housing market

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US New Home Sales Hit Fastest Pace Since 2008

Sales of new homes increased 9.6% last month

(Newser) - US sales of new homes rebounded in January to the fastest pace in more than five years, offering hopes that housing could be regaining momentum after a slowdown last year caused by rising interest rates. The Commerce Department says sales of new homes increased 9.6% in January to a...

Foreclosures Plummet to Pre-Crash Levels

Foreclosures fall to 6-year low, 32% drop from last November

(Newser) - The number of US homes entering the path to foreclosure or winding up repossessed by lenders has fallen to levels not seen in more than six years. While foreclosures remain a concern in select states, the trend is the latest sign that foreclosures are becoming less of a national factor...

Home Prices Take Biggest Jump Since 2006

Up 12.2% in May compared with a year ago

(Newser) - US home prices jumped 12.2% in May compared with a year ago, per the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of property values; that's the biggest yearly gain since March 2006, reports the AP . The highlights didn't stop there: Bloomberg reports that each of the 20 cities in...

More Good News for Housing Market

New home sales at fastest pace in 5 years

(Newser) - Sales of new American homes rose in May to the fastest pace in five years, a solid gain that added to signs of a steadily improving housing market. The Commerce Department says sales rose 2.1% last month compared with April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 476,000,...

Home Prices Take Biggest Jump in 7 Years

20 biggest cities see gains for 2nd month in a row

(Newser) - US home prices posted their biggest year-over-year gains in February since 2006, as a growing number of buyers bid on a limited supply of homes. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed 9.3% in the 12 months ending in February. That's up from an 8....

Singapore Home's Record Price: $242M

Dwarfs top US listing for $135M

(Newser) - A 85,000-square-foot property in downtown Singapore has hit the market for a record price of $242 million, Bloomberg reports. It includes a two-story home, a tennis court, and a pool, the marketing agent says—though sellers are betting developers may want to divide up the property, which is in...

White House to Banks: Loan to Those With So-So Credit

Effort to expand recovery sparks debate on risky lending

(Newser) - The White House is fighting to make it easier for people with less-than-stellar credit to get home loans, a move insiders say will spur recovery. They're joined by housing advocates who say the improving housing market hasn't reached lower-income and young people. But the plan "would open...

Feds Look to Deep-Six 'Forced' Home Insurance

Banks benefit from practice that has gouged millions

(Newser) - Since 2009, some six million "force-placed" home insurance policies have been written—expensive policies that hit homeowners if their original plans fall through, for instance, because they've fallen behind on payments. But these "forced" policies can cost up to 10 times as much as the original plans,...

Jan. Home Prices See Biggest Jump Since 2006

Case-Shiller index points to 8.1% growth year-over-year

(Newser) - Home prices jumped 8.1% this January compared to a year before, according to the 20-city Case-Shiller index. That beats economists' expectations of a 7.9% increase and marks the biggest year-over-year jump since the summer of 2006, the Wall Street Journal reports. In other words, it's "the...

Much Ado in Paris Over Man's Tinier-Than-Twin Bed Home

' Minuscule ' flat indicative of Paris' housing crunch, say advocates

(Newser) - If this is a Parisian apartment, no wonder folks there are les miserables. For the past 15 years, "Dominique" has been paying $442 a month to live in a 16.8-square-foot Parisian apartment too small to stand up in, reports NPR . (FYI, a twin-sized bed measures about 20 square...

29% of Homeowners Are Mortgage-Free
 29% of Homeowners 
 Are Mortgage-Free 
new report
Jan 11, 2013 8:07 AM CST

29% of Homeowners Are Mortgage-Free

Including 34.5% of those homeowners ages 20 to 24

(Newser) - In a country ravaged by the housing crisis, a hefty chunk of homeowners—some 29.3%—have escaped the mortgage burden entirely, a new report by Zillow finds. A great deal of the 20.6 million Americans who own their homes outright are retirees: 77.6% of people 85 and...

Home Prices Climbed 3% in September

20-city index sees jump as housing recovery continues

(Newser) - Home prices increased in September in most major US cities, more evidence of a housing recovery that is providing a lift to the fragile economy. Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller reported today that its 20-city index of home prices rose 3% in September, compared with the same month last year....

Housing Starts Soar to Highest Since 2008

Almost all of the growth comes in apartments, townhouses

(Newser) - The housing market might finally be coming around. The number of new homes that began construction last month took a surprise 3.6% leap to an 894,000 annual rate—the highest since July 2008, the Commerce Department announced today. That's well above the 840,000 economists surveyed by...

Federal Housing Agency Almost Out of Money

It may need an unprecedented bailout

(Newser) - The Federal Housing Administration is expected to announce this week that it's on the verge of running out of cash and may need taxpayer help, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rising mortgage defaults are battering the agency, which, though it guarantees fewer mortgages than either Fannie Mae or Freddie...

US Housing Construction Hits 4-Year High

Up 15% in September: Commerce department

(Newser) - US builders started construction on single-family homes and apartments in September at the fastest pace since July 2008, a further indication that the housing recovery is strengthening. The Commerce Department says builders broke ground at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 in September. That's an increase of...

Consumer Confidence Soars Past Expectations

There's good housing news, too

(Newser) - Consumer confidence soared to a seven-month high, flying far above analyst expectations, according to a Conference Board report released today. The board's index came in at 70.3, up from 61.3 a month earlier. That's a whole heck of a lot better than the 63 that the...

Economy Has Hit Bottom, Census Suggests
 Economy Has 
 Hit Bottom, 
 Census Suggests 
economic roundup
Sep 20, 2012 7:48 AM CDT

Economy Has Hit Bottom, Census Suggests

On the bright side, there's nowhere to go but up, census suggests

(Newser) - Are you a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty type? Because that will have a lot to do with how you read the American Community Survey, a compilation of 2011 Census data and unofficial figures from the first quarter of 2012 giving us a glimpse at the US economy. With that much...

Another Sign of New Life for Housing Market

Home sales up 2.3% from June to July

(Newser) - Americans bought more homes in July than in June, the latest evidence that the housing market is slowly recovering. Sales of previously occupied homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.47 million in July, a 2.3% increase from the previous month's rate, the National Association...

The Government Needs to Start Buying Mortgages
The Government Needs to Start Buying Mortgages
OPINION
Aug 13, 2012 1:59 PM CDT

The Government Needs to Start Buying Mortgages

Economists Joseph Stiglitz and Mark Zandi have a plan to fix the housing market

(Newser) - Five years after the mortgage crisis began, housing is still one of the biggest factors dragging the economy down. There's just one option left, economists Joseph Stiglitz and Mark Zandi write in the New York Times : Mass refinancing. "Well over half of all American homeowners with mortgages are...

Foreigners Gobbling Up American Homes

Nonnatives take 8.9% of home real estate sales

(Newser) - The Canadians are coming ... for our real estate. A weakened dollar coupled with a buyer's market is prompting foreigners to snatch up expensive homes here in the US. Of the $928 billion spent on US real estate in the year ending in March, $82.5 billion came from foreigners....

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