California title company accused of kickbacks

A California title company has been hit with an accusation from the state seeking $14 million in civil penalties for alleged kickbacks.

Orange Coast Title Co. allegedly engaged in illegal rebate activities, unfair methods of competition and "deceptive acts or practices in the sale of title insurance," according to California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi.

The company is accused of committing 2,442 violations of the insurance code, according to Garamendi's office.

"We are very surprised by this filing," John L.  more...

Downtown Los Angeles enjoys real estate 'renaissance'

About 7,000 residential units have been rehabilitated or built from scratch in the Los Angeles downtown area since 1999, according to a report prepared by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., with thousands more on the way.

"The Downtown Los Angeles Renaissance" report also states that about 26,500 residential housing units in the downtown area will be constructed by 2015.

About 100 residential and commercial projects are under construction or at the permitting or planning stages, the report states.  more...

S.F. Bay Area real estate sales hit 5-year low

Sales of San Francisco Bay Area homes dropped last month to the lowest level in five years as price increases continued to ease back, according to a report by DataQuick Information Systems, a real estate information service. It was the 10th month in a row of year-over-year sales declines.

The January sales count was the lowest for any month since January 2001 when 5,977 homes were sold.

A total of 6,004 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month.  more...

RE/MAX co-founder sets record straight on real estate commissions

A Jan. 28 report in The Denver Post newspaper credits Dave Liniger, chairman and co-founder of real estate industry powerhouse RE/MAX International, with a prediction that average real estate commissions will drop to about 4 percent in the next five years.  more...

Huge uptick in housing starts a temporary burst, economist says

U.S. home builders took advantage of record-high temperatures in January and boosted the rate of housing construction significantly higher than expectations at the start of what is seen as a cooling-off year for the housing industry.

Single-family housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.81 million units, up 12.8 percent from December, according to U.S. Census Bureau and Housing and Urban Development Department data released today.  more...

Wisconsin real estate smashes sales record

Wisconsin's residential home sales set another annual record as existing-home sales in the fourth quarter of 2005 remained near the all-time-high pace established in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the most recent analysis conducted by the Wisconsin Realtors Association.

Sales of existing homes in Wisconsin for the fourth quarter totaled an estimated 30,075 units, which is nearly unchanged from the strongest fourth quarter on record, which occurred in 2004.  more...

Economic news hikes real estate rates

Mortgage rates rose for the fourth consecutive week, fueled by higher retail sales and inflation fears, according to surveys conducted this week by Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.28 percent for the week ended today, up from last week's average of 6.24 percent. The average for the 15-year fixed is 5.91 percent, up from last week's average of 5.83 percent.  more...

Washington Mutual lays off 2,500 workers

Continuing a series of mortgage industry layoff announcements, Washington Mutual Wednesday said it would close 10 of its 26 home-loan processing centers, eliminating 2,500 jobs.

Washington Mutual, the third-largest U.S. mortgage lender by total volume in 2004, said the cuts represent about 4 percent of a workforce of 60,000 at the Seattle-based savings and loan.

Other home-loan specialists, including Countrywide Financial Corp. in Calabasas and Ameriquest Mortgage Co.  more...

U.S. housing starts jump in January

Single-family housing units authorized by building permits in January were up about 2.4 percent from December and 3.1 percent above the January 2005 rate, the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today.

Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 2.22 million, which is 6.8 percent above the revised December rate and 3.8 percent above the January 2005 estimate.  more...

Stagnant builder confidence a sign of 'stabilizing' market

Indicating stabilizing conditions in the nation's single-family housing market, home builder confidence remained unchanged in February from levels gauged in each of the past two months, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released Wednesday.

February marks the third consecutive month in which the HMI has held at 57, and the second consecutive month in which there has been no change posted in the index component that gauges current single-family home sales.  more...

Slight uptick in overnight real estate rates

Long-term mortgage interest rates were up Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.6 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.87 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate held at 5.48 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 4.6 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.57 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...