Appraisals

The median price of a single-family home in Marin County, Calif., hit a new high in May to $1.25 million.

In summer 2007, the Los Angeles County median home price hit an all-time high of $550,000. It soon plunged as the housing bubble burst and the national economy crashed.

Defaults on first-lien mortgages fell 5 basis points in May from the previous month, dropping to their lowest level in a year, according to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Index.

The market for existing-home sales underperformed its potential by 3.8% because of the inventory shortage, according to First American Financial Corp.

While home prices have increased sharply in expensive coastal cities, plenty of urban centers are lagging behind.

Comerica Bank will invest up to $5 million in Detroit Home Mortgage, which provides second mortgages to buyers so they can get past the city's appraisal gap problem.

The number of homes sold in Northeast Florida rose last month, and so did the price they sold for.

LendingTree has added property valuation data to its My LendingTree site, showing consumers how much equity in their home they can tap.

The average Chicago property tax bill is going up about 10% this year following City Hall and Chicago Public Schools tax hikes to pay for police, fire and teacher pensions.

The gap between what homeowners believe their home is worth and what the actual value widened for the sixth consecutive month in May, according to Quicken Loans.

For the first time since before the recession, the entire central Puget Sound region — from Pierce to Snohomish and Kitsap counties — has set records for median home prices.

The Fannie Mae Home Price Sentiment Index fell 0.5 percentage points in May to 86.2 as the continued price increase had more stating it was a better time to sell than buy.

CoreLogic is acquiring appraisal technology company Mercury Network from Serent Capital just two years after the San Francisco-based private equity firm purchased it.

Home prices were up 6.9% in April over the prior year, as lower mortgage rates during the month stimulated consumer demand to purchase a property, according to CoreLogic.

During a five-year run of real estate prosperity, some South Florida communities that bore the brunt of the excruciating housing collapse are enjoying the biggest spikes in value, homeowners and brokers say.

Prices fell and the number of single-family homes sold in Connecticut were essentially flat year-over-year, according to the latest report form The Warren Group.

Home-price growth in the Portland area is slowing down, but rising prices here still outpace most of the nation's major cities.

Sales of homes in April throughout the Cincinnati region remained strong, but could not maintain a record-setting pace, according to the latest data from the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors.

Financial regulators issued joint guidance on Wednesday highlighting the availability of cross-state appraiser licensing agreements.

South Florida home prices increased 6% in March compared to a year ago, but the biggest gains nationwide are happening in the Pacific Northwest.