Data and information management

January Home prices are up 6.2% from a year ago, the largest annual gain since 2006.

During 2012, the business as a whole added 29,000 jobs, an 11% boost not just to the niche but to the entire national economy.

Redwood Trust generated net income of $42 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, up from net income of $40 million for the third quarter of 2012.

Improving home sales combined with dwindling inventory spurred the biggest advance in property values since 2005.

Goldman Sachs plans to issue $568 million in CMBS loans backed by fixed-rate loans that are secured on three malls.

Good start to the year in Florida and Illinois, not so much so in California, Realtor groups say.

Sales of previously owned homes edged up 0.4% in January from the prior month despite a dearth of properties for sale and rising prices.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is seeking to sell securities tied to new U.S. home loans without government backing in its first offering since the financial crisis that the debt helped trigger.

January’s first-mortgage defaults declined 10 basis points from December and 50 basis points from January 2012 to 1.58%.

Mortgage application volume declined 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Feb. 15.

Single-family housing starts edged up by less than 1% in January but it was still enough to push construction activity to the highest level since July 2008.

Gateway Mortgage Group did over $1 billion in annual mortgage originations for the first time in the company’s history during 2012.

Homebuilder confidence slipped a notch in February as concerns about rising lumber prices, labor costs and land availability seem to be rising.

The gap between the listing price for a property and the actual closing price continues to narrow in the U.S.

The Bay Area housing market had the strongest January sales in six years and the tenth straight year-over-year increase in the median sale price.

Tight inventories and winter weather are taking the steam out of home sales.

Realtors and mortgage bankers say they’re hoping President Obama’s call for streamlining mortgage rules will lend new momentum to efforts to prevent imposing a strict minimum downpayment for home loans.

With the California Homeowner Bill of Rights taking effect at the beginning of 2013, it didn’t take long to see the legislation’s impact on the default foreclosure process.

California foreclosure activity continues to decline as defaulting homeowners are taking advantage of federal programs.

Mortgage application volume has declined from the previous week for only the second time in 2013.