Case Shiller’s June report showed home prices across 20 major U.S. metro areas were up 1.1% since May, the third straight monthly ’20-City’ gain after seven months of decline. But prices are down 4.5% since last June, and prices are down drastically from 2006 highs and now at 2003 levels (charts below).

This evening’s Originations linkfest … note: the WSJ story on investors’ rate outlook is on long-duration Treasuries which are a benchmark for U.S. rates, but mortgage rates come from mortgage bonds (MBS), not Treasuries. But the indecision is similar on MBS.

Congrats to the Mavericks who won the NBA championship last night. Too bad the NBA isn’t flying as high. And neither is Greece. Nor are most other countries by Roubini’s outlook. Nor home sellers who are financing buyer loans. It’s all in today’s links.

Here are some alarming results from an April 2011 Zillow/Ipsos study: 55% of homebuyers don’t know that rates change throughout each day, 37% think getting pre-qualified means they’ve secured financing, and 44% said they’re not confident in their mortgage knowledge nor the mortgage process.

Since it’s the time of year when home buying activity ramps up and people are thinking about taxes, it’s worth revisiting some common mortgage and tax rules. Below are some rules that are especially important for prospective homebuyers who haven’t saved as much as they’d like to put a down payment on a home and [...]

Homeowner and rental vacancy statistics from the Census Bureau provide an interesting set of numbers indicative of renting vs. owning a home. There are roughly 131 million housing units in the United States, with about 86% of them being occupied. Of those units, 57% are occupied by owners, 29% by renters, and 14% (about 18 [...]

Homes are most people’s largest investment so it’s not surprising NYT’s most read story the past 2 days is Housing Fades As A Means To Build Wealth. It cites 5 housing experts who all have similar bearish outlooks on housing. There will always be chatter about the demise of a certain asset class, so remember [...]

Saw this video on an SF Realtor friend’s Facebook page, which appears to have been created by this Jersey Realtor. Funny stuff.

Every Thursday, Freddie Mac releases its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). This is the official record on mortgage rates and source material for the overwhelming majority of rate reports in the media—reports that very often exclude critical details rate shoppers need to know. Since the one-day market crash May 6, mortgage bonds have rallied to [...]

The most-asked questions by home mortgage borrowers so far in 2010 are about where rates will go, how to lock rates in a volatile trading environment, and how home appraisals affect the lending process. Each question is addressed below.