Anyone who thinks that the issue of robo-signing is the biggest the housing market has to deal with is gravely wrong. Though foreclosure fraud is admittedly something the market does not need at this point, industry insiders and watchers have more to worry about than the investigation regarding foreclosure proceedings. The still weak (perhaps weakening?) economy coupled with high unemployment rates, low home sales, and tight mortgage underwriting spells a bigger challenge for the market – even more so the continuing decline in prices.
Although generally a low home price spells …

The real estate market is far from a total recovery. The recent figures on the Phoenix area home prices prove that: both commercial and residential real estate have been seeing a decline in prices. And the decline seems to be a consistent trend.
Though economists still consider the Phoenix area real estate market as stable, the downward trend in prices sure is alarming. For the first time in months, Valley home prices are in the negative. Commercial real estate prices are also consistently 30% lower than what they were a year …

Many economists and housing market analysts have pointed out that for the real estate market to really start its way up, it needs to reach bottom first. Each of them suggests that for this to happen, the U.S. government should leave the market alone. Now, though, an economics professor at the Harvard University says such a move will be suicidal and that in fact more U.S. aid is needed to save the housing market.
Martin Feldstein, who was once chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan …

The housing market is still on shaky grounds, with home sales continually plunging. San Bernardino County, for one, is still feeling the effect of the homebuyer tax credit expiration. The median home price in the area, though, is slightly improving.
With the homebuyer tax credit ending last spring, home sales were expected to drop. In San Bernardino County, the drop was a bit steep at 23.3% decline from August of last year. MDA DataQuick’s analysis, released last Tuesday, shows a glimmer of hope as home prices increased slightly to a $158,000 …

The normal law of supply and demand does not apply in the current U.S. economic state – whether home prices go up and down, supply remains high and demand remains low. And not for the first (or maybe even last) time, analysts and economists are questioning government intervention in the housing market.
Recent evidence shows that U.S. home prices may continue to slide in the next three years. Even with that prediction, 12 million more properties are expected to hit the market as shadow inventory – or foreclosed homes and homes …

Major US cities registered improvements of up to 4.2 percent for single-family homes in the month of June but many economists remained wary that the spike was temporary and mainly due to the April expiration of the federal-sponsored home buyer tax credit.
Should that be the case then the inevitable tumbling of home prices would hit back soon and experts said that the plunge this time could cut a lot deeper.
In any case, S&P/Case-Shiller had reported on its latest home price index that out of the of 20 giant US cities …

Phoenix, Arizona has seen some ups and downs in its June home sales, with the biggest high for the overall sales. The region has boosted its monthly sales by 11%, as compared to the previous month. Even the median sale price rose, for the fourth month in a row, above last year’s level.
A lot of factors can be thanked for this positive turn to Phoenix’s home sales. The biggest one, most probably, is the tax credit. Also, more $200,000-plus homes were sold in that month. Even the number of sold …