While the overall Interthinx Mortgage Fraud Risk Index remains elevated but unchanged from the previous quarter’s value of 145 (n = 100), it is worth noting the reversal in a number of trends that have persisted over the last year or longer. It is not yet possible to determine whether these reversals represent normal fluctuations in fraud risk or herald a fundamental shift in long term trends.Read more

Integrated Asset Services LLC (IAS), a leader in default management and residential collateral valuations, has released the latest IAS360 House Price Index (HPI). Based on the timeliest and most granular data available in the industry, the index for national house prices fell 0.7 percent in December. Save for a brief rally across the summer, the leading benchmark for U.S. housing was down nearly all of 2009. Finishing with five straight down periods, the IAS360 was off 5.3 percent for the 12-month stretch. This relatively modest decline follows an 11.7 percent decline in 2008.Read more

Congress has extended the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and expanded it to include a $6,500 tax credit for move-up homebuyers who have lived in their primary homes for at least five out of the last eight years. We have only a few short months (until April 30, 2010) to generate business with this incentive. How can we get the maximum benefit out of this?Read more

Contract activity for pending home sales fell after a surge of activity in preceding months to beat the original deadline for the first-time homebuyer tax credit but remains comfortably above a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in November, fell 16.0 percent to 96.0 from an upwardly revised 114.3 in October, but is 15.5 percent higher than November 2008 when it was 83.1.Read more

Home sales increased 4.7 percent in November in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home rose 5.8 percent, according to a report issued by the California Association of Realtors (CAR). “First-time buyers continued to drive the market in November, as many opened escrow to take advantage of the federal tax credit prior to its original Nov. 30 expiration,” said CAR President Steve Goddard.Read more

Pending home sales have risen for nine months in a row, a first for the series of the index since its inception in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, increased 3.7 percent to 114.1 from 110.0 in September, and is 31.8 percent above October 2008 when it was 86.6. The rise from a year ago is the biggest annual increase ever recorded for the index, which is at the highest level since March 2006 when it was 115.2.Read more

Home sales increased one percent in October in California, compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home declined 3.2 percent, according to a recent report from the California Association of Realtors (CAR). “Home sales historically trail off during the fall and winter months as we move to the off-peak season for the housing market,” said CAR President Steve Goddard.Read more

Driven by the first-time buyer tax credit, existing home sales showed another big gain in October with a strong uptrend established over the past seven months, while inventories continue to decline, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – surged 10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of 6.10 million units in October from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in September, and are 23.5 percent above the 4.94 million-unit lRead more

In a survey in which most responses were received prior to congressional action to keep an important homebuyer incentive alive, builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes remained unchanged at a low level this November, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) held flat at 17 while its component gauging sales expectations for the next six months rose two points from the previous month, to 28.Read more

The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) 55+ Single-Family Housing Market Index (HMI), based on a survey of builders who produce housing designed to meet the needs of mature consumers, showed a six-point increase in the third quarter of 2009, to a seasonally-adjusted level of 21. That is the highest level recorded since the inception of the series in the fourth quarter of 2008, though still considered a fairly weak number.Read more