Real Estate Outlook

Buyers Getting Message, an article from Realty Times, reports that continuing declines in mortgage rates and signs of home price pick-ups dominate this week's economic outlook for real estate. Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged slightly over 5% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Last week, new applications to buy houses and condos jumped by 9.4%, while refinance applications were up 18%. The home price index that tracks more zipcodes and neighborhoods than any other - the Integrated Asset 360 index - found that prices nationwide moved up by 1.6% in May, based on data from more than 15,000 sub-markets. IAS said the increase in prices was the largest recorded by the index since July of 2005. Prices in Denver were up by four tenths of a point.http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090721_realestateoutlook.htm