Existing Home Sales Rise for Fourth Straight Month in July

Pace of U.S. existing home sales fastest in 2 years
August 21, 2009, Reuters

Sales in July rose for the fourth straight month to hit an annual rate of 5.24 million units, the highest rate since August 2007, the National Association of Realtors said, beating market expectations for a 5 million unit pace. Sales in June had been at a 4.89 million pace. July's increase was the largest monthly gain since the series started in 1999. "The housing market has decisively turned for the better. We are bouncing back," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun told reporters. The national median home price was $178,400 in July, down 15.1 percent from the same period last year, weighed down by
distressed sales as they typically sell for 15 to 20 percent less than traditional homes.


Why Rent When You Can Buy?
August 21, 2009, BusinessWeek

Home prices have dropped so much that the cost to own and maintain a house in many metros is only a bit more, and sometimes even less, than the cost of renting. We found two metros, Detroit and Pittsburgh, where renters can actually lower their monthly expenses by buying. The rest of the list, featuring metros where buying was only slightly more expensive, included Rochester, N.Y.; Memphis; Tampa; Cleveland; Columbia, S.C.; Dallas; Las Vegas; and Providence.


Frustration rises over mortgage relief program
August 20, 2009, MSNBC.com

Nearly two years after the federal government’s first program to slow the relentless rise in the pace of home foreclosures, the latest attempt, known as Making Home Affordable, is turning out to be another painful disappointment for millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes. Dozens of e-mails from msnbc.com readers report months of futile effort to modify their loans.  The list of problems includes misdirected calls, lost paperwork and conflicting advice from multiple representatives for the same lender.


Why the ‘Wave’ of Foreclosure Listings Might Never Happen
August 21, 2009, The Wall Street Journal

For weeks, even months, real-estate professionals have been asking the same question: when will the so-called shadow inventory of homes in the process of foreclosure finally hit the market? But what if that wave of foreclosures never hits the market? “For those of you still waiting for a surge of foreclosure sales, the truth is you’ll likely be waiting a long time,” writes Sean O’Toole, the founder of ForeclosureRadar.com, which tracks foreclosure filings in California.


Bernanke says US economy on cusp of recovery
August 21, 2009, AP

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke declared Friday that the U.S. economy is on the verge of a long-awaited recovery after enduring a brutal recession and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Economic activity in both the U.S. and around the world appears to be "leveling out," and "the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good," Bernanke said in a speech at an annual Fed conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo.