Protection from home price declines

Homeowners could someday have a financial tool to defend against a rapid drop in home prices. Much like derivatives markets can buffer companies from the effects of severe weather swings, similar products could be developed to help home builders, insurance companies and homeowners weather a deep depreciation in home prices.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the nation's largest futures exchange that offers products relating to interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities, has begun to explore the concept of creating a house-price derivatives market.  more...

Real estate remodeling picks up pace

Riding on the heels of historically low interest rates and a solid level of consumer confidence, the National Association of Home Builders Remodeling Market Index (RMI) posted a strong third quarter. Today's third-quarter results moved one point ahead of the seasonally adjusted second quarter in 2004.  more...

Real estate foreclosures dip

Residential mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure inventory fell in the third quarter from the previous quarter, due to a strengthening economy, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.

The seasonally adjusted delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one- to four-unit residential properties fell to 4.41 percent in third quarter 2004, down two basis points from the second quarter of this year and down 24 basis points from the third quarter of last year.

The foreclosure inventory percentage at the end of the third quarter was 1.14 percent, down 10 basis points from the same  more...

GMAC Real Estate plans expansion

GMAC Real Estate, a real estate franchisor with 1,300 offices and 23,000 sales associates, today announced it will aggressively increase franchising activities in 2005 in Indianapolis and throughout Indiana.  more...

Jobs report sends real estate rates lower

A disappointing November employment report helped push mortgage rates lower this week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage survey.

Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.71 percent for the week ended today, down from last week when it averaged 5.81 percent. The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week is 5.14 percent, down as well from last week when it averaged 5.23 percent.  more...

East Coast real estate brokerage gains market analysis tool

Prudential Fox & Roach has partnered with Terradatum, a California-based real estate technology products company, for real-time analysis of real estate sales and trend data.

"With this investment in Terradatum's technology, we can view real estate industry trends regionally, by city or even zip code," Larry Flick, chairman and CEO of Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors.  more...

Real estate scam hits Texas

The Texas Attorney General's Office is seeking a restraining order and asset freeze against a company that has allegedly defrauded more than 150 homeowners by keeping their mortgage payments.

Consumers in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas reported to the Office of the Attorney General that City Mortgage Services Inc. (which has no affiliation to CitiBank or CitiMortgage) and its principals, Gustavo Duarte and Alfredo Mendez, pocketed thousands of dollars that should have been forwarded to the mortgage companies financing the consumers' homes.  more...

Fannie Mae to pay $7.5 million in loan fraud case

Fannie Mae has agreed to pay the government $7.5 million to settle a case in which the mortgage giant allegedly knowingly accepted proceeds of a mortgage scam.

The company did not admit wrongdoing in the consent order announced Wednesday, according to news sources.  more...

Countrywide boosts real estate loan fundings

Countrywide Financial Corp. today reported that its total loan fundings for November rose 7 percent from the previous month and gained 41 percent over the year-ago level. Fundings for November totaled $31 billion, up from $29 billion in October and $22 billion in November 2003.

Monthly purchase volume rose 2 percent over the last month to $15 billion, and was 54 percent more than November 2003.  more...

Overnight real estate rates trend downward

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued falling Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield sank to 4.12 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dropped to 5.29 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 4.73 percent. The 1-year adjustable was unchanged at 3.29 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.78 percent.

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