Finance - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Foreclosures Plunge to Lowest Level Since 2005

Foreclosure filings—which include default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions—are down 23 percent from a year ago and have hit their lowest level since November 2005, according to the April 2017 U.S. Foreclosure Market report, released Thursday by ATTOM Data Solutions.“Foreclosure activity continued to search for a new post-recession floor in April thanks in large part to the performance of mortgages originated in the past s

Read More

Investors Focus on Student Housing

The student housing market is hot. Sales of this market segment are outperforming the rest of the commercial sector in the first quarter. In fact, if investors continue to buy and sell student housing at the current rate, they’re on track to match the record acquisition volume of 2016.Investors purchased and sold $1.1 billion in student housing properties in the first quarter of 2017, according to CBRE, a real estate services firm.For the past

Read More

Buyers Driving Mortgage Application Rise

Mortgage volume is starting to rise again, and home buyers are fueling the increase.Total mortgage application volume, including for refinancings and home purchases, rose 2.4 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.Home buyers are seemingly undeterred by higher home prices and the limited number of homes for sale. Mortgage applications to buy a home increased 2 percent last week and ar

Read More

GSEs Weigh Financing Manufactured Homes

Mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are reportedly considering providing financing to buyers of manufactured homes soon in a pilot program.The government-sponsored enterprises say they want to look at easing the burdens of low-income borrowers who may turn to factory-built homes to curb housing costs, according to a draft report released Monday where Fannie and Freddie addressed affordable housing challenges. Fannie and Freddie s

Read More

Globally, the U.S. Is a Deal in Luxury Housing

Luxury real estate buyers may find bargains in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world. The U.S. is hardly the most expensive when it comes to home prices in its luxury market.Instead, China takes the world crown in that arena for the fastest-rising prices in luxury residential real estate around the world. Luxury home prices in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern province of Guangdong, rose a whopping 36.2 percent from March 2016 to March

Read More

Seriously Underwater Homes Still a Big Issue

With home prices on the rise, more home values are climbing up above water, but in a few cities, the number of seriously underwater homes is still alarming.Profile of Seriously Underwater HomesThe following are some characteristics of properties that are seriously underwater, according to ATTOM Data Solution’s report. 8% of properties with an estimated market value of $100,000 or less were seriously underwater; 9.3% of properties valued between

Read More

Buyers Grow More Confident About Housing

You may need to do less convincing to get home shoppers to make their move in the housing market. Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index rose 2.2 percentage points in April, with five of six components rising that measure confidence in buying, employment, household incomes, financing, and more.The share of Americans who say now is a good time to buy rose 5 percentage points in April. However, the net share of those saying now is a good time

Read More

Where Investors Get the Biggest Returns

Soaring home prices aren't denting investors' appetite in many markets. "We are seeing more investors and new investors," says Steve Hovland, director of research at HomeUnion, a real estate investment marketplace. "The Fed has really been helping us out. Interest rates are not as high as they have been in past cycles. Commercial real estate is overheated. The bull stock market has been running for a long time, so investors are looking to diversi

Read More

College Grads Could Get Homebuying Help

Several states are offering homeownership assistance programs to recent college grads that may help them receive thousands of dollars toward the purchase of a home. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced the "Graduate to Homeownership" program, which provides assistance to first-time buyers who have graduated in the past two years from an accredited college or university with an associate's, bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree. P

Read More

1.4M More Homeowners Regain Equity

The number of U.S. properties considered "equity rich" has increased by nearly 1.4 million units from a year ago, according to the First Quarter 2017 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report produced by ATTOM Data Solutions. Now, more than 13.7 million homes—or about a quarter of all U.S. residential properties—fall within that category, which means the combined loan amount secured by the property is 50 percent or less than its estimated mark

Read More

This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.