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A report released recently, sponsored in part by the Appraisal Institute, outlines ways to finance $150 billion per year in energy efficiency projects that yield double-digit financial returns. The Appraisal Institute is the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers.

(MCT)—The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30, the government reported, easing fears that the nation would fall into a second recession but still too slow a pace to cut significantly into the high unemployment rate. “We’re inching our way forward,” says Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. The new data from the Commerce Department on Thursday showed slow but steady improvement in the economy throughout 2011. The third-quarter data was in line with economists’ projections.

According to the RE/MAX of New England Luxury Housing Report, the high-end price point in many of New England’s Top 15 luxury markets showed steadily increasing prices and offered fewer days on market than the national average, this quarter.

Data through August 2011, released recently by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed increases of +0.2% for the 10- and 20-City Composites in August versus July.

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT - Massachusetts single-family homes sales increased again in September—the third consecutive month sales rose compared to the same month last year, according to the latest report

The past few weeks have showcased numerous signals that the real estate market is on the rise. Recently, we have reported statistics pointing to an industry turnaround, including a 15 percent rise in housing starts in September; a surge in builder confidence in October, an increase in mortgage applications and a slew of regional market improvements across the country.

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT—Home sales in central Ohio were up almost 17 percent in September making three consecutive months of home sale increases. According to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®, 1,719 homes sold in September which is 16.6 percent more than the previous year’s 1,474 sales.

Existing-home sales were down in September on the heels of a strong gain in August, but remain well above a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 3.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million in September from an upwardly revised 5.06 million in August, but are 11.3 percent above the 4.41 million unit pace in September 2010.

(MCT)—New residential construction surged 15 percent in September, turning in its best performance in 17 months, though economists warned that a housing recovery has yet to take hold. While new construction is key to getting the economy going, much of the new building came from the apartment sector, which can be very volatile. Many economists also noted that permits pulled for new construction, also an important measure of builders’ plans for the future, declined in September. Nevertheless, the news of the increase cheered investors on Wall Street as well as several housing analysts who follow the numbers closely.

With rents rising faster than last year, the picture for residential real estate investors is getting even better than it already was as a result of once-in-a-generation prices and low interest rates, according to the founder of a leading Internet platform for investors and real estate professionals.

At the height of the real estate boom in the mid-2000s, brokers began realizing that to sustain business for the long-term, they would need to climb aboard the “one-stop shopping” bandwagon. At the center of the full-service real estate model? A mortgage operation. Adding a mortgage component was not only a way to meet consumer demand for a simpler transaction but, more importantly, a vehicle for driving ancillary income and improving profit margins. As this business model met with mounting success, a mortgage operation quickly went from ancillary to core business for many real estate firms. Today, however, as the industry battles back from the housing crisis and the economic recession, and struggles to meet the challenges of a credit-crunched mortgage environment, the question becomes: How can brokers reinvent their mortgage operations and help get buyers into homes?

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT—Houston temperatures finally cooled a bit in September, but home sales remained hot. Sales of single-family homes climbed nearly 17 percent when compared to one year earlier and accounted for the fourth consecutive month of increased sales volume.

Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) recently released its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October showing with rental demand rising and apartment economics improving, the multifamily sector is a strong positive signal for the U.S. housing industry. Over the year ending mid-2011, the Census Bureau reported a net increase of 1.4 million households that moved into rental housing, a 4 percent rise in the number of tenant households in just one year.

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose four points to 18 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for October, which was released recently. This is the largest one-month gain the index has seen since the home buyer tax credit program helped spur the market in April of 2010.

Heightened economic uncertainty and lower loan limits contributed to a decrease in California home sales in September. However, September home sales posted higher on a year-to-year basis for the third consecutive month and remain at stable levels.