A number of the industry's closely-watched home price gauges indicate that stabilization has been slowly creeping into the picture since mid-2009. Analysts at Barclays Capital agree that the risk of a sharp decline in housing continues to recede with every passing month. But they caution that home prices nationally will drop another 4 to 5 percent before officially hitting bottom, and there's little chance of sustained gains any time soon thanks to an inflated supply of foreclosures.
Americans remain strongly committed to federal support for homebuyers, and many believe the government should provide more protection against foreclosure, according to the results of a recent survey published by the National Association of Home Builders. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed say they are planning to buy a home in the near future. Personal financial concerns, as well as weakness in the housing market itself, were cited as reasons this statistic wasn't higher.
According to statistics from Miami-based Bank Foreclosures Sale, an online listing service, foreclosure rates in states across the nation were significantly lower in January. The company reported that the number of foreclosures for sale fell to 315,710, marking a 10 percent decline from December. While these positive figures may have some thinking "housing recovery," experts say it is important to note that January's numbers are still 15 percent higher than a year earlier.
The nation's largest mortgage financier says it will purchase up to 200,000 seriously delinquent loans from mortgage-backed securities (MBS) holders this month. As of the end of last year, Fannie's single-family MBS loans that were considered seriously delinquent totaled $127 billion. The GSE says after its March buybacks, it will continue purchasing loans in each of the subsequent few months until the company has "substantially reduced" the population of loans that are four or more months delinquent.
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