News

A decrease in median home prices coupled with steady mortgage rates helped contribute to higher housing affordability in the first quarter of 2014, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). NAHB, coupled with Wells Fargo, recently published their Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), which found 65.5 percent of new and existing homes sold between January through March were affordable to families.

NeighborWorks America announced that Chuck Wehrwein will serve as acting president and CEO. Wehrwein has been the COO of NeighborWorks America since May 2012.

Florida's housing market showed signs of improvement in the first quarter of 2014, notching gains in median prices, new listings, and inventory while homes spent fewer days on the market. According to the latest data released by Florida Realtors, completed sales of single-family homes totaled roughly 50,000 for the quarter, up 2.3 percent over the previous year's quarter.

Freedom Mortgage Corporation has purchased the assets of BluFi lending, a direct mortgage lender with branches in California and Nevada. Under the terms of the agreement, BluFi's five branches will be rebranded as Freedom Mortgage.

A booming tech sector and overall job and income growth have helped fuel a real estate boom in San Francisco, according to a recent special commentary from the Wells Fargo Economics Group. The group found that the city's perennially tight housing market has gotten even tighter, pushing rents and home prices up.

According to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), year-over-year home price growth continued in most metros, albeit at a slightly lessened pace. The median existing single-family home price increased in 74 percent of measured markets.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) put out on Monday a "flash release" of its National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI), a measure of the likelihood of purchase loan defaults under stressful economic conditions. According to the group, the index climbed last month to 11.89, indicating nearly 12 percent of loans would be at risk of default in the event of another downturn.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released its Survey of Consumer Expectations for May 2014. The survey found that home price change expectations fell slightly for the fourth straight month, reaching a new low of 3.77 percent.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its Quarterly Performance Report of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, as well as the Federal Home Loan Bank System. Overall, the performance report was good, noting increases in Fannie and Freddie earnings, as well as substantial advances by the Federal Home Loan Bank System.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its April 2014 Housing Scorecard, noting that home prices remained stable, foreclosure completions continued to their lowest levels since mid-2007, existing home sales stabilized, new home sales slowed, and the administration's foreclosure mitigation efforts continued to provide relief for troubled homeowners.