Mortgage News

First-time home buyer and move-up tax credits worth $8,000 and $6,500, respectively, expire April 30. Buyers who qualify get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxes or a cash payment if they don’t pay enough taxes to cover the credit. Other factors that should spur buyers include low rates. If the Federal Reserve stops buying securities backed by home loans at the end of March, 30-year rates will almost certainly rise. Finally, about 30 percent of U.S. markets are already experiencing price increases. Prices are falling in 12 percent of markets, says Fiserv, but that only helps if you want to live there.

Indeed, the percentage of U.S. home sellers who cut their asking price declined again in February and sellers made slightly smaller reductions in prices, real estate website Zillow.com reported. Nearly one in five homes, or 19.5 percent, listed for sale on the Zillow website had at least one price reduction as of the end of February, down from 19.8 percent in January. The percentage of homes on the market with price reductions has declined steadily for much of the past year...