BY JANN SWANSON Mortgage rates pulled back slightly during the week ended November 16, but that did little to move mortgage applications higher. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its Market Composite Index, a measure of overall application volume, continued to trend down, dipping 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the week ended […]
Sure, the stock market has risen for over eight years. But the run which started in October off 2016 is quite extraordinary, to say the least. Usually when bull markets get older, they fluctuate and run out of steam, but this one seems to have gotten quite a second wind. The question is — where […]
The stock market shined this past week with another show of resiliency. The ability to bounce back after two huge natural disasters hit was quite impressive — even as the Korean situation continued to fester. By the end of the week, stocks had healthy gains. Meanwhile, long-term rates moved up as the stock market rallied. […]
RealtyTrac recently reported that short sales outpaced foreclosure sales in 2012 by a 3-to-1 margin. While foreclosure sales accounted for 11% of all sales — a 13% drop from 2011 — short sales made up 32% of all sales last year, a 5% year-over-year gain. In the fourth quarter of 2012, foreclosures sold at a […]
Home prices are falling in most major U.S. cities, as reported by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. At least 10 major U.S. markets, including New York, are at their lowest point since the housing boom of 2006-2007. According to The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller city index, home prices fell in 19 out of the 20 major cities. The record […]
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the recent fall of mortgage rates. According to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates, this week saw a decline in mortgage rates with the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropping to 4.80% the week of April 21, compared to 4.91% the week before. A 15-year […]
Data released by RealtyTrac on April 14 showed that the number of foreclosures in the first quarter of 2011 was lower than what it was during the same quarter in 2010. More than 681,000 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q1 2011, a 27% decrease. That same quarter, 215,046 borrowers lost their homes, which is […]
The housing market may be impacted by the possibility of a government shutdown. The Wall Street Journal reported on April 7 that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told Senate lawmakers that he is “very concerned” that if the government shuts down as a result of lawmakers failing to reach an agreement on a […]
Bankrate.com reported on March 31 that home equity rates fell slightly from 7% last week to 6.99% this week, based on a survey it conducted with large banks and thrifts. Meanwhile, the typical home equity line of credit (HELOC) averaged 5.57%, a gain of one basis point from the previous week. (One basis point is […]
The Census Bureau released estimates on Wednesday that sales of new single-family homes last month were at an annual rate of 250,000 units, down 16.9% from an upwardly revised figure of 301,000 units in January and down 28% from the February 2010 figure of 347,000. It was the lowest level since the federal government started […]