Foreclosure actions increased by 2.0 percent in May from April's 75 month low point for foreclosure activity according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released June 11. However, the good news is that May 2013 foreclosure filings were still 28 percent below May 2012 filings.
Last week's news was relatively quiet with no data significant to real estate and mortgage lending released until Wednesday, when the federal government announced a $138 billion budget deficit for May.
Last week's economic reports provided a mixed bag of results. Investors continue to watch the Fed's mortgage backed security purchasing trends in order to determine forward mortgage pricing.
This weekâs financial news was relatively limited due to the Memorial Day holiday and no economic reports being released on Wednesday. The biggest news in terms of housing and mortgages was the S&P/Case-Shiller Housing Market Indices (HMI) released on Tuesday.
The most recent S&P/Case-Shiller Indeces report showed all three composites posting double-digit increases over the last four quarters. The national composite, which is the broadest based index, showed an increase of 10.2% annually.
The National Association of REALTORS reported that sales of existing homes in April reached 4.97 million on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis. This is the highest report since November 2009.
Home builders are gaining confidence in current and future market conditions for new homes, but continue to see below-average foot traffic in new homes.
RealtyTrac recently reported that national foreclosure filings are down while foreclosure filings are seeing marked increases in some states.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly Non-farm Payrolls and National Unemployment Rate for April last Friday. These two reports are collectively called the Jobs Report. 165,000 jobs were added in April, while the unemployment rate dropped from 7.60 percent in March to 7.50 percent in April.
Housing markets continue to improve according to the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Indices released April 30 for Februaryâs data. The Indices consist of a 10-City Composite Index and a 20-City Composite Index with housing markets for each city reported based on a three-month rolling average of home prices. The data released yesterday comprised the Indicesâ highest growth rates since May 2006.
According to the the latest Foreclosure Inventory Analysis showed nearly 1.5 million properties were currently in the foreclosure process or being held by banks as Real Estate Owned. This was up 9 percent from the first quarter of 2012, but down significantly from the apex of foreclosure activity -- 2.2 million units -- in December 2010.
The National Association of REALTORS® released its Existing Home Sales report for March on Monday. Sales dipped from Februaryâs seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.95 million to 4.92 million existing homes sold in March, a decrease of 0.6 percent month-to-month.