Countrywide reverses course, goes on hiring binge

Countrywide Financial Corp. will add 2,000 workers to its sales force, following through on past statements by founder and Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo that the lender would seek to pick up market share from struggling competitors.  more...

Point2 expands real estate listings syndication

As more consumers go online for real estate information, brokers are being offered an array of choices by which to market their listings to a wider audience.

Some companies, including Point2 Technologies, are trying to simplify a complicated process of syndicating listings to a variety of different sites by offering a one-stop service for syndication to multiple sites.  more...

Housing starts fall 16% in April

The rate of privately owned housing starts in April dropped 16.1 percent from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.53 million, according to a joint announcement from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Despite the decline, April's rate -- which projects that month's total over a 12-month period and adjusts for seasonal fluctuations in activity -- was up approximately 2.5 percent from March, according to statistics.  more...

Home loan apps decline

Overall mortgage application activity subsided last week amid mixed interest rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today in its weekly survey.

The market composite index, a measure of home loan application volume, sank 0.8 percent, falling to 675.5 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 680.7 one week earlier. New purchase loans were down 1.4 percent from the previous week, while the index that tracks refinancings inched up slightly.  more...

Builder confidence slips on subprime worries

Builder confidence, which had rebounded earlier in the year on hopes that a downturn in the housing market would not be prolonged or pronounced, continues to slide on concerns about problems in subprime mortgage lending.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, a monthly survey gauging builders' expectations for the next six months, shows a level of pessimism not seen since September 2006.  more...

More gains in overnight real estate rates

Long-term mortgage interest rates were up again Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield held at 4.7 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average inched up to 5.81 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate rose to 5.52 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.65 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 4.88 percent.

Rates and bonds 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...

Foreclosure activity up 62% from last year

Foreclosure activity in April was up 62 percent from the same month a year ago, despite its 1 percent drop from the previous month, a foreclosure tracking service reported.

A total of 147,708 foreclosure filings -- including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- were reported during the month, according to RealtyTrac. The company also reported a national foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 783 U.S. households in April.  more...