Data

The Warren Group, a collector of public record data on real estate sales, financing, and ownership, has added a new building permit database to its data suite.

The national median home price showed its strongest year-over-year gain in more than seven years last quarter, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR's data shows the median price of an existing single-family home increased 12.2 percent year-over-year to $203,500--the largest improvement since Q4 2005. Prices were boosted by shrinking market share of lower-priced homes and distressed sales (which accounted for 17 percent of last quarter's sales).

Home values are on track to reach more than $167,000 by the end of 2013, according to economists and real estate experts surveyed by Zillow and Pulsenomics. According to Zillow, respondents predicted median home values will rise to $167,490 by the end of this year, a gain of 6.7 percent over 2012. The forecast is a significant jump from the 5.4 percent annual increase expected in the last quarterly survey. Based on current expectations, panelists on average predicted home values could approach new record highs by 2017.

"GSE reform," according to White House propaganda, will end "an era of housing bubble and taxpayer bailouts." Obama's about the bubbles and bailouts, but wrong to blame Fannie and Freddie.

Saiyid T. Naqvi, former PNC Mortgage president and CEO, has been elected as a director on Freddie Mac's board, the company announced.

In its mid-year multifamily outlook for 2013, Freddie Mac notes that multifamily market fundamentals such as rents and vacancies continue to improve, with New York, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, and Los Angeles all seeing marked growth. At the same time, supply presents a problem, the analysts said. While starts have seen growth over the last several years, completions are still lagging, and the gap between the two measures continues to grow wider.

Trulia reported a 0.3 percent decline in asking prices from June to July--the first drop since November 2012. While monthly changes can be volatile, Trulia explained the quarter-over-quarter change in asking prices confirms the slowdown, with July asking prices improving just 3.3 percent over the last quarter compared to the peak of 4.2 percent in April. Over the last year, asking prices were still strong, rising 11 percent, though Trulia noted the change won't be as apparent since the annual average is based on a longer time period.

PEMCO, an asset management company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, will launch a new website August 13.

Realty Pilot, an enterprise software development and data analytics company headquartered in Arizona, expanded its business development and support team with three additional members.

It was a mixed week for mortgage rate reports following the release of July's employment numbers, which showed job growth coming in below the market consensus forecast.