Here’s what happened this week in the real estate market:
Realogy posted $1.1 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2015, up 5 percent from a year ago.
Although a majority of distressed homeowners are plagued by mortgages that far exceed the actual value of their homes, the number of homeowners with underwater mortgages is shrinking, according to Black Knight Financial Services’ latest Mortgage Monitor report.
Home prices in March sat at or within 10 percent of peak levels in 27 states and the District of Columbia, as property values continued to grow across the country, according to data aggregator CoreLogic.
The National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index indicated that markets in 68 of approximately 360 metro areas nationwide that were surveyed either returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity in the first quarter of 2015.
Employment is up; mortgage delinquencies are down. Home values are up; interest rates are down. While the spring buying season may seem like a roller coaster, the outlook for the real estate market is quite rosy, according to recent measurements of market forces.
With an average profit of $72,450, home flippers saw larger returns from their fix-and-sell hustle in the first quarter than they have in the past four years that RealtyTrac has been publishing its U.S. Home Flipping Report.
Freddie Mac released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. “Mortgage rates rose this week to the highest level since the week of March 12 as a selloff in German bonds helped drive U.S. Treasury yields above 2.2 percent,” said Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac, in a statement.
Government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae released its first-quarter earnings report this week, revealing that it earned $1.9 billion in net income, down 64 percent from $5.3 billion the company reported in the first quarter of 2014.
Mixed messages and interpretations were all over the place, so here are some bare facts from economy expert Lou Barnes.
