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Author Archives: Carrie Bay

Carrie Bay is a freelance writer for DS News and its sister publication MReport. She served as online editor for DSNews.com from 2008 through 2011. Prior to joining DS News and the Five Star organization, she managed public relations, marketing, and media relations initiatives for several B2B companies in the financial services, technology, and telecommunications industries. She also wrote for retail and nonprofit organizations upon graduating from Texas A&M University with degrees in journalism and English.

CoreLogic: Home Prices Show Sixth Consecutive Decline

National home prices declined 1.0 percent between December 2011 and January 2012, according to the latest home price index from CoreLogic. It represents the sixth consecutive month the company has recorded a month-over-month drop in residential property values. The stretch of depreciation is much longer when comparing year-over-year numbers. Based on data through the end of January, annual declines in home prices have continued for 18 months straight by CoreLogic's assessment.

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Fixed-Rate Mortgages Hold at or Near Record Lows

Homebuyer affordability is at a record high, and a big driver of that underlying market denominator is the fact that mortgage interest rates continue to hover close to 60-year lows. Data released Thursday by Freddie Mac puts the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage at 3.88 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hit a record low of 3.13 percent. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, says that due to these factors, the typical family had more than double the income needed to purchase a median-priced home in January.

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Zillow Expands Database of Homes

The real estate information marketplace Zillow has expanded its database of homes, leveraging user-submitted data to add more than 25 million new home valuations generated from the company's proprietary Zestimate algorithms, which are Zillow's own market value estimates based on various details available about individual properties. The company says it now has data, Zestimates, and Rent Zestimates on more than three-quarters of all homes in the United States.

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The Economic Link: Job Creation = Home Price Increases

The health of the labor market has a far-reaching impact on many areas of housing. When the economy is growing and the number of employed rises, so do home sales and mortgage originations. According to the research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, there's also a definitive link between employment and home prices. The firm's analysts examined metro area job data juxtaposed with price trends for new homes, and their conclusions illustrate that jobs and housing "are joined at the hip."

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Fed Raises Fee Trigger for TILA and HOEPA Disclosures

The Federal Reserve is raising the dollar amount of mortgage fees that triggers additional disclosure requirements under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA). On Monday, the central bank's board of governors published its annual adjustment to the rule, bumping the amount of the fee-based trigger up 3 percent to $611, effective January 1, 2012. Currently that threshold is set at $592.

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