Sentencing of former Homestore CEO delayed

Sentencing for Stuart Wolff, the former CEO of Homestore Inc. who was convicted in June on charges ranging from conspiracy to fraudulent insider trading, has been delayed until at least Oct. 10.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael R. Wilner said today, "At the defense's request, the hearing has been postponed" and could be delayed until Oct. 10 or Oct. 16.

Wolff, 43, reportedly faces a maximum statutory sentence of 175 years in federal prison for the crimes at Homestore, now known as Move Inc.  more...

Northern California MLSs form data-sharing agreement

Three large multiple listing services in Northern California have agreed to share real-time property listing information in a move that aims to ease data access for the 40,000 agents using the MLSs.

The three MLSs are Bay Area Real Estate Information Services in the North San Francisco Bay, MetroList Services serving the Northern California Central Valley, and San Francisco Association of Realtors, serving San Francisco and the northern peninsula.

Agents from these organizations will be able to access property listings in 14 counties with a population of 5.6 million people.  more...

Buyer's market emerges in Central Indiana

Surging inventory sent home sales and prices in Central Indiana down in August, creating favorable conditions for buyers, according to the latest MLS statistics from the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors.

Home sales in the nine-county region surrounding Indianapolis totaled 2,980 last month, a 10.5 percent drop from a year ago when 3,331 homes were sold.

The average sales price sank 3.5 percent between August 2005 and August 2006, falling from $161,302 to $155,684.

Although 4 percent fewer new listings were placed on the MLS in August compared to a year ago,  more...

Austin home sales nail record

The Austin, Texas, real estate market nailed a record 2,805 single-family home sales in August, as for-sale inventory continues to decrease, according to the latest Multiple Listing Service report from the Austin Board of Realtors.

Realtors reported 2,805 single-family home sales last month, up 6 percent from approximately 2,646 sales in August 2005.

"The Austin market continues to buck the national trend because this city is really in the infancy of its life as a major metropolis," said ABoR Chairman John Rosshirt. "Relative to other big cities, Austin's prices are a steal.  more...

Overnight real estate rates fall sharply

Long-term mortgage interest rates were down further Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield fell to 4.59 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.8 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate declined to 5.52 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.32 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.74 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...

Regulator eyes Fannie, Freddie's market share loss

A new report details how private companies were able to overtake Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the secondary mortgage market in 2005, issuing more mortgage-backed securities than the government-sponsored enterprises for the first time ever.

While home sales, house prices and home-ownership rates were all setting new records in 2005, GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw their share of the secondary mortgage market continue to decline.

The reasons for the decline include the continuing popularity of nontraditional mortgages, such as interest-only and payment-option adjustable-r  more...