Housing Market Updates

Sales of new homes rocketed up 27 percent in March
By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Sales of newly built homes shot up 27 percent in March -- the largest monthly gain in nearly five decades -- as mild weather and a lucrative tax credit pumped up demand for homes in all four regions of the country, according to federal data released Friday.
The Commerce Department reported that new-home sales jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000, reversing February's record low and far exceeding the expectations of many experts who track the industry.

March 2010 - First Quarter of 2010 - MRIS Market Watch
Northern Virginia: >click here for Video.

Top Updates: Week of April 19th, 2010

Bankers fight calls to offer wide mortgage relief for underwater homeowners
By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Banking executives pushed back Tuesday against pressure from lawmakers and housing advocates to cut the loan balances of millions of homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth.

Foreclosures rise as banks repossess more homes
By Renae Merle
Friday, April 16, 2010
More people lost their homes to foreclosure during the first quarter of this year as banks worked through a backlog of troubled borrowers and repossessed more properties, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac.
The number of homes repossessed, the final stage of the foreclosure process, reached 257,944 during the quarter. That is up 9 percent from the previous quarter and 35 percent from the first quarter of 2009, according to RealtyTrac, an online service that estimates that it tracks about 90 percent of the housing market.

Personal Finance Thursday, April 1, 2010

Tax Tip
Credit CARD Act Impact
Debt Comes Back to Bite Homeowners
Jobs Should Be Next

Home prices inch up, but analysts fear rebound is fading

By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Home prices rose modestly in January, according to a closely watched index released Tuesday, but some housing industry analysts remain concerned about the sustainability of the housing sector rebound.

Home prices in 20 cities tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in January compared with December. That was the eighth consecutive monthly increase in the index. Compared with the same period a year earlier, prices were down 0.7 percent.

Foreclosure fund gets $600 million to help residents of 5 more states save homes

By Renae Merle
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Obama administration announced Monday that it is expanding by $600 million a fund aimed at helping states tackle the foreclosure crisis with locally tailored approaches.
State housing finance agencies from North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island will share $600 million to test new approaches to helping borrowers save their homes from foreclosure. That is in addition to $1.5 billion set aside for California, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Florida when the program was initially announced in February. Both initiatives will be financed through the government's Troubled Assets Relief Program...

Obama administration revises anti-foreclosure strategy

By Dina ElBoghdady and Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Obama administration Friday tried to manage expectations about its newest foreclosure-prevention efforts, while consumer advocates and others who track the housing market praised the initiative but questioned whether it would succeed in curtailing the foreclosure epidemic.

Second mortgages complicate efforts to help homeowners

By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 27, 2010

As government regulators and lenders work to stabilize the housing market, one of the factors that helped propel the housing boom of the past decade is now taking a central role in thwarting their efforts: second mortgages.