Personal Finance Advice and Commentary

The upward trend in home prices continues, providing some hope for a recovery.

Don’t believe the housing recovery in underway? Here is more evidence that home prices are rising.

The housing market is a bright spot in the dark economy, Fannie says. But how bright is it?

Home prices jumped in 51 percent of metro markets; vacation home sales are rising.

Fits and starts still plague housing, even heading into the spring buying season.

The monthly cost of owning a median-priced home (including taxes and insurance) is lower than the average cost to rent in 12 metro areas, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. In 15 of the 27 cities surveyed, it is still less expensive to rent, but the scale has been tipping in favor of homeownership.

How about a little good news on the housing front, for a change? Signs of economic improvement were reported in 30 housing markets, up from 23 markets a month ago, as tracked by the National Association of Home Builders, NAHB, and First American Financial Corp. Texas, in particular, fared well with eight of its cities

Home prices increased 0.9 percent in July compared to June, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index. Try using that to cheer up a home seller whose house is worth about 30 percent to 50 percent less than in 2006.  While home prices have improved slightly for four months in a row, they

The sluggish housing recovery is prompting President Barack Obama to consider ways to take foreclosed properties off the market and rent them until prices stabilize. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, home prices nationally were 7.4 percent lower in May than they were a year earlier, but when distressed and foreclosed properties are

It looks like the spell is finally broken. Home prices rose for the first time in eight months, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index. The 20-city composite index increased 0.8 percent from March to April, shows a report released Tuesday. That’s somewhat good news, but don’t get too excited. The average price of