Personal Finance and Money Management

Fort Lauderdale foreclosed homes for sale will continue to pull down home prices and real estate values in the area, according to several real estate analysts.

According to analysts at Fortune Magazine, home prices in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach and Orlando will continue to fall in 2010 because of continued foreclosures in Florida.

These three Florida cities are among 100 U.S. cities where home price levels are expected to fall further, according to Moody’s Economy.com economist Mark Zandi.

In Fort Lauderdale, home prices will fall 30.1 percent, the third highest in the list. Miami will top the ranking, with an expected price drop of almost 33 percent. O

Full Article

Charlotte foreclosed homes helped push total homes sales up in October, but they dragged down house prices, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.

A total of 2,210 single-family houses, townhouses and condo units were sold in October, marking an increase of almost 20 percent compared to total home sales in October last year and marking the first time home sales climbed up on a year-over-year basis since February 2007.

Because of the depressed prices of foreclosure and distressed sales, the average price of homes sold in October plunged to $196,204, a drop of 9.5 percent.

Full Article

Real estate research firm Lender Processing Services has released an interesting look at the press close together of foreclosure sales on home prices on a state-by-state basis. “REO sales account for in the same proportion that much as 60 percent of housing activity in some states,” Nima Nattagh, Ph.D., of LPS Applied Analytics, said in a press release.

Full Article

Integrated Asset Services has released its most-recent house price index:

Based on the timeliest and most granular data available in the industry, the index showed house prices falling another 3.0% in February.

U.S. house prices have now fallen 14.4% on a year-over-year basis and 17.9 % since the height of the actually being estate bubble in 2006.

Full Article