Builder confidence slips in March

Builder confidence dropped a notch in March, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

Derived from a monthly survey that the home builder association has been conducting for nearly 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as "good," "fair" or "poor."

The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of pros  more...

Resale real estate activity jumps in Canada

Resale housing activity in Canada's major markets continued to soar last month, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association.

Seasonally adjusted home sales via the Multiple Listing Service in Canada's major markets rose to 29,069 units in February, up 0.6 percent compared to January.  more...

Realtor trade group pushes healthcare bill

The National Association of Realtors is lobbying for Senate passage of healthcare legislation that seeks to expand the access to healthcare by self-employed workers and small businesses.

The legislation, dubbed the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S. 1955), was introduced by Sens. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

A similar bill, the Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R.  more...

LandAmerica settles Virginia real estate investigation

LandAmerica Financial Group, the third-largest American title insurer, last week said it settled a Virginia regulator's investigation into alleged payments to real estate developers and lenders, without disclosing the terms of the settlement.

LandAmerica did not admit liability in the settlement, which followed agreements in California and Arizona last year, the company said in a regulatory filing last Thursday, according to reports.

"We are pleased to have worked collaboratively with Virginia state regulators to resolve the matter," said Peter Habanecht, a LandAmerica spoke  more...

Real estate refinancings fall

Overall mortgage applications dipped 0.2 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, as the 30-year fixed-rate loan rose to a level not seen since the summer of 2002, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The seasonally adjusted refinance index decreased by 1.9 percent to 1,583.6 from 1,614.4 one week earlier, while the purchase index increased by 1 percent to 403 from 399 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 37.7 percent of total applications from 38.5 percent the previous week.  more...

Real estate listings site expands

CityCribs, an online marketplace for New York City apartment rentals and sales, this week announced an expansion of its property advertising services to New Jersey, Miami and Los Angeles.

Property information for the new market areas can be accessed at the following Internet locations: New Jersey – http://new-jersey.citycribs.com; Miami – http://miami.citycribs.com; and Los Angeles –  more...

Joint ventures surge with Metrocities Mortgage

Metrocities Mortgage on Tuesday reported record closing figures for 2005.  more...

Slower home loan market worsens fraud

After years of red-hot housing sales and refinancings, a cooling market this year is likely to uncover some problems, like a rocky seabed revealed by the ebbing tide.

There is growing concern, in particular, that a glut of mortgage brokers chasing diminished business will pressure them to "look the other way" in generating leads and underwriting loans.  more...

Overnight real estate rates sink

Long-term mortgage interest rates were down Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.69 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped to 5.93 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 5.61 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 4.89 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.7 percent.

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

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...