Tag Archives: Investors

A July monthly property intelligence report (PIR) conducted by Dataquick, a provider of real estate information solutions, reveals a monthly and annual rise in home prices for every single participating U.S. county out of the 42 evaluated. In fact, home prices have hiked an average of over 13 percent versus this time last year. Per DataQuick's data, this rise in price has been directly linked to fewer foreclosures, limited property availability, and an overall decline in transactions.

In Florida, mortgage technology provider MortgageFlex Systems, Inc., announced the addition of Laura White to its professional services team.

The second quarter saw modest gains in home sales in Connecticut, according to the Warren Group. Second-quarter sales of single-family homes totaled 6,898, a nearly 1 percent increase over Q2 2012. In June alone, home sales were up 0.4 percent (the second straight month of increases) to a total of 2,602.

Despite lackluster performance from the economic sector, the housing recovery will press on and stimulate overall growth, according to Freddie Mac's most recent economic and housing outlook.

Total Mortgage Services, LLC now has its Arizona Mortgage Banker License and is licensed to originate residential loans in the state, the company announced.

Having spent the last several months bouncing around, average fixed mortgage rates were little changed over the last week as market speculation settled.

In Santa Ana, First American Title Insurance Company announced it has hired Kevin Wall as president of its First American Mortgage Services (FAMS) division.

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI)--a measure of builder confidence--increased again in August, climbing three points to 59, its highest reading since November 2005, the group reported Thursday. The index has improved 15 points (34 percent) in the last three months. Economists had expected the August index to slip to 56 from July's originally reported 57. The strong August numbers--following the strong June and July reading--gave further evidence to a recovery in the housing sector.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending August 10 fell to the lowest level since January 2008, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The department said there were 320,000 new claims for unemployment insurance, a drop of 15,000 from the previous week. Economists expected the number of claims to drop to 330,000 from the 333,000 originally reported for the week ending August 3. The number of filings for that week was revised to 335,000.

Freddie Mac found that among refinances in the second quarter, 79 percent of homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) switched to fixed-rate loans.