Housing Market, Good News | featured news

Housing starts and permits for future construction jumped to a 1-1/2 year high in November as demand for rental apartments rose, suggesting the housing market was starting to recover.

Five major banks could be required to commit roughly $15 billion to reduce principal balances for struggling homeowners and modify loans in other ways under a proposed deal to settle allegations linked to the "robo-signing" scandal... Five major banks could be required to commit roughly $15 billion to reduce principal balances for struggling homeowners and modify loans in other ways under a proposed deal to settle allegations linked to the "robo-signing" scandal.

The closely watched Case-Shiller index of home prices in American cities rose slightly in August from the prior month. Prices of previously owned single-family homes rose 0.2% in August over July and, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of 20 metropolitan areas. The index dropped 3.8% from the same month a year prior.

A leading housing regulator on Monday announced changes to a government refinancing program that could help up to one million homeowners whose homes are worth less than their mortgage.

Homes were built in September at the fastest pace in 17 months, a hopeful sign for the struggling housing market.

The struggling U.S. housing market is expected to fall a little further as it searches for a bottom, but home prices are seen ticking up modestly in 2012, according to a Reuters poll released on Friday.

Foreclosures declined in more than 84% of U.S. metro areas during the first half of the year, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties.

New single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in June, but a sharp rise in prices and declining supply suggested the market for new houses was starting to stabilize, a government report showed on Tuesday.

Applications for home mortgages surged last week, racking up the biggest increase in four months on a flood of refinancing demand as interest rates remained low, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Builders broke ground on more single-family homes and apartments in June, helping the battered construction industry gain a little life after a dismal spring.