Overnight real estate rates idle

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly flat Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield inched up to 4.59 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average stayed at 5.68 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate gained slightly to 5.44 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.31 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.72 percent.

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

Home loan apps tumble

Overall mortgage application volume fell significantly last week on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, as interest rates continued to climb, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The market composite index, which measures total home loan volume, dropped to 647.6 last week, down 10.2 percent from 721.2 a week earlier. The seasonally adjusted refinance index decreased by 14.6 percent to 1,968.8 from 2,304.4 the previous week, and the purchase index decreased by 5.9 percent to 436.5 from 463.8 one week earlier.  more...

NAR worried about rising foreclosure rate

The National Association of Realtors has issued a statement to express concern "over the rising rate of defaults and foreclosures occurring in many areas around the country, and many Realtors believe that some families don't understand the risks of taking out 'exotic' mortgages."  more...

Austin real estate posts record November

Home sales and prices in the Austin, Texas, area reached new highs for the month of November, signaling a still-hot market, the Austin Board of Realtors reported today.

According to the latest Multiple Listing Service report, a record 1,902 single-family homes were sold last month, up 6 percent from approximately 1,795 sales in November 2005. Last month was the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains, according to statistics.

The median home price of $175,000, although unchanged from October, set a record for November and was up 3 percent from a year ago.  more...

Prison stay delayed for ex-Homestore CEO

Lawyers for Stuart Wolff, the former Homestore CEO who was sentenced in October to 15 years in federal prison for his role in an accounting fraud scheme that artificially inflated Homestore revenues and almost ruined the company, have filed a motion to keep him out of custody pending an appeal of his conviction.

The motion raises questions about a judge's financial interest in a company involved with Wolff's case and other aspects of his trial.

U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson on Nov.  more...

Inman News 2006 forecast report card

A year ago, Inman News provided a list of real estate predictions for 2006. Here's how we did:

Prediction 1: The Google Base listing service will be a major hit and completely rearrange the online listings and lead generation landscape for real estate, marketing and media companies.

Google Base steadily picked up real estate listings throughout the year and in November launched a single page for real estate professionals to help them load listings in bulk or individually.  more...

Real estate rates get overnight boost

Long-term mortgage interest rates were higher Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield slipped to 4.58 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.68 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate gained to 5.43 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.32 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield held at 4.71 percent.

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

Builder confidence sinks in December

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped slightly in December compared to November, and was substantially lower compared to the index in December 2005.  more...

Housing permits fall for 10th straight month

The rate of residential building permit authorizations fell for the 10th consecutive month in November, the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported today, and was 31.3 percent below the November 2005 level.  more...

S&P adds 10 cities to home-price index

Ten additional U.S. cities will be added to a closely watched home-price index used as a benchmark for investors active in housing futures trading.

Standard & Poor's said today it is adding 10 cities to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price indices, expanding coverage to a total of 20 metropolitan areas. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange in May began trading futures contracts based on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price indices.  more...

Colorado real estate endures cool November

The real estate slowdown deepened in Colorado during November as single-family home sales and prices lost more ground, according to statistics released by the Colorado Association of Realtors.

There were 5,755 single-family homes sales recorded last month, down 11 percent from approximately 6,466 sales in October.

The statewide median home price dropped 8 percent between October and November, falling from $237,097 to $218,750.

The Denver metro area saw significant  more...