Prudential Real Estate Outlook Survey

According to the newly released Prudential Real Estate Outlook Survey for the past quarter, Americans have shown an increase in confidence in homeownership. Residential real estate is recovering which leads to people being more optimistic about buying a home. Many are taking advantage of the record low mortgage rates and the record high housing affordability. The survey shows that 69% of respondents believe that real estate is still a good investment despite what the last new years have brought. 64% have a favorable perception of the U.S. housing market, and 72% believe that the market will continue to recover. Since 78% of people said that owning a home is very important to them, normalcy is starting to return to the market. These people are indeed buying homes, usually for more traditional reasons such as to raise a family and build a future. It seems that the emotional side of owning a home is outweighing the financial reasons. However, 65% of respondents feel as though financing or getting a mortgage is more challenging now than it was before the market crisis. We at Quest Loans do not want you to feel that way. Please call us at 888-883-5252 today so we can help you, on a personal level, qualify for the home loan that you need to begin your homeownership journey. After all, 74% of respondents think it is more important than ever to work with a good agent and lender in order to successfully buy a home. We will be waiting for your call.

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U.S. Job Market Staggers

The U.S. economic recovery has had a bit of a slowdown in May. According to the Labor Department's Job Report for May, only 69,000 jobs were created. This is a much lower number than experts had expected for the month. With that said, the unemployment rate has also climbed up to 8.2%, which is the first time it has increased in the past 11 months. This all comes at a time when Americans are worried about the European crisis, higher gas prices and the constant problems that the housing market faces. It is important, therefore, that the U.S. economy continues to grow, especially since Europe is declining. If the U.S. has frequent slowdowns like the one in May, it could bring about a global slowdown. It had enough of an impact on the economy for the Obama administration to comment that this jobs data was unacceptable and that Congress needs to do something to strengthen the nation. Time will tell if they take action to make a difference in the lives of Americans or not.

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2011 Foreclosure Rate Down 34 Percent

We all know that housing foreclosures have been a big problem for Americans in the past few years. With the shaky economy and high unemployment rates, many people have had issues paying off their mortgages. In 2011, however, it looks as though Americans were given a bit of collective relief. Both the total U.S. foreclosure activity and the U.S. foreclosure rate were at their lowest annual level since 2007. That is good news.

According to RealtyTrac's Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, there were nearly 2.7 milliion foreclosure filings in 2011. This includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. These were reported on nearly 1.9 million properties, which is actually a decrease of 34 percent in total properties compared to 2010.

This means that approximately 1 in 69 houses had at least one foreclosure filing during 2011.

The reason for this decrease in the total number of foreclosures may have more to do with the dysfunctional foreclosure process than anything. Right now, many houses are hanging in limbo. It seems as though all the paperwork has been a problem, leaving delinquent mortgages at a standstill. However, lenders are finally starting to get some of these delayed foreclosures moving. This may boost foreclosure activity in 2012.

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