U.S. new home sales posted their strongest month in more than eight years in April, while prices jumped to a record level. That suggests healthy demand alongside limited supplies across the housing market, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. Here are some highlights: • Purchases of new, single-family homes jumped 16.6 percent from a month earlier to a
With the Central Valley leading the way, California’s statewide pending home sales reversed a three-month slide and posted higher in April, but an ongoing shortage of homes on the market may diminish the upcoming home-buying season, according to the California Association of Realtors (CAR). CAR’s April Market Pulse Survey also reflected a slowdown in market activity, with a decrease in
California homeowners need to be on the lookout for scammers offering to alter and decrease their mortgage payments, according to the California Department of Justice, which has received numerous complaints from homeowners and mortgage servicers expressing concern about fraudulent mortgage loan modifications. How does it work? Masquerading as mortgage servicers or representatives from the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), these
If you’re looking to buy a home this spring, you’re timing couldn’t be better. Mortgage rates are hitting their lowest levels in years, according to Freddie Mac’s recently released Primary Mortgage Market Survey. “The Fed’s decision to stand pat, followed by a week of assorted unsettling news drove Treasury yields lower,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “As a
In March 2016, U.S. home sellers reaped the highest prices since the onset of the Great Recession in December 2007, according to RealtyTrac, which provides comprehensive housing data nationwide. Sellers across the nation received $30,500 more (an 17 percent average gain in price) than they purchased their homes for in March, according to the organization’s March and first-quarter 2016 U.S.
