The median home price nationwide saw its biggest jump in seven years last quarter as for-sale inventory hit its lowest level in 12 years, according to a quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors.

Of 152 metro areas, 133 (87.5 percent) saw their median sales prices rise year over year in fourth-quarter 2012 compared with 120 in the third quarter and only 29 in fourth-quarter 2011.

Nationally, the median sales price jumped 10 percent on an annual basis, to $178,900 — the strongest annual price increase since fourth-quarter 2005 when the median rose 13.6 percent, NAR said.

“Home sales are on a sustained uptrend; mortgage interest rates are hovering near record lows; and unsold inventory is at the lowest level in 12 years,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a statement.  Continue reading →

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The 10 largest real estate listing portals are capturing nearly half of all nonmobile traffic to U.S. real estate-related websites, according to aggregate Web visit metrics compiled by Experian Marketing Services (formerly Experian Hitwise).

The top 10 real estate websites captured 42 percent of total visits in the space during January, with Zillow (9.17 percent market share), Trulia (7 percent) and Realtor.com (6.09 percent) leading the pack. Continue reading →

Low mortgage rates have made buying a home more affordable and turned rentals into an attractive option for investors.

Throughout the downturn in the housing market, average investors, sometimes pooling their money, have bought foreclosures at a sharp discount and turned them into rentals. Many homeowners also have purchased a second home and rented out their first property.

Although the housing market is showing signs of recovery, demand for rental housing is expected to remain strong. The national unemployment rate remains high at 7.9 percent, banks are still working through a backlog of foreclosures and tight lending requirements prevent many renters from becoming homeowners. Continue reading →

There’s an interesting phenomenon happening in the real estate buying cycle.

Now that most of the country is five to seven years out from its real estate peak, and most major cities are actually into the upswing of home prices, distressed homeowners of yesteryear are becoming the home buyers of today.

Rules for qualifying for a mortgage vary widely between lenders and loan programs, but one of the most-often used loans today is the FHA mortgage. Continue reading →