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Home prices in 20 U.S. cities dropped at a slower pace in January, pointing to stabilization in the real estate market.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier, matching the median forecast of 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, after decreasing 4.1 percent in December, a report from the group showed today in New York.

Property values are steadying as a strengthening labor market underpins housing demand, which may allow the industry that precipitated the recession to contribute to growth this year. Nonetheless, the recovery in sales may be restrained by foreclosures that are putting more properties onto the market.

“Housing is going to see incremental improvement this year,” Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit, said before the report. “It is going to be prices that lag the sales rate. There should be a slight rise in prices this year.”

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By: Esther Cho

By: Esther Cho

If you're looking for the missing piece to the mortgage "deconsolidation" equation, its name is Wells Fargo. Never before in the annals of residential finance has one company amassed such an enormous market share in lending (27%) and servicing (20%). Its next largest competitor in originations is Chase which is miles behind with a 9% lending share—and falling. Many small- to medium-size firms are gaining. Will Wells ever falter in mortgage banking? That's hard to say, but that old saying "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" might apply. Wells goes for the jugular—it almost feels like NFL coaches offering cash bounties for taking out opposing quarterbacks. In the HARP 2.0 program Wells is limiting participation of third-party correspondents and brokers not because it's concerned about risk, but because it wants to shovel that business into its retail arm and earn a huge spread. HARP loans are wildly profitable—or so we're told by multiple sources including Amherst's Laurie Goodman. One mortgage advisor told us that certain firms can earn $10,000 per loan. Some have scoffed at the number, but we are in uncharted territory here, folks. Is there anything wrong with what Wells is doing? Answer: No. This is capitalism. This is Thunderdome, this is Gladiator, this is The Hunger Games…

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OLATHE, KAN. – The National Association of Realtors says Kansas City is among the areas to watch this year for homes sales. Experts expect sales to climb because of lower homes prices and warmer weather. FOX 4′s Mitch Weber discovered there’s a new real estate service trend popping up in the metro that could save sellers thousands of dollars.

A flat fee real estate service is more common on the East and West coasts, but because of down economy the trend is starting to show up in the Midwest. Which can be good for sellers and agents looking to start their own realty business. Katie Yeager is one of those entrepreneurs. She started a flat fee real estate service two months ago with a former broker colleague.

The flat fee starts at $1,500 for a house that sells for up to $190,000. The rates go up in $400 increments as the sale price goes up. The fee is paid at closing.

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For the second year in a row, a survey has showed there was yet again an increase in the confidence for a full real estate recovery. 1,251 people were recently surveyed and incredibly favorable results followed. In a recent blog post we reported about how 84% of the public insists that real estate investment is the best form of investment for the long term. Furthermore, this blog highlighted how the 53.5% of those polled feel homes will see significant increases in home prices in the next five years with even more of a drastic percentage being 82% of the respondents saying home values will absolutely increase in the next ten years.

Well in this more recent survey, it was determined that 60% of the individuals have an optimistic view about the housing market, with 70% believing property values will increase in the next two years. Relating to the past blog also mentioned above, 63% in this survey consider real estate a good investment which is an improvement considering a year ago this same question came back with a surveyed percentage of 54%.

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Between now and 2050, the U.S. is expected to grow to about 403 million people. It’s about 310 million today. That’s almost 100 million more people and they have to live somewhere, and looking at today’s total inventory of homes, we’ll need 43 million more units.

These are sales and rental lease-ups that are forecast to happen regardless of the ups and downs of the U.S. economy, and that helps to put in perspective what your business opportunities are in the years ahead.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Rhode Island's monthly jobs report, released Friday, showed little improvement in the state's stalled economy.

The unemployment rate inched up to 11 percent in February from 10.9 percent, according to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.

An additional 400 Rhode Islanders were counted as unemployed, for a total of 61,700.

Just one of five key indicators the state tracks each month moved in a positive direction -- jobs in Rhode Island increased by 500, to 458,400.

"I think Rhode Island's economy is stuck in a rut," DLT Director Charles J. Fogarty said in an interview. "We're spinning our wheels. ... Clearly, we remain an outlier, not only in the Northeast but also in the country, and that is very frustrating."

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