Home prices in a majority of the markets covered in Zillow’s Home Value Forecast are set to bottom this year — if they haven’t already, according to a new Zillow report.“From an economic perspective, the latter part of the first quarter is full of positive news as the spring selling season gets underway,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, in a news release. “While it is unlikely that national home values continue...

Fannie Mae plans to sell nearly 2,500 foreclosed properties to investors in the first phase of an initiative to aid the U.S. housing market through bulk sales of distressed homes. The company’s regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, on Monday released details of a planned pilot transaction under which the government-controlled mortgage-finance firm will offer the properties to investors in bulk and require those investors to rent...

The $25 billion settlement with banks over foreclosure abuses may result in a wave of home seizures, inflicting short-term pain on delinquent U.S. borrowers while making a long-term housing recovery more likely. Lenders slowed the pace of foreclosures as they negotiated with attorneys general in all 50 states for more than a year over allegations of faulty and fraudulent paperwork used to repossess homes. With yesterday’s agreement,...