housing market

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More Foreclosures Means More Mold

Abandoned homes are perfect environments for mold and mildew

(Newser) - At least one population is benefiting from the housing foreclosure crisis—mold. As more foreclosed homes sit unused for months or years while bureaucracy holds back sales, mold and mildew are growing at an alarming rate, reports NPR . More than half of all forecosed homes in some states are thought...

British Homes Now Cheaper Than Ritzy London Parking

There's a disconnect betwee London and the rest of the country

(Newser) - Much like the US, Britain is seeing home prices plummet—well, except in London, that is. There, prices are soaring, thanks largely to foreign buyers. How bad is it? So bad that the average price of a home in the country as a whole has now fallen to around $260,...

10 Most Affordable Home Markets in US

No. 1: Niagara Falls, New York

(Newser) - Coldwell Banker crunches some numbers to find the least expensive housing markets in the US. The report looked at average listing prices of four-bed, two-bath homes in 2,300 markets, according to MarketWatch . The results:
  1. Niagara Falls, New York: $60,820
  2. Riverdale, Georgia: $61,618

Goldman Preps Counterattack on Senate Report

Subcommittee's numbers are wrong, firm says

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs is ready to take a stand against a Senate subcommittee report that slammed the firm for allegedly misleading clients . Goldman will argue that the report exaggerates the firm’s 2007 bets against the housing market; it may release documents that support its belief that the subcommittee’s investigation...

Housing Prices Hit New Recession Low

And there's no bottom in sight

(Newser) - The housing industry keeps finding new lows: Today's Case-Shiller price index shows that prices fell in the first quarter to the lowest levels since the crash began, reports the Wall Street Journal . The drop of 4.2%, on top of last quarter's 3.6% drop, is evidence of...

Foreclosures Still 'Astronomically High'

They account for 28% of all home sales

(Newser) - Sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined year-over-year in the first quarter, but they still accounted for 28% of all home sales—a share nearly six times higher than what it would be in a healthy housing market. As a slice of all home purchases, foreclosure sales peaked...

Home Sales Fell 9.6% in February

Media sales price hits lowest level in almost 9 years

(Newser) - Fewer Americans bought previously occupied homes last month, and those who did purchased them at steep discounts. The weak sales and rise in foreclosures pushed home prices down to their lowest level in nearly 9 years. Sales of previously occupied homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4....

11.1M Households Underwater
 11.1M Households Underwater 
Mar 9, 2011 7:17 AM CST

11.1M Households Underwater

Number jumps to 23.1% at end of 2010, more likely on way

(Newser) - Just when it looked like the housing market might be treading water, more American homes slipped underwater at the end of 2010, reports the AP. Now 23.1% of all mortgages, or 11.1 million, outweigh the value of the house they secure—up from 22.5% in the previous...

Meet MERS: Another Real Estate Time Bomb?

The corporation says it holds title to 50% of America's home mortgages

(Newser) - If you thought America's real estate mess couldn't get any messier, brace yourself—and meet the MERS corporation. If you haven't heard of it, you're not alone. The obscure business, housed in Reston, Va., employs fewer than 50 full-time workers ... and claims to hold title to about 50% of the...

White House: Let's Kill Fannie, Freddie

Obama administration wants to get out of the mortgage market

(Newser) - The Obama administration will propose dissolving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reducing the federal government’s role in the mortgage market, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The White House is set to release three plans for moving forward without the government-owned mortgage giants, which originated nine out of...

11% of US Homes Vacant
 11% of US Homes Vacant 


Feb 2, 2011 2:40 AM CST

11% of US Homes Vacant

Prices set to fall even further

(Newser) - The latest census figures on the housing market make for grim reading for homeowners. Some 18.4 million homes are vacant—11% of the nation's housing supply—and home ownership rates are dropping rapidly, CNBC reports. Prices are down year-over-year in all 28 major metropolitan areas tracked by the Wall ...

Calif. Lawyer: Break Back Into Your Foreclosed Homes

Radical attorney helps clients squat in bank-owned properties

(Newser) - One California attorney isn't afraid of getting on the wrong side of the law to help clients who have been evicted from their homes. Michael T. Pines of Pines & Associates advises clients to break into their foreclosed homes and live there illegally. He has personally broken into at...

Banks Claimed a Record 1M Homes Last Year

And this year will be even worse

(Newser) - Banks repossessed a little more than a million homes last year, a record high, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac —and that’s despite a sharp drop off in the fourth quarter thanks to the robo-signing scandal . Next year will likely be even worse, one RealtyTrac exec tells...

Housing Market Headed for Double Dip

Declines could hurt broader recovery

(Newser) - The housing market is cratering again, dousing the optimism that pervaded earlier this year. Prices fell for the third straight month in October, according to the S&P/Case Shiller index released yesterday, and economists expect them to keep dropping through early spring, wiping out any progress made since the market’...

Arizona's Newest Resident: Bristol Palin

She pays cash for 5-bedroom foreclosure, no pool

(Newser) - Maybe Sarah Palin's Alaska is getting a tad too brisk this December, because Bristol Palin is taking her dancing shoes and heading to snowbird central, reports the Arizona Republic. The ex-governor's eldest daughter has bought a 5-bedroom house in Maricopa, plunking down $172,000 in cash. The house mirrors the...

Bernanke's Rationale Looks Too Rosy

Felix Salmon isn't thrilled with Fed chief's op-ed

(Newser) - The Fed's controversial plan to buy $600 billion worth of Treasuries to stimulate growth has brought the phrase "quantitative easing" out from the obscurity of financial blogs. Will it work? Two columns today on the subject from Ben Bernanke himself in the Washington Post and Felix Salmon at Reuters...

Millions of Underwater Borrowers Debate Walking Away

Mass abandonment of mortgages could trigger new economic plunge

(Newser) - A quarter of American homeowners now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth and millions of them are thinking about just walking away. "Strategic defaults" on so-called underwater mortgages are on the rise, although abandoning mortgages is controversial and, to some, immoral. "We made a...

GMAC, BofA Restarting Foreclosures
 GMAC, BofA 
 Restarting 
 Foreclosures 
UPDATED
Oct 19, 2010 9:17 AM CDT

GMAC, BofA Restarting Foreclosures

Two vast banks at center of crisis find no significant problems

(Newser) - Bank of America and GMAC, two huge players in the mortgage crisis, are moving to resume foreclosures, effectively ending a self-imposed moratorium meant to give them time to look for errors, the Wall Street Journal reports. A BofA spokesman said the bank would resubmit paperwork for 102,000 cases by...

BofA Moves to Restart Foreclosures
 BofA Moves to 
 Restart Foreclosures 
BRIEF RESPITE
Oct 18, 2010 4:29 PM CDT

BofA Moves to Restart Foreclosures

Bank resubmits affidavits in 102,000 pending actions

(Newser) - Bank of America moved to re-start foreclosures today, moving to resubmit paperwork for 102,000 cases and effectively ending the moratorium it enacted to give it time to look for errors, the Wall Street Journal reports. A BofA spokesman said that so far "no cases" of improper foreclosures have...

Foreclosure Scandal Messing Up Home Sales
Foreclosure Scandal Messing Up Home Sales
UPDATED
Oct 8, 2010 9:41 AM CDT

Foreclosure Scandal Messing Up Home Sales

Thousands of sales thrown into limbo

(Newser) - Hundreds of thousands of foreclosures have been thrown into limbo in the wake of revelations that major lenders didn’t properly review the foreclosure documents, creating a big mess for people trying to buy those homes, the New York Times reports. JPMorgan and GMAC have suspended foreclosures in the 23...

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