An estimated 42,293 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide in California last month. That was up 8.3 percent from 39,051 in April, and up 1.2 percent from 41,790 sales in May 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. Last month's sales count was the strongest for a May since 54,099 homes were sold in May 2006. California May sales have varied from a low of 32,223 in 1995 to a high of 67,078 in 2005. Last month's sales were nine percent below the average of 46,471 sales for all the months of May since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.Click to continue

As the rebound in the U.S. housing market continues to strengthen, with annualized prices rising more than 10 percent nationally in March and April, some market watchers have begun to warn of a reinflation of the property bubble that burst in 2007 and led to the country's worst economic slump since the Great Depression. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services suggests that, while double-digit gains in prices are unsustainable, it may be premature to view the current state of U.S.Click to continue

Nationwide housing starts rose 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 914,000 units in May due primarily to increased production on the multifamily side, according to newly released data from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. "The outlook for housing continues to brighten as builders respond to increased demand for new homes and rental apartments," said National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C.Click to continue

Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes hit a significant milestone in June, surging eight points to a reading of 52 according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Any reading over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. The eight-point jump in the index was the biggest one-month gain since August and September of 2002, when the HMI recorded a similar increase of eight points.Click to continue

Potential homebuyers have been watching and waiting for mortgage rates to reach near-record lows. At the same time, with rates so impossibly low, now is perhaps the best possible time for potential homebuyers to take the plunge. The recent spike in mortgage rates is a double-edged sword for the housing market. With the government pulling its support of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and artificially lowering mortgage rates, buyers will be repelled by rising rates. At the same time, rates are projected to continue to rise, so now could be the perfect time.Click to continue

The UFA Default Risk Index for the second quarter of 2013 rose to 106 from last quarter’s revised 97 in our baseline scenario. Under current economic conditions, investors and lenders should expect defaults on loans currently being originated to be six percent higher than the average of similar loans originated in the 1990s, due solely to the local and national economic environment. That’s a key finding of the latest UFA Mortgage Report by University Financial Associates of Ann Arbor, Michigan.Click to continue

In its second quarterly report of 2013, the UCLA Anderson Forecast's outlook for the United States says that despite "improvement in both GDP and key economic sectors, the overall growth falls short of the rates required for the national economy to truly recover from the most recent recession."Click to continue

Bay Area home prices continued to rise in May, the result of an improving economy, low mortgage rates, pent-up demand and continued investor interest. Sales remained below average, mainly because the supply of homes for sale remains unusually tight, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area last month was $519,000, up 1.8 percent from $510,000 in April, and up 29.8 percent from $400,000 in May 2012. That was the highest median since March 2008, when it was $536,000.Click to continue

Freddie Mac has released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), showing fixed mortgage rates climbing higher amid a solid employment report for May. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.98 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 13, 2013, up from last week when it averaged 3.91 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.71 percent. Since beginning their climb last month, the 30-year FRM has increased over half a percentage point.Click to continue

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its March 2013 Refinance Report, which shows that refinance volumes remained high as mortgage rates rose slightly but stayed near historic low levels. Nearly 462,000 refinances took place in March, with nearly 100,000 completed through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). This brings the number of total HARP refinances to more than 2.4 million since the program’s inception in April 2009.Click to continue