By Nick Timiraos and S. Mitra Kalita
The Wall Street Journal

Underwater mortgages or those homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth decreased in the third quarter as banks become more aggressive on foreclosures. The number of underwater mortgages decreased from a high of 11.3 million at the beginning of the year to 10.8 million in September.

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By Catherine Reagor
The Arizona Republic

With several large banks implementing a temporary foreclosure-sale freeze, metro Phoenix foreclosures hit a 32-month low in November. Housing experts state that this decline will be short lived as the moratorium on trustee sales is expected to end within the next 30 days and foreclosures will resume as normal.

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By Betty Beard
The Arizona Republic

Arizona, as well as the Nation, will slowly begin to see signs of recovery with job growth, population growth, retail sales, personal income and single-family home construction expected to improve slightly in 2011, according to Lee McPheters, Director of ASU’s Economic Outlook Center and other economists at the W.P. Carey Business School economic-forecast luncheon.

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By Betty Beard
The Arizona Republic

The Arizona Department of Commerce reports that after 30 consecutive months of year-over-year job losses, the state added jobs for the past two months. The Commerce Department states that August job figures rose by 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent in September.

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By Catherine Reagor
The Arizona Republic

Bank of America announced a temporary foreclosure-sale freeze in October halting all trustee sales for an undisclosed period of time. As a result, housing analysts have concerns that the Valley will eventually see an oversupply of foreclosure homes that will further depreciate local home prices.

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Bloomberg News

The U.S. Commerce Department released figures that show housing starts are up to a 610,000 annual rate, the most since April 2010 and up 0.3 percent from 608,000 in August. By region, starts increased by 4.8 percent in the South, 2.9 percent in the Northeast and decreased by 8.2 percent in the Midwest and 3.6 percent in the West.

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