Fannie Mae Releases November 2013 Monthly Summary

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Fannie Mae's (OTC Bulletin Board: FNMA) November 2013 Monthly Summary is now available. The monthly summary report contains information about Fannie Mae's monthly and year-to-date activities for our gross mortgage portfolio, mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees, interest rate risk measures, serious delinquency rates, and loan modifications.

Fannie Mae enables people to buy, refinance, or rent a home.Visit us at: www.fanniemae.com/progress

HomeVestors Names Year-End Top 10 Real Estate Markets

DALLAS, Dec. 30, 2013 -- Job growth, particularly in lower paying jobs, population growth and relatively low home prices are factors making investments in single family homes as rental properties a nearly risk-free opportunity in some markets, while other markets still pose significant risk.

That's according to new data compiled by HomeVestors (known as the "We Buy Ugly Houses®" company) and Local Market Monitor. 

"Our fourth quarter data shows that investing in single family homes as rental properties remains a good bet in many markets, particularly in Texas and Oklahoma with their low unemployment rates and ability to profit for years from new shale oil and gas development," said Ingo Winzer, president and founder of Local Market Monitor.

For the fourth quarter, Fort Worth and Dallas lead the list of the top 10 housing markets in the country for investing in single family homes. Houston was in fifth place and Oklahoma City in seventh place.

The other markets in the top 10 include Charlotte (3), Nashville (4), Atlanta (6), Orlando (8), Las Vegas (9) and Boise City (10).  "These markets also had strong home price appreciation, but are still underpriced by as much as 28 percent," Winzer said.

"We think the markets hold considerable opportunities for investors as long as they do not over pay for properties," said David Hicks, HomeVestors co-president, noting that risk of investing in all markets across the country remains low. "Only seven of the top 100 markets continue to be ranked as 'speculative.'" 

The 10 "riskiest" major markets (all listed as "speculative") include Los Angeles, Gary, Providence, Buffalo, Toledo, Clevelandand Columbia.  "These markets continue to have weak population and job growth that makes them more risky investments," Hicks said. "The last three markets of the bottom 10 are Birmingham, Detroit and New Haven – each of which continues to experience shrinking populations and job loss."

Hicks noted that the strong markets have fueled unprecedented growth in home purchases by HomeVestors® franchisees. "We just passed the 55,000 mark in the overall number of homes we purchased company-wide," he noted, "and we're on track this year to considerably outpace our 2012 total of 2,500 homes purchased in a 12-month period." 

2013 Year In Review - Home Value Forecast

WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 30, 2013 -- Pro Teck Valuation Services' December Home Value Forecast (HVF) update looks back at the housing indicators over the last twelve months in a number of residential real estate categories.  These include current sales price, twelve-month active list price appreciation, current months of remaining inventory (MRI) and twelve-month sales appreciation. This month's update examines the top and bottom three markets for these indicators over the past year.

As part of its December update, Home Value Forecast reported that the top three markets with twelve-month active list appreciation were Stockton and Modesto, CA and Reno-Sparks, NV.

"Active price is the median price a home is listing for a moment in time.  It's a good reflection of the health of a market because it takes into account market fundamentals as well as people's perceptions as to where prices are headed," said Tom O'Grady, CEO of Pro Teck Valuation Services. 

MRI is another indicator that shows how "hot" a market is at a particular time. MRI equals the amount of households on the market divided by the number that sell per month.  If an area has a high MRI (10 months), it means that the market is saturated — a buyer's market. If the MRI is low (2–3 months) then it becomes a seller's market. As of today, many parts of Washington State and California are seeing some of the nation's lowest levels of inventory.     

This month's Home Value Forecast update also includes a listing of the 10 best and 10 worst performing metros as ranked by its market condition ranking model.  The rankings are run for the single family home markets in the top 200 CBSAs on a monthly basis.  They highlight the best and worst metros with regard to a number of leading real estate market indicators, including: sales/listing activity and prices, months of remaining inventory (MRI), days on market (DOM), sold-to-list price ratio and foreclosure and REO activity.

"The western United States is well represented again, with seven metros from California, as well as Oregon and Washington, in our top 10," added O'Grady.  "Foreclosure as a percentage of sales is a very important indicator at Home Value Forecast — as you can see, none of our top 10 metros have more than 10 percent of sales from foreclosure, and most of have seen a 50+ percent reduction in the number.  Also, housing stock as represented by MRI is between 2 and 5 months, indicating a hot market."  

December's top CBSAs include:

Merced, CA

Bend-Redmond, OR

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA

San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, CA

Ann Arbor, MI

Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI

Nassau County-Suffolk County, NY

Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, CA

Bellingham, WA

Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA

"A new entrant to our bottom 10 is Pueblo, CO. Pueblo was hit hard by flooding in September, and it's showing in the market.Grand Junction, CO also was ranked as a "weak" market, but did not appear in our bottom 10.  In all, more than 18,000 homes were damaged and 2,000 destroyed by the flooding in Colorado.  We will be watching to see if the effects are seen in other metro markets," added O'Grady. "Separately, as we reported before, when foreclosures represent a significant share of total sales and their discounted prices pull down the prices of non-distressed sales, it is known as the 'contagion effect.'  This is continuing to be a factor in our bottom 10 metros this month."

The bottom CBSAs for December were:

Pueblo, CO

Daytona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL

Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL

Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL

Port St. Lucie, FL

Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL

Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL

Punta Gorda, FL

Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, FL

Jacksonville, FL

About Home Value Forecast

Home Value Forecast (HVF) is brought to you by Pro Teck Valuation Services.  HVF provides insight into the current and future state of the U.S. housing market, and delivers 14 market snapshot graphs from the top 30 CBSAs.

To learn more about Home Value Forecast and Pro Teck's full suite of residential real estate valuation products, visit www.proteckservices.com.  You can find Pro Teck on Twitter at @ProTeckServices.

Reporters interested in national, regional or metro level housing data tailored to meet story needs, please email your inquiry tomediarequest@protk.com.

Editor's Note:

A Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) is a U.S. geographic area defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) based around an urban center of at least 10,000 people and adjacent areas that are socioeconomically tied to the urban center by commuting. The term "CBSA" refers collectively to both Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) and micropolitan areas. Micropolitan areas are based around Census Bureau-defined urban clusters of at least 10,000 and fewer than 50,000 people. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are defined as urban clusters of more than 50,000 people.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Top List of Worst Neighbors in 2013; Jimmy Fallon Most Desirable Celebrity Neighbor for 2014

SEATTLE, Dec. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. adults would most like to be neighbors with comedian and late-night-show hostJimmy Fallon in 2014, according to the seventh annual Zillow® Celebrity Neighbor Surveyⁱ. Newly engaged couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were named the least desirable neighbors of 2013.

Meanwhile, 34 percent of surveyed adults said they would not want to live next to any celebrities listed in the poll, down from 45 percent last year. This is the largest drop in the survey's history. The annual Zillow survey asks U.S. adults which celebrities they would most like to be their neighbor, and with whom they wouldn't want to share a fence.

Most Desirable Neighbors for 2014
Fallon was the top choice for a neighbor in the coming year, earning 11 percent of surveyed adults' votes. The comedian's popularity was highest among young adults surveyed (14 percent), and slightly more popular among females (12 percent) compared with males (10 percent).

Last year's winners, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, tied for second place along with Jennifer Lawrence, each receiving 10 percent of the votes. However, young adults surveyed (ages 18-34) preferred to live next to "Hunger Games: Catching Fire"actress Lawrence (17 percent) rather than the country music couple (8 percent).

Worst Neighbors for 2013
Reality-TV personality Kardashian and her music mogul fiancee West topped the list of worst neighbors for the year. One-quarter of surveyed Americans found the couple, who had a baby and got engaged this year, to be the most undesirable neighbors of 2013. Only 2 percent of respondents said they would prefer to live next to "Kimye" in the coming year. 

Eighteen percent of respondents found the cast of the reality TV show "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" to be the worst neighbors, down slightly from topping last year's worst neighbor list at 21 percent of the votes. Singers Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus tied for the third worst neighbors of 2013 (16 percent), and ranked higher on the list by large margins compared to competitors Lady Gaga (4 percent), Alex Rodriguez (2 percent) and Lebron James (1 percent).

"It's been a landmark year for Jimmy Fallon. He had his first baby, headlined a successful comedy tour and was named Jay Leno's successor to 'The Tonight Show.' He carries a positive, funny and relatable vibe, which people would love to have in a neighbor," said Zillow Chief Marketing Officer Amy Bohutinsky. "Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, on the other hand, have a reputation for living an over-the-top lifestyle, with drama and the paparazzi never too far behind. No one wants to live next door to a family who has cameras following them everywhere and seems to seek out as much attention as possible. However, with more than one-third of surveyed Americans preferring a non-celebrity neighbor, what remains clear is that many people don't want to live next to any celebrity, regardless of why they are famous."    

Most Desirable Neighbors for 2014		Worst Neighbors of 2013
Name	Percent	Name	Percent
Jimmy Fallon	11	Kim Kardashian & Kanye West	25
Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton	10	Cast of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo"	18
Jennifer Lawrence	10	Justin Bieber	16
Sofia Vergara	6	Miley Cyrus	16
Robin Roberts	6	Lady Gaga	2
Lebron James	2	Alex Rodriguez	2
Kim Kardashian & Kanye West	2	Lebron James	1
Other	8	Other	2
None of the above	34	None of the above	14

For more celebrity real estate news, visit the Zillow Blog.

For historical survey resultsⁱⁱ or more information contact press@zillow.com or call 206-757-2701.

About Zillow, Inc.

Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) operates the leading real estate and home-related information marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. Zillow's brands serve the full lifecycle of owning and living in a home: buying, selling, renting, financing, remodeling and more. In addition, Zillow offers a suite of tools and services to help local real estate, mortgage, rental and home improvement professionals manage and market their businesses. Welcoming 64 million unique users during its peak month in 2013, the Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals,Zillow Digs™, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Agentfolio™, Mortech®, HotPads™ and StreetEasy®. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow, Postlets, Mortech, Diverse Solutions and StreetEasy are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

HotPads, Zillow Digs and Agentfolio are trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

ⁱ These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted Dec. 5th – 6th, 2013. For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,023 randomly-selected adults aged 18 and over residing in the United States was interviewed via Ipsos' U.S. online omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ±3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the United States been polled. The margin of error will be larger within subgroupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
ⁱⁱ Harris Interactive® fielded the Zillow Celebrity Neighbor study on behalf of Zillow in December 2007, December 2008, andDecember 2009 interviewing a nationwide sample of more than 2,000 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older via its QuickQuerySM online omnibus service. Historical results are available upon request.

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.

Fort Worth and Dallas Named as Year-End Top 10 Real Estate Markets

DALLAS, Dec. 27, 2013-- Fort Worth and Dallas sit in the first and second spots among the top 10 housing markets in the country for investing in single family homes, according to new data compiled by HomeVestors (known as the "We Buy Ugly Houses®" company) and Local Market Monitor. Job growth, particularly in lower paying jobs, population growth and relatively low home prices are factors making investments in single family homes as rental properties a nearly risk-free opportunities in Fort Worth and Dallas as well as several other markets across the country, explained Ingo Winzer, president and founder of Local Market Monitor.  

"Fort Worth and Dallas have low unemployment rates, 5.9 and 6.0 respectively, coupled with strong population and job growth rates and home prices averaging below market value  -- 20 percent for Fort Worth and 12 percent for Dallas -- which makes them ideal market for investing in single family homes as rental properties," said Winzer.

Markets in the top 10 include Fort Worth (1), Dallas (2), Charlotte (3), Nashville (4), Houston (5), Atlanta (6), Oklahoma City (7),Orlando (8), Las Vegas (9) and Boise City (10).  "These markets also have strong home price appreciation, but are still underpriced by as much as 28 percent," Winzer said.

"We think the markets hold considerable opportunities for investors as long as they do not over pay for properties," said David Hicks, HomeVestors co-president, noting that risk of investing in all markets across the country remains low. "Only seven of the top 100 markets continue to be ranked as 'speculative.'" 

These include Columbia (SC), Los Angeles, Gary, Providence, Buffalo, Toledo and Cleveland.  "These markets continue to have weak population and job growth that makes them more risky investments," Hicks said.

Hicks noted that the strong markets have fueled unprecedented growth in home purchases by HomeVestors® franchisees. "We just passed the 55,000 mark in the overall number of homes we purchased company-wide," he noted, "and we're on track this year to considerably outpace our 2012 total of 2,500 homes purchased in a 12-month period." 

About HomeVestors of America, Inc.Dallas-based HomeVestors of America, Inc. is the largest professional home buying franchise in the U.S., with over 55,000 houses bought since 1996. HomeVestors recruits, trains and supports its independently owned and operated franchisees that specialize in building businesses based on buying, rehabbing, selling and holding residential properties. Most commonly known as the "We Buy Ugly Houses®" company, HomeVestors strives to make a positive impact in each community. In 2013, for the eighth consecutive year, HomeVestors was among the prestigious Franchise Business Review's "Top 50 Franchises," a distinction awarded to franchisors with the highest level of franchisee satisfaction. For more information, visitwww.HomeVestors.com.

About Local Market MonitorLocal Market Monitor, the premier real estate forecasting solution, offers investors in homes and home mortgages the local market risk intelligence they need to make informed decisions. Using a proprietary formula called the Equilibrium Home Price, Local Market Monitor determines if markets are currently over or under valued, equipping users with a long-term risk and investment perspective. Covering over 300 local markets, Local Market Monitor also presents key investors with a 12, 24 and 36-month home price forecast. The solution includes sorting capabilities allowing subscribers to view and compare real estate markets along various metrics, including an Investment Suitability Ratings to identify opportunities based on individual investing goals.  To learn more visit www.localmarketmonitor.com or call 800-881-8653.

Realtor.com® November Housing Data Highlights Hearty Winter Home Buying Season

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Realtor.com®, the leader in online real estate operated by Move, Inc.(NASDAQ: MOVE), today released its National Housing Trend Report for November 2013. November figures indicate continued improvement from this time last year, in spite of the first signs of seasonal influences.  

Data from realtor.com® reveal that November 2013 median list prices remained unusually strong for the season, showing a healthy 6.9 percent increase year over year while declining 0.7 percent month over month. National inventory appears to be stabilizing from dramatic drops in the beginning of the year, although the country is still experiencing significant supply shortages. Housing inventory increased 0.2 percent above year-ago levels – the first year-on-year increase in 2013 – while declining slightly from the previous month, a sign of seasonal influences.  Median age of inventory is down 10.6 percent compared with year-ago levels, showing significantly stronger activity compared to the same time last year.  Month over month, median age of inventory did show some seasonal change with an increase of 7.5 percent. 

"The housing market in November continues to demonstrate encouraging signs of sustainability for the escalating gains this year in price," said Errol Samuelson, president of realtor.com®. "With demand in a much stronger position compared to last year, we anticipate these gains to remain steady into 2014, but with increases expected at a more moderate pace than we have seen in 2013."

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) also recently predicted a flattening trend for 2014, noting that low housing inventory is holding back sales while pushing prices higher in much of the country. NAR recently reported that existing-home sales declined for the third consecutive month in November.

Key Market Indicators for November 2013

	November 2013	Year-over-Year Percentage Change	Month-over-Month Percentage Change
Number of Listings	1,846,155	0.2 percent	-3.1 percent
Median Age of Inventory	101 days	-10.6 percent	7.5 percent
Median List Price	$197,700	6.9 percent	-0.7 percent

National Perspective:

• Inventories in November are just slightly higher (0.2 percent) than they were one year ago – a dramatic turnaround compared to the substantial year-over-year declines noted at the beginning of this year.

• Median age of inventory is still down 10.6 percent year-over-year in spite of its seasonal monthly rise from 94 to 101 days. This suggests that properties continue to turn over relatively quickly regardless of the winter season, and despite increasing home prices and stabilizing inventory.

• Median list prices are 6.9 percent higher than where they were one year ago. On a month-over-month basis, prices fell slightly in November but have remained resilient against the usual seasonal patterns and stabilizing inventory.

Local Market Highlights:

• List prices still on the rise. The majority of housing markets are registering positive signs, with 111 of the 146 markets covered by realtor.com® showing year-over-year increases in their median list price of 1 percent or more, and only 10 markets registering declines of 1 percent or more.  California and Nevada markets continue to lead the country in terms of year-over-year-list price increases, followed by Arizona, Florida, and other areas that were once the epicenters of the housing crisis.  The Detroit metro market also has shown solid gains.

• Inventory shortages have moderately eased. In many of these housing markets, rising list prices were primarily driven by a shortage in for-sale inventories. While still significant, these shortages are abating as sellers have attempted to take advantage this year of improving housing conditions. While inventories continue to be down on a year-over-year basis in the majority (86) of housing markets, the shortfalls are gradually declining.

The 10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the largest year-over-year declines in their for-sale inventories in November 2013 are listed below. While California housing markets dominated the list earlier in the year, this is no longer the case. With a few exceptions, California markets have largely been replaced by a few housing markets in Florida, as well as other markets that have recently drawn wide attention such as Boulder, Colo. and Detroit.   

Inventory Reductions

10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the Greatest Year over Year Inventory Reductions

November 2013 vs. November 2012
MSA	Nov. 2013 Total Listings	YoY change
Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, CA	1,090	-21.2%
Naples, FL	5,682	-16.8%
Boulder-Longmont, CO	1,936	-16.0%
Honolulu, HI	2,842	-15.2%
West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL	15,824	-15.1%
Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ	6,516	-14.9%
Orange County, CA	8,464	-14.8%
Detroit, MI	16,070	-13.7%
St. Louis, MO-IL(MO)	12,034	-13.3%
Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	7,948	-12.5%

• Age of inventory data tracks with recent hot and cold markets. Those markets with the shortest average days on market are similar to those of recent months – such as Oakland, Calif., San Jose, Calif., Phoenix, Detroit, and Honolulu. This demonstrates a continued steady rate of speed in those markets that have recently seen rapid movement.  The areas with the longest days on market – Santa Fe, N.M. (144), Wilmington, N.C. (137), Philadelphia (131) and Reading, PA (123) – highlight the continued weakness in some resort markets and older, industrialized communities.

Realtor.com® regularly tracks real estate data and develops monthly reports featuring the number of listings, median age of inventory and median list price across the U.S. and in specific markets, as well as provides year-over-year and month-over-month changes. These reports are the only ones pulled directly from the realtor.com® database, where 90 percent of listings are updated every 15 minutes from more than 800 MLSs. We regularly review and update historical data to provide the most accurate and comprehensive market information available. For more information on Move, please visit www.move.com or one of its many online real estate properties including realtor.com®.

Supporting Resources

• Read more about realtor.com®
• Follow @realtordotcom on Twitter
• Like realtor.com® on Facebook

ABOUT realtor.com^®

Operated by Move, Inc., (NASDAQ: MOVE), realtor.com^® helps connect people with the content, tools and expertise they need to find their perfect home. As the official website of the National Association of REALTORS^®, realtor.com^® empowers consumers to make the smartest decisions when it comes to finding a home by leveraging direct connections with more than 800 MLSs to deliver the most accurate and up-to-date listing information in neighborhoods across the country, and by making timely and meaningful connections between consumers and REALTORS^®. Whether through desktop, mobile, or tablet versions, realtor.com^® is where home happens.

ABOUT MOVE, INC.

Move, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE), the leader in online real estate, operates:  realtor.com®, the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®; Move.com, a leading destination for new homes and rental listings, moving, home and garden, and home finance; ListHub™, the leading syndicator of real estate listings; Moving.com™; SeniorHousingNet; SocialBios; Doorsteps®; TigerLead® Top Producer® Systems and FiveStreet.  Move, Inc. is based in San Jose, California.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of Move's future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of Move, its subsidiaries, divisions and concepts to be materially different from those expressed or implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents Move files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on Move's future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Move cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, Move expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE realtor.com