S.F. Bay Area home sales hit 10-year low

Home sales in the San Francisco Bay Area slowed to their lowest level in 10 years in July and prices increased at the slowest pace since spring 2003, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a real estate information service.

A total of 7,941 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county Bay Area region in July, which was down 19.1 percent from June and down 30.8 percent from July 2005. July sales hit the lowest point since July 1996, when 7,682 homes were sold.  more...

Coastal Mississippi to get central water, sewer systems

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson on Tuesday approved a $33 million program that will ultimately bring central sewer and water service to six coastal counties in Mississippi.  more...

U.S. housing starts sink in July

Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 1.75 million in July, which is 1.2 percent below the revised June rate and 20.8 percent below the July 2005 estimate, the U.S.  more...

Rates rise, borrowers rush to refinance

Overall mortgage applications rose 1.4 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, taken higher by a jump in refinancings, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

Although the seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 0.8 percent to 385.9 from 388.9 the previous week, the refinance index increased by 4.6 percent to 1,587.5 from 1,518.1 one week earlier.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 39.6 percent of total applications from 38 percent the previous week.  more...

Overnight real estate rates fall

Long-term mortgage interest rates were down Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.93 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped to 6.08 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 5.8 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.37 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 5.05 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...

Home builder confidence at 15-year low

An index that gauges home builders' confidence fell seven points in August to its lowest level since February 1991.

The Wells Fargo/National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index, which is derived from a monthly survey by the home builders' trade group, is based on builder ratings of current and expected single-family home sales as "good," "fair," or "poor." The survey also asks builders to rate the traffic of prospective buyers as "high to very high," "average" or "low to very low."

Scores for each component are  more...