The housing market is set to remain a bright spot in the face of a possible recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Redfin. Because the housing market was strong going into the 2020 recession, there’s currently no reason to expect a major crash in home prices, Redfin notes. As Redfin states, the driving factors for this 2020 recession are unrelated to real estate, which Continue Reading

California and Florida combined have totaled nearly 1.5 million REOs over the last 10 years, according to ATTOM Data Solutions Year-End 2019 Foreclosure Market Report. Other states leading the nation in REOs include Michigan (333,312), Texas (323,806), Illinois (312,057) and Georgia (304,964). Metropolitan statistical areas with a population greater than 200,000 that saw a year-over-year increase Continue Reading

Housing analysts are hoping it’s not a case of déjà vu. Unconventional mortgage lending is on the rise, in 2018 reaching its highest level since the financial crisis of 2008. These mortgages include subprime loans, financing offered to borrowers with blemished credits. While these more risky loans are on the rise, some economists shrug off the notion that the economy is headed for another Continue Reading

Over half of investors at foreclosure auctions plan to purchase fewer than five properties in 2019, according to the 2019 Buyer Insights Survey Report from Auction.com. The report found that 51% of auction buyers are these “mom and pop” investors, while 22% of buyers plan to purchase more than 10 properties for the year. Only 2% of buyers said they plan to purchase more than 100 properties in Continue Reading

Mortgage performance improved in August, according to the First Look at the latest mortgage performance data from Black Knight. Black Knight states that foreclosure starts hit an 18-year low in August, at 36.2K for the month. Foreclosure starts were down over 23% from this time last year, and the number of loans in active foreclosure, at 253K, is now the smallest it’s been since Continue Reading

The average sales price for properties sold at foreclosure auction in Q1 2019 increased by 8% from the previous quarter to $147,115, or 7% higher than a year ago, according to a report from Auction.com. This is the highest level since Auction.com began recording this data in Q1 2016. “Auction.com has digitized much of the foreclosure auction process over the past several years, giving us access Continue Reading

Home delinquency rates have reached a 20-year low, an indication that fewer homeowners are struggling to make mortgage payments than ever before, according to the latest CoreLogic data. Nationwide, only 3.6 percent of homeowners fell into some sort of delinquency on their mortgages in April, down from 4 percent in March. Foreclosure rates, in which the government seizes one’s home due to Continue Reading

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 38,968 foreclosure prevention actions in Q1 2019, bringing the total number of foreclosure prevention actions to 4,322,804 since September 2008 according to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Foreclosure Prevention Report. Of the over four million foreclosure prevention actions taken by the GSEs, the FHFA notes that actions, 3,629,411 have helped Continue Reading

Homeowners saw their equity increase year over year while negative equity declined, according to the latest CoreLogic Homeowner Equity Insight report. CoreLogic states that U.S. homeowners with mortgages have seen their equity increase by a total of nearly $485.7 billion since the first quarter 2018, a 5.6% year over year increase. However, negative equity rose in that time as well, but is still Continue Reading

Research from the Black Knight indicates that the current demand for houses is largely driven by families seeking to purchase homes and not by speculators, which, according to the Urban Institute, means that we are at less risk of entering a housing bubble. Urban Institute’s analysis of Black Knight’s house price index (HPI) reveals that home prices appear to be losing momentum. In comparison Continue Reading