Banks Offer Incentives to Pursue Short Sales

In an effort to slow foreclosures, Bank of America is offering some defaulting homeowners assistance for moving expenses of anywhere from $2,500 to as much as $30,000 if they agree to complete a short sale rather than going into foreclosure.

Wells Fargo Being Investigated for Violating Fair Lending Practices

The U.S. Department of Justice or DOJ, has begun an investigation on Wells Fargo over claims that the bank discriminated against minority home buyers by offering them more risky loans when they qualified for more traditional, safer loans.

Wells Fargo have stated that the charges are unjustified and says the banks complied with fair lending laws.

Mortgage Application Increase Slightly

Applications for home loans grew slightly as mortgage rates last week hovered near record lows.

As a whole, applications rose 0.1 percent last week compared to a week earlier, with purchase applications seeing the greatest rise in applications, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending April 27.

REO Sales and Prices Rise

In its April housing data index, Clear Capital reported that REO prices have inceased 5.5 percent over the past year while market sales have decreased 2.9 percent.

As investors have been buying up these prices, they have caused prices to rise as well. Clear Capital, by measuring median price per square foot, has found that REO prices are growing at a much quicker rate than prices for non-REO sales.