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

Welcome to our weekly edition of Hot Real Estate Investment News.
We have LOTS of real estate news items this week:

  • Corelogic has released its January MarketPulse Report
  • RealtyTrac® has released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report
  • The CoreLogic Home Price Index Rises 7.4 Percent
  • The number of improving markets spikes in January
  • And a whole lot more…

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.

CoreLogic Releases January MarketPulse Report

Key finding from the report:

  • Total homes sales increased 6 percent to 4.2 million, up from 3.9 million in 2011 – the first increase since 2005.
  • Non-distressed homes sales increased 11 percent to 3.2 million.
  • New sales increased 3 percent to nearly 300,000.
  • REO sales declined more than 20 percent to 600,000, the third annual consecutive decline.
  • Short sales rose 23 percent to 370,000 units, the highest level since the real estate downturn began.
  • Serious delinquencies declined by nearly 300,000 loans in 2012, which drove the seriously delinquent rate down to 6.9 percent, from 7.4 percent in 2011. Since the January 2010 peak, serious delinquencies have declined by 1 million loans.

For a full copy of the January CoreLogic MarketPulse report click here.
Also see:

The Rise and Fall of REO Sales
“REO sales no longer play the dominant role they once did in real estate transactions. The recent decline in REO sales, along with the decrease in inventory, is helping the market see an improvement in prices, according to a report from Corelogic.”

1.8 Million U.S. Properties With Foreclosure Filings in 2012

Foreclosure Activity Increases in 25 States, Led by New Jersey, Florida, Illinois
Median Home Prices Rise in 25 States, Lifting 1.6 Million Out of Negative Equity

foreclosure activity

This week, RealtyTrac® released its Year-End 2012 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows a total of 2,304,941 foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 1,836,634 U.S. properties in 2012, down 3 percent from 2011 and down 36 percent from the peak of 2.9 million properties with foreclosure filings in 2010.

Other report highlights:

  • On a monthly basis, foreclosure activity dropped 10 percent in December to the lowest level reported since April 2007.
  • The average time to complete a foreclosure nationwide increased in the fourth quarter to a record-high 414 days.
  • As of January 2013 a total 10.9 million U.S. homeowners were seriously underwater on their mortgages, representing 26 percent of all outstanding mortgages in the nation.

Click here for the full report.
See also:

2012 Foreclosures Down 3% from 2011, 36% from 2010
December activity hits 68-month low, bank repossessions increase in fourth quarter.

Foreclosure Inventory Falls, Expect to See a ‘Rebound’ in Starts

Esther Cho reports:
“Foreclosure inventory in November fell as requirements from the national mortgage settlement “influence the pace of first-time foreclosure starts, Lender Processing Services (LPS) stated in a recent report.
Foreclosure inventory shrunk to 3.51 percent in November, a near 10 percent decline from September 2012.
Foreclosure starts totaled 130,053 in November 2012, a 4.6 percent month-over month increase and a 27.6 percent yearly decrease.”

CoreLogic Home Price Index Rises 7.4 Percent Year Over Year in November

––Almost All States Show Positive Growth––

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 7.4 percent in November 2012 compared to November 2011. This change represents the biggest increase since May 2006 and the ninth consecutive increase in home prices nationally on a year-over-year basis.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased on a year-over-year basis by 6.7 percent in November 2012 compared to November 2011.
For full November 2012 national data click here.
See also:

Home Price Gain in November Hits 6-Year High
“Home prices posted their biggest annual gain since May 2006, according to the most recent CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) report.”

Number of Improving Markets Spikes in January, Hits 242

Tory Barringer reports:
“The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/ First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) continued its trend of marked monthly improvements in January, according to a release from the NAHB.
The index rose for the fifth consecutive month in January to reach 242, once again achieving a record high. The index measured 201 in December.”

 1.4 Million Borrowers Returned to “Positive Equity” Year to Date

––Number of Residential Properties in Negative Equity Declines in Q3 2012––

On Thursday, CoreLogic® released new analysis showing approximately 100,000 more borrowers reached a state of positive equity during the third quarter of 2012, adding to the more than 1.3 million borrowers that moved into positive equity through the second quarter of 2012.
This brings the total number of borrowers who moved from negative equity to positive equity September year-to-date to 1.4 million.
The analysis also shows 10.7 million, or 22 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, were in negative equity at the end of the third quarter of 2012. This is down from 10.8 million properties, or 22.3 percent, at the end of the second quarter of 2012.
An additional 2.3 million borrowers had less than 5 percent equity in their home, referred to as near-negative equity, at the end of the third quarter.