Confidence, or lack thereof, is also still keeping some sellers sidelined.

“There always is a tendency to time the market, which we know is becoming a little bit harder to do,” said Budge Huskey, CEO of Coldwell Banker in an interview on CNBC. “It’s an assessment of their overall impressions of the economy. I think there’s still a little hesitation. People want to see stronger economic growth, people want to see more progress made toward unemployment rates and just feel better about moving on.”

Lack of inventory means it is a seller’s market, despite so much hesitance by potential sellers themselves. That will keep home prices strong, unless and until more people decide to list their homes and home builders ramp up production, which they have been so far slow to do.

(Read more: $1 million summer homes)

It begs the question, what is housing worth today, market-to-market? A million dollars may buy a McMansion in Oklahoma, but barely buy a bedroom in Manhattan.

In an effort to gauge differing values, CNBC is trawling the million-dollar market again, this time in a “back-to-school” edition.

Starting on “Squawk Box” this Friday, two reporters will show two homes without disclosing their locations; they will document the interiors, exteriors, marketed features and one unique bonus offered by each home.

Real estate maven Dolly Lenz will decide which house gives buyers a better bang for the buck.

We will then reveal where the two houses are located, and with that added to the mix, Lenz will choose a winner. That house will then go up against the next mystery location on the next show.

(Follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #MillionDollarHome and see the early winners here as well).

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick. Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick.

Questions?Comments? facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101009330

“An extension of the tax break is positive for home values by reducing the number of foreclosures and helping more troubled borrowers stay in their homes,” wrote Jaret Seiberg of Guggenheim Partners. “That means less supply on the market.”

Under a law signed in 2007, debt relief on loan modifications, short sales, and foreclosures were no longer taxable; that break expired at the end of 2012. The fear was that if the tax break was not extended, home owners would not agree to short sales (when the home is sold for less than the value of the mortgage) because they would then face a tax bill. They would also not agree to principal reduction loan modifications, which have proven to be far more successful than other modifications that leave the principal balance as is.

Under the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement, borrowers have received $6.3 billion in mortgage principal relief through September, according to the settlement’s monitor, Joseph A. Smith, Jr. The average loan balance reduction, $150,000. Banks completed 13,351 principal reduction loan modifications in November alone, according to Amherst Securities Group, a 62 percent jump from September.

Short sales also surged toward the end of the year, thanks to streamlined procedures and a more aggressive stance by the big banks, again in part due to the mortgage servicing settlement. More than 98 thousand short sales were completed in the third quarter of 2012, according to RealtyTrac.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100349018

“The prospect of being taxed on potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income may motivate more distressed homeowners to forgo a short sale and allow the home to be foreclosed,” said RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist in a release. “Additionally, if the mortgage interest deduction is eliminated due to the fiscal cliff quagmire, it would give many underwater and otherwise distressed homeowners one less reason to hang on to their homes.”

Banks completed 13,351 principal reduction loan modifications in November alone, according to a monthly report from Amherst Securities Group. That’s a 62 percent jump from September. Much of it is thanks to the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement signed by the nation’s five largest banks early this year over so-called “robo-signing” foreclosure practices.

Banks have already given borrowers $6.3 billion in mortgage principal relief under the settlement, according to a report from its monitor, Joseph A. Smith, released last month. Bank of America recently ramped-up its relief, reporting 30,000 customers were approved or had completed first-lien modifications through September 30 providing $4.75 billion in principal reduction. Borrowers received an average $150,000 slash in loan balances.

(Read More: How ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Could Affect Mortgage Interest Deduction)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100285754

It’s not like the housing market needs any more headwinds, so here’s the government potentially giving us another: The mortgage interest deduction is back in big play in the budget deal.

It never exactly came off the table, but the bigger the budget deal, the more likely the mortgage deduction will take a bigger hit.

Right now, home loan borrowers can deduct the amount of interest they pay on their mortgages from their taxable income. This goes for principal residences and second homes. The interest deduction is capped at the first million dollars of debt on the home. For home equity loans it’s capped at $100,000 in debt.

The deduction costs the U.S. Treasury about $100 billion a year. There are proposals now to either reduce the cap to $500,000 and/or to eliminate the deduction on second homes. Eliminating the deduction on second homes would save about $15 billion, and reducing the cap to $500,000 would save another $15 billion, according to economist William Wheaton at MIT. 10.5 percent of existing home sales in June were of homes over $500,000 according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Then there’s the idea from the President’ bipartisan commission of turning the interest deduction into a 12 percent credit, limited to $500,000 in mortgage debt, only on primary residences. That could save the Treasury $65 billion.

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