Federal Reserve: Speculative Investors Played a Larger Role in Housing Bubble than Previously Thought

A new federal report shows that speculative real estate investors played a larger role than originally thought in driving the housing bubble that led to record foreclosures and sent economies plummeting in Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and other states. Researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that investors who used low-down-payment, subprime credit to purchase multiple residential properties helped inflate home prices and are largely to blame for the recession.

Read the full report at the Huffington Post by clicking here.

Foreclosures drop in second quarter

Foreclosures across South Carolina dropped more than 10% in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the second quarter of 2009, according to a real estate market report on residential housing.

Still, across the country, foreclosures accounted for nearly a quarter of all residential home sales in the second quarter of 2010.

In the Upstate, foreclosures fell faster than the state as a whole with the exception of Anderson County.

Anderson 102 2%
Greenville 222 -24.23%
Spartanburg 128 -23.81%

Statewide 1,799 -18.19%

Read the entire report at GSA Business by clicking here.

Pending Home Sales on the Rise?

According to a new report in Businessweek, The number of contracts to purchase previously owned homes in the U.S. probably increased in August for a second month, a sign the housing market is stabilizing.

Read the entire report by clicking here.

Group Calls Upstate a Strong Market for Real Estate Investors

According to Local Market Monitor, a real estate forecasting firm based in Cary, NC, the Upstate is one of the best markets in the country to invest in real estate. The firm ranked the Upstate 9th in its list of top ten markets "suitable for conservative investors."