All the Real Estate News That’s Fit to RE-Print™

Welcome to our weekly edition of Hot Real Estate Investment News.
Real estate investing news items this week:

  • The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are now available
  • Pending Home Sales Index records a sharp drop
  • Foreclosure activity is up in 57 percent of metro areas
  • Research points to strong multifamily sector this year

Here are the real estate investing related news items that caught our attention this past week. We hope they help you stay up-to-date with your real estate investment strategies and inspire some profitable real estate deals for you.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

Home Prices Extend Gains

Data through November 2012, released Tuesday by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, showed home prices rose 4.5% for the 10-City Composite and 5.5% for the 20-City Composite in the 12 months ending in November 2012.
Full report: home price indices S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices ─ November 2012

Pending Home Sales Index Records Sharp Drop as Inventory Falls

From Mark Lieberman:
“The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) fell 4.3 percent to 101.7 in December, the sharpest month-over-month drop since April, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Economists had expected a smaller 0.3 percent decrease to 106.1 from November’s originally reported 106.4….”

2012 Foreclosure Activity Up in 57 Percent of Metro Areas

RealtyTrac® released its 2012 Year-End Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report on Monday, which shows 2012 foreclosure activity increased from 2011 in 120 (57 percent) out of the nation’s 212 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more.
Foreclosure activity during the year decreased from 2010 — when foreclosures peaked in most markets — in 181 out of the 212 markets tracked in the report (85 percent).
See the complete report here.

real estate trends

2012 Trends for Delinquencies, Foreclosures, and Negative Equity

From Esther Cho:
“While the national delinquency rate remains elevated and even increased slightly month-over-month in December, the delinquency rate ended the year 32 percent lower than the January 2010 peak, according to the December Mortgage Monitor report from Lender Processing Services (LPS)….”

Research Points to Strong Multifamily Sector This Year

Krista Franks Brock reports:
“The industry seems to agree the multifamily housing market is recovering well and will continue to show positive signs this year. Both Fannie Mae and the National Association of Home Builders report low vacancies and climbing rents for 2012 and anticipate a strong market in 2013….”