Toronto real estate sales grow

In the first half of April, the Toronto-area resale housing market showed a modest increase in transactions compared to the same time period a year ago, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported.

Realtors documented 4,140 sales during the first half of April, up 3 percent from the same period a year ago.

"The market followed its best first quarter ever with another solid performance to start this month," said TREB President John Meehan.  more...

California couple sought in real estate fraud scheme

A Northern California man and wife are wanted on charges related to real estate fraud, including identity theft, forgery, grand theft, filing false real property title documents, obtaining money and property under false pretenses, and conspiracy.  more...

Home is where the retirement money is, survey says

About 85 percent of Americans view their homes as a reliable source for funding their retirement, beating out other options such as IRAs, savings, and working in retirement, according to a report by Prudential Real Estate Affiliates Inc., the real estate brokerage franchise unit of Prudential Financial Inc.

The report, Building Security at Home, found that American homeowners believe the increase in the equity in their homes has been the most effective means of improving their retirement prospects.  more...

Redfin launches new real estate map tool

Online real estate broker Redfin today released a new online mapping tool and reported its first real estate closings using the company's online home-purchase offer program.

Redfin's new MapStats takes property and community analytics and overlays them on a home-search map so that as home shoppers pan across the Redfin.com map, it continuously calculates average and media home prices, price per square foot and average numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms for the li  more...

Central Ohio real estate sales jump 9.5%

Central Ohio home sales grew 9.5 percent in March from a year ago, as the inventory of for-sale homes reached a new high, according to statistics from the Columbus Board of Realtors.

March statistics indicate that 2,344 homes were sold, up from 2,140 homes sold a year earlier.

More than 5,100 residential homes were added to the market in March, up 14 percent from March 2005, according to the board.  more...

Overnight real estate rates flat

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly unchanged on Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 5.04 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average increased to 6.11 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate held at 5.78 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.19 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 5.14 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...