Chicago Real Estate Reader

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Short Sales Pressure Home Prices

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Home prices fell 6.7 percent in February year over year, according to a new report from CoreLogic. That numbers includes distressed sales, that is, sales of foreclosed properties or short sales, where the bank agrees to let the homeowner sell for less than the value of the mortgage. If you take those sales out, however, home prices were basically flat.

Home Builders and Foreclosures: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em

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Right now banks are pushing foreclosures to market faster than ever, perhaps due to improving paperwork procedures, and perhaps due to the fear of some kind of settlement/penalty coming down the pike from state attorneys general and federal regulators. In any case, the volumes are rising, and that hurts home prices and home builders.

Will Home Price Warranty Restore Confidence?

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There's no question that consumer confidence, or lack thereof, is the greatest barrier in the way of a full-blown housing recovery. Credit, while tough to get, is historically cheap, home prices have fallen so far as to open the market to many more buyers, and there is ample inventory from which to choose. The trouble is, no one wants to catch a falling sword, and home prices are still falling.

Housing and Government: ‘Troubling Dip’ or Double Dip?

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Today the Obama administration released its monthly "scorecard" for the Making Home Affordable Program, a.k.a. the federal mortgage bailout. The Home Affordable Modification Program, which is part of MHA, continues to add trial modifications at about 29,000 per month and permanent modifications, a bit less, at 26,000.