and early summer, even in the wake of the demise of the tax credit, whose impact was felt almost exclusively at the lower end of the market.

PMI Removes 105 Markets from Distressed List

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jun 21, 2010

PMI Group, the nation's leading private mortgage insurer, has removed 105 markets effective June 18, including some of the nation's largest, from its Distressed Markets List. Homebuyers in those markets will find it easier and less expensive to obtain mortgage insurance.

First-Time Homebuyers Disappeared After Tax Credit Ended

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jun 21, 2010

27 Comments

Homebuyer traffic nationwide tumbled in May, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of Real Estate Market Conditions. Most of the decline was attributable to first-time homebuyers who sharply reduced their home shopping last month.

Post Tax Credit Price Cutting Eases

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 16, 2010

4 Comments

Price cutting of listed properties apparently has eased as real estate markets recover from the boom and bust of the tax credit. On an annual basis, price cutting declined slightly.

Growing Confidence Fuels Single Family Home Price Increases

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jun 14, 2010

2 Comments

Optimism that a sustainable economic recovery is underway is driving increases in home prices across many U.S. metro areas according to an analysis of fourth quarter 2009 prices in 384 metro markets by Fiserv, the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, and data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Restoring Default Risk to Pre-Bubble Levels Will Take Five Years

By: Steve Cook; Wed, May 26, 2010

The risk of borrowers defaulting on their mortgages today is much less than in 2006 to 2008, but it will take at least five years for risk to return to pre-bubble levels, a leading expert on default risk told Real Estate Economy Watch.

Lowe’s Sees 2010 as Transition Year

By: Steve Cook; Mon, May 17, 2010

Reporting a 2.7 percent rise in net earnings today for the first quarter, the nation's second largest home improvement retailer remains cautious about the balance of 2010.

New Homes Surge Heralds Future Sales Gains

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Apr 26, 2010

9 Comments

Last week's 27 percent surge in new home sales in March, the largest advance since April 1963, signals future increases in existing home sales, which rose only 7 percent in March, and may show the real impact of the homebuyer tax credit, which expires at the end of this week.

Spring Sales Are Slow

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 9, 2010

As record snows melt away in the Midwest and East, real estate professionals are not seeing the volume of interest or which they had hoped.

Short Sales See Big Jump in Activity

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Feb 22, 2010

7 Comments

Short sales have jumped from about ten percent of distressed property sales during most of last year to 15.9 percent of home purchase transactions in January.

More than One in Four Homes Appreciated in 2009

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Feb 18, 2010

Despite the fact that nearly one out of four American homeowners owe more on their homes than their mortgages are worth, more than one quarter of American homes actually increased in value last year.

Home Builders Court Equity Financing

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jan 29, 2010

An amazing event at the International Builders' Show earlier this month promises to change the industry's financing structure forever and breathe new hope into the industry.

First-time Buyers Faded in Q4

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jan 19, 2010

First-time homebuyers, the most important segment of the home purchase market in 2009, accounted for a shrinking share of the housing market as 2009 drew to a close.

Real Estate Goes Back to Print

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 18, 2010

4 Comments

Newspaper real estate ad spending is projected to rise 16 percent in 2010, to $4.4 billion, after falling 34 percent last year.

Banks Tighten Lending Standards Further

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 9, 2009

One out of every four banks continued to tighten lending standards and terms for prime mortgages in the third quarter.

Mortgage Rates Near All-Time Lows

By: Steve Cook; Sat, Oct 3, 2009