Public awaits national home sales data

Real estate brokers, mortgage lenders, economists and home buyers and sellers will be among those paying close attention tomorrow when the National Association of Realtors releases its February 2003 home sales figures.

Although local and regional numbers tend to be far more telling than national numbers, the national numbers still are an important gauge for the industry, according to Chris Cagan, an economist for First American Title.  more...

Internet real estate sites accused of discrimination

A fair housing organization in Boston has brought a lawsuit that accuses several local real estate companies of illegal discrimination in advertising on their Web sites.

The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston said advertisements that used such wording as "professionals only," "no undergrads please!" and "no security deposit required with good credit and stable employment" violated federal and state laws that protect people against discrimination in housing, according to news reports.  more...

Don't believe real estate bubble theory

National Association of Home Builders administrators and economic forecasters don't expect the booming housing market to hit a wall. In fact, indicators suggest the housing sector should do well for the next several years, said Jim Glassman, a senior economist for JP Morgan Chase.  more...

Can real estate nirvana continue?

While the real estate market is still rosy, HomeServices of America President and CEO Ron Peltier said it's uncertain whether the market is approaching full bloom.  more...

New-home sales approach record pace

Sales of new single-family homes rose last month to the third highest rate on record, according to statistics released jointly today by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The government agencies reported 1.16 million annualized sales in February, an increase of 5.8 percent from January and a jump of 24.4 percent from February 2003.  more...

Real estate industry builds standards

The Real Estate Transaction Standard working group is meeting this week in Cincinnati, Ohio to discuss the latest developments in technology standards in the real estate industry.

RETS is the open standard for exchanging real estate transaction information. It consists of a transaction specification and a standard Extensible Markup Language (XML) Document Type Definition (DTD). Real estate industry leaders are implementing these standards in their next generation of real estate information systems.  more...

RealtyU prioritizes real estate courses

RealtyU has chosen a list of priority education topics for the year, and seller agency, new business concepts, management skills, buying and selling foreclosure properties, and construction basics rank among the hot items.  more...

Real estate refinancings surge

Overall mortgage purchases declined by 0.2 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, but the volume of refinance applications was at its highest point in eight months, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey.

The MBA seasonally adjusted refinance index increased by 0.1 percent to 4,988.7 from 4,983.7 one week earlier. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 0.8 percent to 448.9 from 452.4 the previous week.  more...

Real estate sizzles in North Carolina

Despite cold temperatures, existing-home sales in North Carolina heated up in February, increasing from both the previous year's and previous month's sales figures, according to statistics compiled by the North Carolina Association of Realtors.  more...

Mortgage brokers migrate to banking

As more mortgage brokers look to banking as a way to increase profits, loan origination software provider Mortgage Builder Software Inc. this week introduced a new broker-specific pricing package for brokers making the transition into banking.

The company offers an application service provider (ASP) product and an in-house, transaction-based product. The ASP model eliminates the upfront software costs associated with implementing a comprehensive system and provides brokers with access to the Mortgage Builder LOS and central server via the Internet.  more...

Overnight mortgage rates stand pat

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued flat Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield sank to 3.71 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average remained at 5.11 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate slipped slightly to 4.42 percent. The 1-year adjustable was unchanged at 2.92 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield stayed at 4.67 percent.

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