Overnight real estate rates freeze

Long-term mortgage interest rates were unchanged Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.49 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 5.63 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate stayed at 5.39 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.3 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.61 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  more...

Fannie Mae sues auditor KPMG

Fannie Mae has sued its former outside auditor, KPMG LLP, alleging the firm's "professional negligence" forced the government-sponsored mortgage repurchaser to undertake one of the largest accounting restatements in history.

In a complaint filed Tuesday in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Fannie Mae said that for more than 30 years it relied on KPMG to review and analyze its critical accounting policies and practices, and to act as "an independent watchdog." KPMG was paid "tens of millions of dollars to do so," the complaint said.  more...

Home loan delinquencies up

An increase in delinquencies on subprime and FHA-backed loans helped push the overall delinquency rate on all mortgage loans up 28 basis points in the third quarter, to 4.67 percent, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

The increase in delinquencies took place across the board for all major loan types, but was noticeably larger for subprime loans -- particularly subprime ARMs, said MBA Chief Economist Doug Duncan.

Duncan said that although payment performance "has deteriorated somewhat from the very strong performance of recent years," the market is responding to  more...

Pacific Northwest home sales slide

The housing market in western and central Washington continued to cool in November, as a massive supply of inventory and buyer caution slowed sales for the ninth straight month, according to the latest figures from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

According to statistics, there were 7,073 total sales of single-family homes and condos last month, down 11.4 percent from a year earlier when 7,987 sales were recorded.

NWMLS director Dick Beeson said the changing market is  more...

Brokers to advise real estate search firm

As more consumers start their home searches on the Internet, real estate brokers are being offered more places to market listings online.

Trulia.com, a site that offers to include listings in a national real estate search, today announced that 10 brokerage industry leaders have joined the company's advisory board to provide expertise on the online consumer real estate experience.  more...

Survey: Home-price declines not a big worry for wealthy

About 46 percent of wealthy Americans are more pessimistic about the real estate outlook in 2007, while only 15 percent said declining home prices are a concern, according to a survey by PNC Wealth Management, a part of The PNC Financial Services Group.  more...

Home loan apps hit 14-month high

Overall mortgage application volume last week jumped to its highest level since October 2005 as lower interest rates inspired a surge in refinancing and new purchases, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The market composite index, which measures total home loan volume, rose to 721.2 last week, up 11.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 647.6 the week before. Separately, the seasonally adjusted refinance index increased by 15.8 percent to 2,304.4 from 1,989.7 the previous week, and is now at its highest level since September 2005.  more...