Market Studies

Two reports issued by the Wells Fargo Economics Group both point towards a positive climate for economic growth, albeit for different reasons. The first report followed FDIC loan performance, noting cyclical improvement in loan performance and a trend favorable for credit quality. The second report commented on underwriting practices.

Sales of residential homes in the seven-county metro of Chicago followed a pattern similar to January: rising prices, but the pace of sales slow when compared to the same month last year. According to an analysis by RE/MAX, bitter weather and a small inventory of homes for sale were the primary factors causing reduced sales activity.

Realtor.com released its February Monthly Housing Trend Report, which showed an increase in listing prices as well as an increase of housing inventory. The increase in both list price as well as inventory points to a "strong early beginning to this spring's home buying season," the report said.

"The combination of steep price appreciation and rising mortgage rates is likely coming as a shock to many prospective buyers," Redfin stated in its latest Real-Time Price Tracker. Home sales declined 10.3 percent across the country year-over-year in February, falling for the fourth straight month with sharp drops in West Coast markets.

David Stevens, President & CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association , joins the show to discuss an “economic wealth gap being created in terms of access to homeownership”.  Borrowers who lost homes during the crisis, even if recovered financially, no ...

Single-family homes sales in Connecticut rose 2.0 percent in January, according to a new report from The Warren Group. The month-to-month gain in January marks the ninth consecutive month of home sale increases for the state.

According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) came up nearly a tenth of a percentage point to 4.37 percent (0.6 point) for the week ending March 13. Last year, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.63 percent. The 15-year fixed average was 3.38 percent (0.6 point), up from 3.32 percent last week.

More than 4 million first-time buyers want to enter the market, but they face some tough issues as market conditions aren't exactly favorable to new buyers. This conclusion came from the Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI), a new calculation released by Zillow and Pulsenomics.

Foreclosure filings are down to record lows, but a more sinister-sounding problem may be on the rise—"zombie foreclosures." RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for February, reporting that foreclosure filings (default notices, schedule auctions, and bank repossessions) were 112,498, down 10 percent from January and down 27 percent from the previous year.

A release issued by the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS (MAAR) gave an in-depth look at how the nationwide cold weather this past January and February affected local, cold weather markets. Freezing weather hurt new listings, which declined 5.0 percent. Despite the drop in listings, MAAR is more bullish for the spring and summer months, expecting overall seller activity to increase.