Tag Archives: Home Sales

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that home sales increased in 49 states during the fourth quarter of 2010, with 78 markets experiencing gains from the fourth quarter of 2009. The national average of home sales rose 15.4 percent to an annual rate of 4.80 million in Q4 from 4.16 million in the third quarter. Distressed homes accounted for 34 percent of sales last quarter. Even with foreclosures continuing to enter the inventory pipeline, NAR says they've been selling well and housing supplies have trended down.

According to statistics released by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR), 51 percent of all existing homes sold in southern Nevada are now purchased with cash. GLVAR president, Paul Bell, said this represents a first for the area housing market. Bell says his organization has been checking with counterparts around the country and has yet to find another major metropolitan area where so many buyers are paying cash for homes.

The recently announced partnership between Zillow.com and Yahoo! Real Estate has created the largest real estate network on the Web, according to comScore Media Metrix, an Internet audience measurement service. Zillow now sells local advertising across both sites, and the 4 million for-sale listings on Zillow also appear on Yahoo! Real Estate. Zillow is now Yahoo! Real Estate's exclusive provider of for-sale listings.

The number of mortgage applications submitted to lenders increased last week, as new applications for both loan refinancings and home purchases rose. That follows a 13 percent plunge in overall activity the week before. Data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Wednesday shows that the trade group's measurement of total mortgage loan application volume jumped 11.3 percent for the week ending January 28.

According to data from Movoto.com, a real estate site based in California, more than half of American families can afford to buy a new home based on income levels and listing prices. But while the site's user search statistics show high interest in affordable price ranges, the company says buyers find it difficult to purchase short sales and foreclosures and banks are still reluctant to lend.

The number of California homes going into foreclosure dropped during the fourth quarter of 2010 to its lowest level in more than three years. According to San Diego-based DataQuick, 69,799 Notices of Default (NoDs) were recorded in the state during the three-month period, down 16.2 percent from the prior quarter and down 17.5 percent from a year earlier. California's priciest ZIP codes saw mortgage defaults rise slightly quarter-to-quarter, but defaults still remain much higher in lower-cost areas.

The number of contracts signed for purchases of previously owned homes rose again in December, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Thursday. The trade group's pending home sales index increased 2.0 percent compared to its November reading. NAR says this forward-looking indicator typically signals where existing-home sales levels should be within one or two months. It marks the third consecutive month NAR's gauge of home sales to come has climbed higher.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its market outlook to the media on Wednesday. The trade group's economists are expecting mortgage lending to shrink by 36 percent this year. They project originations -- including loans for home purchases and refinancing -- to total $966 billion in 2011, compared to $1.5 trillion in 2010. If MBA's forecast holds true, it will be the mortgage industry's poorest showing since 1997.

After three weeks of solid increases, the industry's volume of new mortgage applications took a sharp dive last week, as refinancing plunged to its slowest pace in a year and home purchases declined to their lowest level in nearly four months. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Wednesday that its measurement of total mortgage loan application volume decreased 12.9 percent for the week ending January 21, 2011 when compared to one week earlier.

Sales of distressed properties surged in December as many banks resumed foreclosures following the suspensions prompted by robo-signing issues last fall, according to an industry study conducted by Campbell Surveys. The company's distressed property index jumped to 47.2 percent last month, reflecting the distressed share of home sales transactions. December's level was up from 44.5 percent in November and nearly matched the index's peak recorded in September, before the robo-signing controversy came to light.