Category: News and Trends

For home sellers, low inventories and increasing home prices make this the best of times. But a report from Zillow and Thumbtack suggest hidden costs can present sellers with a different form of “sticker shock.”

ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., said foreclosure filings in April fell to their lowest level since November 2005.

Commercial property market supply and demand fundamentals remained relatively stable in the fourth quarter, reported Moody’s Investors Service, New York.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, in testimony yesterday on Capitol Hill, defended his agency’s nearly 10-year conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and said the agency has implemented numerous measures to strengthen the secondary mortgage market.

NEW YORK–Senior officials from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offered a cautiously optimistic forecast for the secondary mortgage market in the near future, despite projected declines in volume.

The commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rate rose again in April as numerous loans reaching their balloon date failed to pay off, reported Trepp, New York.

Morningstar Credit Ratings LLC, New York, said fewer distressed buying opportunities for institutional investors in single-family rental houses has led to a shift of securitized properties from the southwest United States to the southeast.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac yesterday submitted their Duty to Serve Underserved Markets Plan to the Federal Housing Finance Agency for public comment.

ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., said seriously underwater U.S. properties rose slightly in the first quarter, reflecting parts of the country where negative equity remains “stubbornly high.”

Several major retailers have announced large store closures in recent months. But there is little evidence that the closings had a direct effect on retail rents, reported Reis, New York.