19 cities post home price increases in June, but prices are down from the same month in 2010
The Associated Press — August 30, 2011

WASHINGTON — Spring buying pushed home prices up for a third straight month in most major U.S. cities in June. But the housing market remains shaky, and further price declines are expected this year.

Governor Quinn Signs Laws to Protect Consumers
Illinois Government News Network — August 29, 2011

As part of his ongoing commitment to consumer protection, Governor Pat Quinn today signed legislation that will enhance safeguards for borrowers and tenants. The new laws will give the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) increased oversight of entities that repossess collateral in the case of defaulted loans. They will also strengthen tenants’ rights to their security deposits after a change in property ownership.

Oregon foreclosures appear likely to shift to the courts
The Oregonian — August 27, 2011

Their preferred method in legal limbo, lenders are gearing up to move Oregon foreclosure sales from the courthouse steps into the courtroom itself, with significant implications for both homeowners and the housing market.

Pending Home Sales Slip in July but Up Strongly From One Year Ago
MarketWatch — August 29, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC — Pending home sales declined in July but remain well above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors(R). All regions show monthly declines except for the West, which continues to show the highest level of sales contract activity.

Judge doubts foreclosure lawyer's mental state
SignOn San Diego — August 29, 2011

Criminal proceedings against a controversial foreclosure attorney from North County have been suspended after a Superior Court judge expressed doubts about his "mental competency," said officials with the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.

S&P/Experian: Default Rates Decline Monthly and Annually
DSNews — August 26, 2011

Default rates on both first and second mortgages declined in July, according to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices.

Bernanke Offers No Plan for New Stimulus
By Binyamin Appelbaum, New York Times, Aug. 26, 2011

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said Friday that the economy is recovering and the nation’s long-term prospects remained strong, an upbeat assessment that offered little indication of any plans for additional measures to boost short-term growth. Mr. Bernanke’s much-anticipated remarks follow the Fed’s announcement earlier this month that it intends to hold short-term interest rates near zero until at least the middle of 2013, a reflection of its view that growth will not be fast enough during that period to drive up wages and prices.

Foreclosure Sales Tick Up While Prices Slide
By Robbie Whelan, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 25, 2011

 Nearly one-third of all U.S. homes sold in the second quarter of 2011 were in some stage of the foreclosure process or had been repossessed by a lender, according to numbers released today by RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based real estate data provider.

Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Fed’s Secret Loans
By Bradley Keoun and Phil Kuntz, Bloomberg, Aug. 22, 2011

Citigroup and Bank of America were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever with $104 billion of profits. By 2008, the housing market’s collapse forced those companies to take more than six times as much, $669 billion, in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The loans dwarfed the $160 billion in public bailouts the top 10 got from the U.S. Treasury, yet until now the full amounts have remained secret.

Prudential Americana Group Acquires Competitor, Becomes Market Leader
By Buck Wargo, Vegas Inc., Aug. 22, 2011

Prudential Americana Group announced today it has acquired one of its largest competitors in the market, elevating it to the No. 1 brokerage in Las Vegas. The acquisition of Century 21 MoneyWorld by Prudential Americana moves it ahead of Realty One Group as the largest brokerage in Las Vegas in terms of sales volume.

Housing Experts Say Time to Buy is Now
By Paul Bell, Las Vegas Journal Review, Aug. 20, 2011

In southern Nevada we're selling homes at a near-record pace, with many of them selling for less than what it would cost to build that same home today. Meanwhile, local home prices have largely stabilized after falling for a few years following our historic housing boom in the middle part of the last decade.

RealtyTrac reports: Foreclosure Homes Account for 31 Percent of All U.S. Sales in Q2 2011

The U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report™ showed that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 31 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the second quarter of 2011, down from nearly 36 percent of all sales in the first quarter but up from 24 percent of all sales in the second quarter of 2010.

“With average prices on distressed real estate trending down and average discounts trending up, this report is clearly good news for well-positioned buyers and investors looking for bargain real estate that will build them wealth in the long term and often cash flow as rental real estate in the short term,” said James Saccacio chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Maybe less evident, however, is the good news in this report for distressed homeowners looking to sell, and even lenders saddled with large portfolios of delinquent loans.”

Saccacio said that financial institutions are starting to see short sales as a quicker and cheaper   way of getting bad loans off their books.

“What we’re seeing in our new foreclosure sales report is the continued willingness of lenders to offer higher discounts on pre-foreclosures (short sales) as to avoid the high cost of going to REO,” added Saccacio. “This is a market driven solution as opposed to a government solution.”

Another trend that is emerging in the foreclosure landscape is that the time to sell a pre-foreclosure is getting shorter.

“The jump in pre-foreclosure sales volume coupled with bigger discounts on pre-foreclosures and a shorter average time to sell pre-foreclosures all point to a housing market that is starting to focus on more efficiently clearing distressed inventory through more streamlined short sales — at least in some areas,” Saccacio continued. “This gives distressed homeowners who do not qualify for loan modification or refinancing — or who are not interested in those options and want to sell — a better chance of completing a short sale to avoid foreclosure. Streamlined short sales also give lenders the opportunity to more pre-emptively purge non-performing loans from their portfolios and avoid the long, costly and increasingly messy process of foreclosure and the subsequent sale of an REO — which may end up selling for a lower price than it would have as a pre-foreclosure short sale and in the meantime further stresses already overloaded REO departments.”

Despite the increase in share of total sales from a year ago, sales of real estate in some stage of foreclosure (NOD, LIS, NTS, NFS) or bank-owned (REO) decreased from a year ago in terms of raw numbers. Third parties purchased a total of 265,087 homes in foreclosure or bank owned nationwide in the second quarter, up 6 percent from a revised first quarter total but still down 11 percent from the second quarter of 2010.

The following graph shows the average discount of short sales vs. REO sales in six markets.

This graph shows the average days it takes to sell a short sale vs. an REO sale.

July New-Home Sales Fell to Five-Month Low
By Timothy R. Homan, Bloomberg News, Aug. 23, 2011

Sales of new U.S. homes declined more than projected in July to the lowest level in five months, indicating the industry is struggling to stabilize two years into the economic recovery. Purchases fell 0.7 percent to a 298,000 annual pace after a 300,000 rate in June that was slower than previously estimated, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington.

States' Foreclosure Talks With Big Mortgage Servicers Stall
By Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 23, 2011

An effort by state attorneys general to take big mortgage servicers to task over faulty foreclosure practices has stalled as financial institutions demand broad legal immunity from other mortgage-related probes. The nationwide effort looking into faulty foreclosures, which involves attorneys general from all 50 states as well as some federal agencies, was expected to have produced a settlement of more than $20 billion by now. But talks have stumbled over how much the banks should pay as well as to what degree they will be released from liability from future investigations.

Homeowners Need Help
By The New York Times Editorial Board, Aug. 21, 2011

Neither Congress, nor federal regulators, nor state or federal prosecutors have yet to conduct a thorough investigation into the mortgage bubble and financial bust. We welcomed the news that the Justice Department is investigating allegations that Standard & Poor’s purposely overrated toxic mortgage securities in the years before the bust. We hope the investigative circle will widen.

PMI Group Subsidiary in Arizona Shut Down by Regulators
By Jennifer Johnson, Phoenix Business Journal, Aug. 22, 2011

PMI Group Inc.’s two Arizona subsidiaries has been placed under regulatory supervision by the Arizona Department of Insurance and ordered to stop issuing new mortgage insurance policies.

Miami Leading Real Estate Boom in Florida,
By International Business Times, Aug. 22, 2011

Sales of homes and apartments in Miami, Florida, are continuing their upward trend and are now 47 percent and 33 percent higher than a year ago, the latest figures show. Miami appears to be leading a sales revival in the sunshine state. The data from the Miami Association of Realtors shows that sales of existing single family homes in the Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) increased 47 percent in July, and sales of existing condominiums increased 33 percent.

Shadow Inventory Improves But Still Threatens Housing Recovery
By Les Christie, CNN Money, Aug. 22, 2011

An ominous cloud is hanging over the housing market: Millions of distressed properties could be put up for sale at any moment, potentially adding to the glut of unsold homes that are already on the market and depressing home prices even further.

Obama Says Housing Market Needs More Than Federal Support
DSNews — August 18, 2011

At a town hall meeting this week in Atkinson, Illinois, President Obama said it will take more than federal action to address the still-suffering housing market.

Los Angeles' foreclosure rehab program homes in on South L.A.
Los Angeles Times — August 19, 2011

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa strode through the two-bedroom house on 66th Street on Thursday as though he were a prospective buyer, checking out the bamboo floors and getting the lowdown on the tankless water heater.

AG shuts down large foreclosure relief operation
KGO — August 18, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO — California's Attorney General has taken down a large mortgage operation that's spread through 17 states.

Florida foreclosure backlog shrinks 43% in a year
The Palm Beach Post — August 19, 2011

Florida’s courts cleared 201,524 foreclosure cases from the state’s backlog with the help of an additional $6 million from lawmakers, but more than half of the cases were dismissals possibly initiated by banks needing to redo faulty paperwork.

Housing Inventory Declines but Slow Sales Pace Adds Staying Power
DSNews — August 18, 2011

There were 3.65 million existing-homes available for sale at the end of July, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Mortgage Rates Reach All-Time Lows
Daily Finance — August 19, 2011

Mortgage rates have hit an all-time low according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.15% last week. 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.36%.