Home Sales Fell 9.6% in February

They account for 28% of all home sales

(AP) - Sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined year-over-year in the first quarter, but they still accounted for 28% of all home sales—a share nearly six times higher than what it would be in a healthy housing market. As a slice of all home purchases, foreclosure sales peaked two years ago at 37.4%. In the first quarter, they rose from 27% in the prior quarter, but fell from 29% a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac. More»

But that's good news: Numbers are actually better than expected

(AP) - New US home sales dipped slightly last month but still beat expectations as builders start to see long-awaited encouraging signs about the housing market—including a dip in the inventory of new homes for sale. Sales fell 0.6% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 356,000, the Commerce Department said today. More»

(NEWSER) - A witch’s brew of factors is cursing the US housing market, reports the New York Times, driving home prices ever lower as they search for bottom. Rising unemployment, higher interest rates, lower wages, and a glut of foreclosures are likely to continue to keep the market depressed through much of 2009 as the economy slips into recession, experts caution. More»

ARM holders will see payments soar as their mortgages reset

(NEWSER) - America’s subprime victims may have grudgingly accepted their fate, but there’s a new class of borrowers primed to suffer, BusinessWeek reports. Homeowners who took out ARMs, or adjustable rate mortgages, will soon face skyrocketing payments as their loans reset. About a million people have the mortgages, but only a small number have already fallen due. “It's a ticking time bomb inside your house that you can't get rid of,” one insider said. More»

But prices drop drastically as lenders bite the bullet

(NEWSER) - April generally was not a great month for home sales, the Wall Street Journal reports—except in the areas hardest hit by the subprime crisis as lenders slash prices on foreclosed homes and buyers snap them up. Subprime-riddled Detroit, for example, has seen home sales rise 48% in the past four months over last year; but prices have dropped 56%. More»