Housing News

Housing prices have increased steadily currently "up to 20 percent from their lows," with an annual price appreciation of 7 percent to 10 percent," according to a Cal State Fullerton economic report from April.

Mark Huffman has been a consumer news reporter for ConsumerAffairs since 2004. He covers real estate, gas prices and the economy and has reported extensively on negative-option sales.

Judging by early demand for everything from doggie daycare to Ferrari rentals and fine art, rich Americans are going to make this a strong summer in one of their favorite playgrounds - the beach towns on the eastern end of Long Island collectively known as the Hamptons.

Home prices in Burbank continued to surge last month, with sharp price increases since February as a severely limited number of homes for sale has created fierce competition among buyers, according to the latest real estate report.

The popular online vacation rental business, Airbnb , was deemed illegal in New York City, according to an administrative law judge.

Home Depot Inc. , the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, posted first-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates and raised its forecast for earnings this year as the housing rebound boosts renovation spending.

Housing sales in Wisconsin continue to rebound. April brings a 22nd consecutive month of growth with sales up 9 percent compared to the month previous.

So good were the figures that Home Depot raised its forecast for the year. Looking ahead, Home Depot expects to make $3.52 a share in 2013, up from an earlier forecast of $3.37 a share.

Single-family home sales in the Chicago suburbs grew 33.2 percent in April 2013, compared to the same month in 2012, according to data provided by the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors .

Lenders tightened home equity standards a couple of years ago, and it has been hard to leverage all the equity in a home because about 10 to 20 percent must remain untouched.

A lot of investors who love to buy at the bottom and sell at the top are kicking themselves these days-for missing the market peak in gold and the nadir in housing.

As Realtors enter the peak home selling season, Terry Westbrook, president of the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors has one complaint.

Sales of existing homes in April surged again in the Indianapolis area. Sales jumped 18.7 percent, to 2,629, from the same month a year ago in the 13-county metro area, the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors said.

Hong Kong shares jumped to their highest since early February on Monday, led by Chinese cyclical counters, as investors chased a resurgent mainland China market on their return from a Friday holiday, which posted a fourth-straight day of gains.

In order to get in on hot housing markets, amateur investors are buying up homes and taking risky measures -- like tapping their retirement accounts -- to fund the deals.

Is the new kind of real estate investor to blame for the falling home ownership rate? The current data on investor purchases, home ownership, and all cash purchases.

The bubbling U.S. stock market might get more pop this week from positive sales trends in housing, but danger signs lurk in other parts of the economy.

CoreLogic said today that home prices are projected to increase 3.9 percent on an annualized basis between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the same quarter in 2017.

Secondary home sales climbed to their highest level since the latest coolers in the form of double stamp duty were imposed in late February.

This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, photo, shows an exterior view of a home sold in Palo Alto, Calif.