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Mortgage banks made an average profit of $1,263 on each loan they originated in the third quarter of 2011, up from $575 per loan in the second quarter of 2011 and $346 per loan in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That’s a 377 percent increase over a six month period.

Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Reno, Nevada, recently issued the following statement on a congressional plan to raise fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and use them to help pay for an extension of this year’s payroll tax cut through 2012: “Congress is essentially proposing to raise taxes on millions of potential home buyers in order to pay for a payroll tax cut and other non-housing legislative initiatives. With the housing market struggling to regain its footing, such a short-sighted move would be extremely counterproductive and threaten the fragile economic recovery.

Editor's Note: The below article, which originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Real Estate magazine, features updated information regarding the National Flood Insurance Program. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) is a leading advocate regarding federal legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry and homeowners. NAR’s efforts drove these accomplishments in 2011:

The UFA Default Risk Index for the fourth quarter of 2011 edged lower to 131 from last quarter’s revised 133, which suggests that residential mortgage default and prepayment risks are continuing their return to normalcy. According to the latest UFA Mortgage Report by University Financial Associates of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the stage is set for a recovery in the housing market. Under current economic conditions, investors and lenders should expect defaults on loans currently being originated to be only 31 percent higher than the average of loans originated in the 1990s, due solely to the local and national economic environment.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury recently released the November edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard—a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. Included in this month’s report are detailed assessments for the 10 largest mortgage servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable Program with results from the third quarter of 2011. In addition to providing greater transparency about servicer performance in the program, the servicer assessments—first introduced in June 2011 and published quarterly—are intended to set a new industry benchmark for disclosure around servicer efforts to assist struggling homeowners, while prompting them to correct identified deficiencies.

Mortgage applications increased 12.8 percent from one week earlier (which included the Thanksgiving holiday), according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending December 2, 2011.

With all the newspaper articles, television reports and Internet stories discussing how much real estate values have declined over the past several years, buyers in today’s market are unquestionably looking for a great deal. And with the surge in distressed properties, buyers are often looking

According to data from the 2010 NAR Member Profile, the median income of REALTORS® with at least one designation was nearly $22,000 more than the income of those with no designation.

Home prices have declined over the past three months and now trail last year by 3.9 percent, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index.

The Alliance to Save Energy urges American consumers to give themselves the gift of energy efficiency this holiday season—and reap the benefits when they file their 2011 federal tax returns—by taking advantage of tax credits for energy efficiency home improvements.

If you’re a parent, you can relate to the kids in the back seat constantly asking, “Are we there yet?” Invariably, the answer is, “No, not yet.” This time-honored exchange is probably not too different from how people feel about the U.S. real estate market and its slow recovery. One day a high-profile report says real estate continues languishing, and then another report shows that home sales are on the rise. Where are we? Are we there yet? I feel that U.S. real estate markets are heading in the right direction but at an agonizing pace. Getting back to the car ride analogy, we in real estate are traveling at about 15 mph. At that speed, the scenery doesn’t change much and, since we’re all used to traveling faster, we’re growing impatient.

Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates changing little and remaining near their historic lows while adjustable-rate mortgages averaged new record lows.

Pending home sales rose strongly in October and remain above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, surged 10.4 percent to 93.3 in October

Leaders of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals say the accelerated growth rate of Hispanic homeownership reported in the 2011 third quarter Census numbers are evidence of the potential purchase power of Latinos in the housing recovery.

Consumer confidence improved in November, rising 15 points and reaching its highest level since July. With consumers’ view of business conditions perking up, and their opinion on job conditions brightening, positivity seeps into what has been a fairly negative past few months. The Index now stands at 56.0, up from 40.9 in October. The Present Situation Index increased to 38.3 from 27.1. The Expectations Index rose to 67.8 from 50.0. The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey®, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was November 15th.