Data released last week by Standard & Poor’s indicates the fourth quarter of 2011 started with broad-based declines in home prices. The 20-city composite of S&P’s closely watched Case-Shiller index was down 1.2 percent in October versus September, while the 10-city composite reading registered a 1.1 percent drop. Home prices fell in 19 of the …
Price limits for cheaper rates to expire Oct. 1 The chief economist of the California Association of Realtors says her group is resigned to seeing high-dollar limits on lower-cost “conforming” loans expire on Oct. 1, resulting in greater financing costs for people buying pricier homes. Leslie Appleton-Young said Realtors fought to extend the limit, but …
Housing has become an industry afraid of its shadows. That shadow inventory of repossessed and soon-to-be repossessed homes has professionals from every side of the business worried about the impact such a sizeable volume of distress will have on property values and overall market fundamentals. But according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P), the obscurity hiding …
Continue reading ‘Industry’s Shadow Inventory of Distressed Homes Shrinks’ »
According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, despite the gloom you hear, there are growing indications that it is a good time to buy. Mortgage rates, which fell to 4.55% for the week ending June 2, according to Freddie Mac, are near 50-year lows. Homes have become more affordable than they have …
Continue reading ‘The case for home ownership is looking stronger’ »