Economist: Slowing market not a 'bad story'

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  more...

Real estate foreclosures up in California

First-quarter foreclosure activity in California increased to the highest level in more than two years, the result of slower home-price increases, a real estate information service reported.

Lending institutions sent 18,668 default notices to California homeowners during the January-to-March period. That was up 23.4 percent from 15,122 for the prior quarter, and up 28.7 percent from 14,501 for 2005's first quarter, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Foreclosure activity hit a low during the third quarter of 2004 when 12,145 default notices were recorded.  more...

Profits fall at LendingTree parent co.

First-quarter profit at IAC/InterActiveCorp, the media and Internet company owned by Barry Diller, fell 32 percent to $47.2 million from $69 million the year before, according to a company statement today.

Earnings per share fell from 19 cents a share last year to 14 cents a share in first-quarter 2006, while revenue climbed 36 percent to $1.55 billion from $1.14 billion a year ago.

IAC's services sector, which includes LendingTree and Ticketmaster, had an operating income of $68.5 million, up from $43.4 million a year a  more...

Fidelity buys 45% stake in Fortune Infotech

Fidelity National Financial today said it has acquired a 45.5 percent stake in Fortune Infotech Limited from Covansys Corp.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity said Fortune Infotech, headquartered in Baroda, India, is a provider of offshore outsourcing services, with a specific focus on business process outsourcing. Fortune Infotech provides back-office services, such as transaction processing, claims processing and accounts-payable processing services.  more...

Freddie Mac: Cash-out refis up in first quarter

In the first quarter of 2006, 88 percent of Freddie Mac-owned loans that were refinanced resulted in new mortgages with loan amounts that were at least 5 percent higher than the original mortgage balances, according to Freddie Mac's quarterly refinance review.  more...

AgentLine allows consumers to rate real estate agents

A new Web site, which has launched in beta form, allows home buyers and sellers to issue ratings on the performance of their real estate agents.

AgentLine.com assigns a rating – from zero stars to five stars – based on consumer responses to five questions. Each question has seven possible responses, from "extremely dissatisfied" to "extremely satisfied."

The site asks consumers, "How satisfied were you with ... agent performance in the following areas: The marketing and preparation of selling your home?  more...

Fed to hold meeting on home equity lending

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday invited consumers, consumer advocacy organizations, lenders and others to participate in four public hearings on the home equity lending market.

The Board is holding the hearings under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, or HOEPA, which was enacted in 1994 in response to reports of predatory home equity lending practices in underserved markets, the Federal Reserve Board said.

The Board's 2006 hearings will focus on three topics: (1) predatory lending and the impact of the HOEPA rules, and state and local anti-predatory lending la  more...

Canadian real estate posts record first quarter

Canada's existing-home sales via the Multiple Listing Service reached their highest quarterly level on record in the first quarter of 2006, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association.

A seasonally adjusted total of 125,142 homes were sold through MLS in the first quarter of 2006, up 2.4 percent from levels recorded in the fourth quarter of last year, and two-tenths of a percentage point above its previous quarterly record set in the third quarter of last year.  more...

Real estate pending sales index tumbles

The rate of pending home sales slowed in March, slipping 1.2 percent from February and 6 percent compared to March 2005, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

The association's Pending Home Sales Index fell for the third consecutive month.

Regionally, the index in the Northeast rose 5.2 percent in March to 112.9 but was 1.1 percent below March 2005.  more...

HUD approves $74 million plan to rebuild Alabama

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced Monday he is approving a $74.4 million Alabama plan to help hard-hit communities in the state implement their rebuilding strategies following Hurricane Katrina.

Alabama's recovery plan will be funded through HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. President Bush declared 22 counties in Alabama major disaster areas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In Mobile County alone, more than 1,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed.  more...

Overnight real estate rates barely budge

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly flat Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield jumped to 5.14 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 6.13 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate inched up to 5.8 percent. The 1-year adjustable rose to 5.25 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 5.23 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...