Market Watch

RealtyTrac’s newly released U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report for the first quarter of 2014 shows there is both good and bad news for homeowners across the country. The report’s data, which provides counts of residential properties based on several categories of equity — or loan to value (LTV) — at the state, metro and county level, indicates that while millions of homeowners are still seriously underwater, the equity trend is moving in a positive direction for most of the country. The bad news is that there were 9.1 million U.S. properties seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property was at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value —in the first quarter of this year. This demographic made up 17 percent of all residences.

Freddie Mac has released its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for April, showing that recent data on the housing market continues to be noisy with mixed signals heading into the spring home-buying season. Keep reading to see why the market is showing conflicting signals.

Builder optimism in the U.S. market remains tempered, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for April. The index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the forthcoming six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” Keep reading to see the things that are restraining builder confidence.

CoreLogic released its April MarketPulse report on April 15. The global provider of property information and analytics issues the report as a comprehensive look at the prevailing trends impacting the housing industry every month. In the April report, CoreLogic economists analyzed the rise in U.S. construction employment, discussed the possibility of a housing short-sale cliff and debated whether rising rates and regained equity will incent home equity loan demand. Keep reading to see what the experts have to say.

Government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been on record with their intention to offer owner-occupants first crack at the foreclosed upon homes that their loans back. However, data shows that investors are increasingly taking a bigger cut of the GSE-owned housing pie because of pricing practices that undermine potential buyers. Bill German, spokesman for Freddie Mac, told Bloomberg that its goal is to sell two-thirds of its repossessed homes to owner-occupants. “A strong emphasis on selling to owner-occupants is consistent with Freddie Mac’s mission to foster homeownership opportunities and will help stabilize communities and local home prices,” German said. Fannie Mae also aims to do “a few things to try to market properties to owner-occupants, and the goal is to sell to them as often as we can,” Andrew Wilson, spokesman for Fannie, told Bloomberg.

RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for March and the first quarter. The report shows that banks are just now turning their attention to homes stuck in the foreclosure pipeline. Keep reading to see the details on foreclosure activity in the country.

While going green might be the wave of the future, a new survey shows that homebuyers are currently not willing to put their money where their mouth is unless they can see direct returns. As part of the National Association of Home Builders’ study, “What Home Buyers Really Want: Ethnic Preferences,” homebuyers of different ethnic backgrounds were asked a series of questions regarding how important green and energy efficient home features were to them to see how preferences shift among demographics. The analysis differentiated participants into four groups: white (non-Hispanic), African-American (non-Hispanic), Hispanic and Asian. All groups admitted that environmental-friendly features were important, but were ambivalent about which green features were worth the investment.

Many potential homebuyers looking to enter the market this spring are being met by a stark reality: Affordable housing is out of reach. The main issue is that steadily rising home prices are outpacing income growth in many areas of the country. According to CoreLogic’s recently released February Home Price Index, home prices nationally increased 10.7 percent in February compared to February 2013 and 0.9 percent month over month compared to January. Also, all 50 states and the District of Columbia showed year-over-year home price appreciation when distressed sales were excluded.

Fannie Mae has released the results of its March National Housing Survey. The survey, which shows respondents’ attitudes toward owning and renting a home, home and rental price changes, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances and overall consumer confidence may portend a pickup in home buying and selling this spring. Keep reading to see why.

The National Association of Home Builders released the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index April 7. The monthly index, which uses data to assess the overall economic and housing market health of a given area, shows which markets are recovering from the recession and which are still falling behind. Keep reading to see which markets are enjoying the strongest rebounds.