Foreclosures up, home sales stable

In a mixed bag of indicators for the housing market, pending home sales were unchanged in January while foreclosure rates hit a new record high during the fourth quarter. The number of contracts for pending home sales was unchanged in January, but that level was down 19.6% from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors. On a regional basis, January's pending home sales figure fell 4.1% in the Northeast and 6.1% in the South. The index increased 13% in the West and 0.6% in the Midwest. Existing-home sales was flat, close to an annual level of 4.9 million, in the first half of the year, before improving to 5.8 million in the second half of the year, according to NAR. Total sales for 2008 are projected at 5.38 million. The aggregate existing-home price is projected to fall to 1.2% to a median of $216,300 this year, according to NAR. Meanwhile, the rate of home loans entering the foreclosure process was 0.83% of all outstanding loans, on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 0.78% the previous quarter and 0.54% from a year ago, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process was 2.04% of all loans outstanding, up from 1.19% a year ago. The seasonally adjusted delinquency rate for mortgages was 5.82% of all loans outstanding in the fourth quarter, up from 4.95% a year ago.