They're driven by an income tax credit which is due to expire and record-low mortgage rates.

Underneath that, the housing market looks weak.

Three months of stability don't seem so impressive compared to the plunge of the past two years. Things weren't nearly as bad a year ago.

Read more on Home Sales At Two Year High…

The Wall Street Journal reports that the lofty program has not done much good in the real world.

HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) refinance applications are complicated for banks to process. They're having a hard enough time keeping up with regular refinance applications, so they've put HARP apps on hold.

Read more on What's Wrong With Obama's HARP?…

I'm reading this new book by economist Thomas Sowell — The Housing Boom and Bust.

The median-priced home in the United States is 3.6 times the median income of Americans. In Great Britain, the median-priced home is 5.5 times the median income and in Australia and New Zealand, the ratio is 6.3.

Read more on The Politics Of The Housing Boom & Bust…

I'm reading this new book by economist Thomas Sowell — The Housing Boom and Bust.

From 2000 to 2005, the average home price in the United States increased by one-third. Millions of Americans began using their homes as ATMs, getting credit lines from numerous banks to pay off their other debts (whose interest was not tax deductible, only mortgage interest payments are deductible). Then in 2007, it all crashed.

Read more on What Caused The Housing Boom & Bust?…

The real estate crisis began with subprime loans in CA and FL and Nevada and AZ but now it has spread across the nation and commercial property values are plunging.

This Bloomberg article says beware of a dramatic level of commercial property defaults in the weeks ahead.

Read more on The Commercial Real Estate Crunch…

The housing market has stabilized, right?

Prices are even going up in some places?

David Leonhardt writes for the New York Times: In 2006 and early 2007, the official housing statistics were still showing that house prices were holding up. But that was largely because so many sellers were refusing to sell. The auctions, made up mostly of foreclosed homes, showed the truth: house values were starting to plummet in many places.

Read more on What Housing Auctions Tells Us About Our Economy…

From the New York Times:

No one actually knows when and where the housing market will bottom. In Ocean City, N.J., for example, inflation-adjusted house prices rose about 1.6 percent a year from 1988 through 2002. Compared with what this rate would predict, the city’s houses in the first quarter of this year were overvalued by 51 percent. Over the previous year, they had fallen 0.6 percent; at this pace, Ocean City house prices will be at the right level in about 13 years. Income, mortgage rates and popular vacation spots have changed since then, as have myriad other factors deeply entwined with house prices.

Read more on Have We Hit Bottom?…

From the WSJ:

If you are hoping for mortgage relief under the new Hope for Homeowners Act, here's another factor that you and your lender will have to work into your numbers.

Read more on Limited Mortgage Relief…

Ron Lieber writes:

The letters dripped with compliments for the property and ended with a plea for mercy (and a signed contract).

Then, I crafted a reply that confident sellers could fire back.

Read more on The Dear Seller Letter…

The New York Times reports:

America’s home-buying season, when for-sale signs sprout like dandelions, is shaping up to be even worse than expected this year, with prices falling, sales slowing and few signs of a turnaround emerging.

Read more on American Home Prices Plunge…