Builder confidence stuck in rut

Builder confidence held steady for the second month in a row after a six-month slide, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, released today.

The January index of 57 is above the midpoint of 50.

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for about 20 years, the index gauges builder perceptions of single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as either "  more...

Home sales, appreciation down in Southern California

Southern California home sales fell to their lowest level in four years as price increases eased back another notch, a real estate information service reported today.

A total of 28,952 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 4.8 percent from 27,637 in November, and down 4.5 percent from 30,317 for December last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

A decline from November to December is normal for the season.  more...

Advectis' mortgage document network expands

Advectis' electronic mortgage document collaboration network has experienced rapid growth in participation to more than 10,000 brokers within the last three years, the company announced today.

Advectis' BlitzDocs Collaboration Suite enables a collaborative electronic document network for all participants in the mortgage loan industry to capture, submit, organize, underwrite, audit, share and deliver loan documents electronically.

Expansion of the company's electronic document network shows that the effort toward a digital,  more...

Inman Blog challenge: What is Zillow?

What is Zillow? It's a Seattle real estate startup headed by Expedia creator Rich Barton that will be consumer and Internet focused. Barton last week said, "It's going to be provocative, but we're not going to be an agent."

Aside from those tidbits, no one knows exactly what Zillow will be when it launches this year.  more...

2005 a record year for Canadian real estate

Sales of existing homes in Canada's major markets set new annual records in 2005, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association.

Annual sales via the Multiple Listing Service in Canada's major markets totaled 336,071 units in 2005. Led by Vancouver and Calgary, the number of transactions rose 4.7 percent over the previous annual record set in 2004.  more...

A la mode supports launch of appraisal group

The Appraisal Advocacy Coalition, a new nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and supporting real estate appraisers, formally launched this week.

The group, which advocates for full and accurate appraisals and independent appraisers, was introduced during a winter convention held by a la mode, a company that develops technologies for the real estate and mortgage industries.

Hundreds of attendees joined a panel of industry experts and participants Jan. 17 to learn about and discuss the new organization.  more...

MIT professor: Electronic notary laws needed to combat fraud

A newly published white paper prepared by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor is calling for quick action by government, industry and professional associations to provide a "sound strategy" for e-notarization to help stem the rising tide in forgeries and frauds in identity, mortgage and immigration transactions.  more...

Real estate refinancings surge

Another boost in refinancings last week pushed overall mortgage activity up 2.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The seasonally adjusted refinance index increased by 9.9 percent to 1,645.2 from 1,497.5 one week earlier whereas the purchase index decreased by 3 percent to 443.9 from 457.4 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 44 percent of total applications from 42.2 percent the previous week.  more...

Overnight real estate rates lose ground

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued lower Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.33 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 5.63 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 5.19 percent. The 1-year adjustable was unchanged at 4.49 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.51 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...