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WASHINGTON, DC - February 28, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Fannie Mae's latest national housing survey finds that Americans are more confident about the stability of home prices than they were at the beginning of 2010, even though they lack confidence in the strength of the economy:

Washington, DC - February 28, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Pending home sales eased moderately in January for the second straight month, but remain 20.6 percent above the cyclical low last June, according to the National Association of Realtors

Washington, DC - February 25, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A stabilization trend is taking place in commercial real estate sectors, but in most...

NEW YORK, N.Y. - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage rates retreated further this week, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropping back to 5.09 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.45 discount and origination points

McLean, VA - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which shows a drop in long-term fixed rates this week.

Washington, D.C. - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the former treasurer of the one-time largest non-depository mortgage lender in the country with aiding and abetting a $1.5 billion securities fraud scheme and an attempt to scam the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Sales of newly built, single-family homes declined 12.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 284,000 units in January, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Commerce Department. The decline largely offsets a big gain in sales activity that was recorded in the previous month due partly to an expiring tax break in California."While poor weather conditions likely played a part in keeping potential buyers on the sidelines this January, we do expect consumer demand to improve somewhat along with job-market gains heading into the spring buying season," noted Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Reno, Nev.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. house prices fell in the fourth quarter of 2010 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) seasonally adjusted purchase-only house price index (HPI). The HPI, calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages, was 0.8 percent lower on a seasonally adjusted basis in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter of 2010. The unadjusted national decline was 2.2 percent. Over the past year, seasonally adjusted prices fell 3.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2010

Washington, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some ARM contracts, was 4.71 percent based on loans closed in January. This is an increase of 0.13 percent from the previous month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications increased 13.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 18, 2011

Washington, DC - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The uptrend in existing-home sales continues, with January sales rising for the third consecutive month with a pace that is now above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of REALTORS

Des Plaines, IL - February 22, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Nearly three in four (72 percent) U.S. homeowners agree the home inspection they had when they purchased their current primary residence helped them avoid potential problems with their home, according to a survey released today by the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI).? Also, almost two in three (64 percent) noted, in the long run, they saved a lot of money as result of their home inspection. As the housing market begins to recover, ASHI encourages homeowners and buyers to hire a certified home inspector and to get a home inspection to help further protect their investment

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.22 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, a decrease of 91 basis points from the third quarter of 2010, and a decrease of 125 basis points from one year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) National Delinquency Survey. The non-seasonally adjusted delinquency rate decreased 46 basis points to 8.93 percent this quarter from 9.39 percent last quarter.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Nationwide housing affordability during the fourth quarter of 2010 rose to its highest level in the 20 years since it has been measured, according to National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) data released today.The HOI indicated that 73.9 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2010 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,400. The record-setting index for the fourth quarter surpassed the previous high of 72.5 percent set during the first quarter of 2009 and marked the eighth consecutive quarter that the index has been above 70 percent. Until 2009, the HOI rarely topped 65 percent and never reached 70 percent.

McLean, VA - February 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which shows a drop in long-term fixed rates this week

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Nationwide housing starts rose 14.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 596,000 units in January, according to figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department today. The gain was entirely due to a 77.7 percent increase in the multifamily sector, where significant month-to-month swings in activity are not unusual and where new building has been below expectations for the past several months. Meanwhile, single-family housing starts remained virtually flat for the month, with a 1.0 percent decline.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 11, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 9.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 7.9 percent compared with the previous week.

McLean, VA - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- In the fourth quarter of 2010, fixed-rate loans accounted for more than 95 percent of refinance loans, based on the Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) quarterly Product Transition Report released today. Refinancing borrowers overwhelmingly chose fixed-rate loans, regardless of whether their original loan was an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) or a fixed-rate.

February 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- WHAT: Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) 4th Quarter 2010 National Delinquency Survey (NDS) Media Conference Call. Conducted quarterly since 1972, MBA's National Delinquency Survey covers more than 40 million loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties, representing more than 80 percent of all first-lien residential mortgage loans outstanding in the United States

EMERYVILLE, CA - February 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Home sellers continue to discount their asking price in an attempt to entice buyers to move towards a purchase according to a report issued by national real estatebrokerage ZipRealty (www.ziprealty.com; NASDAQ: ZIPR). ZipRealty’smonthly Price Reduction report, which is generated from a review of MLS-listed properties in 26 markets, shows that inventory is up a modest 2.81 percent from January 2010, but the total number of homes where sellers have cut the asking price at least once was up 17.6 percent. This double-digit growth in discounted homes may be another indicator of a sluggish market.