If everything goes according to plan, real estate investors will have more competitors when it comes to buying foreclosed properties.

Major banks and lenders have expressed agreement to a proposal to give local governments and nonprofit groups the chance to buy foreclosed homes before these properties are sold to private investors. Mortgage giants Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. are just some of the leading financial institutions that have shown support to the program.

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Although the housing market is showing signs of recovery in recent months, it seems that most real estate experts are dissatisfied with the way home prices are increasing.

Latest data showed that prices of residential properties between May and June grew at a rate that is considered one of the slowest in the last ten years. According to Radar Logic’s composite price index for 25 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), the RPX composite price for June 24 was $197.09 per square foot. The figure rose by just 0.6% from a month earlier.

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For the first time in four years, the troubled loans held by banks decreased.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), this decline pushed banks to collectively earn $21.6 billion in the second quarter of the year. The figure is a huge difference compared to the $17.8 billion they collected in the first quarter and the $4.4 billion they lost in second quarter of 2009.

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The government has yet to decide whether to bring back a popular tax program that helped spur home sales in recent months, the country’s top housing official said.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said it is “too early” to say if the Obama administration is considering reviving the first-time home buyers’ tax credit program, which expired last April 30. The secretary’s statement came amid reports that Washington is planning to bring back the initiative to revive the sluggish housing market after an unexpectedly huge decline in home sales last month.

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Google Inc. is cooperating with a division of U.S. Bancorp in setting up a low-income housing fund worth $86 million.

U.S. Bancorp said the fund will help construct and manage affordable rental units in Western and Midwestern states. Some 480 units are expected to be financed by the fund in Milwaukee; Waukegan, Illinois; Apple Valley, Minnesota; Des Moines, Iowa; and Fontana, Palm Springs, and Salinas in California.

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Although there has been a decline in the number of households that are facing foreclosure, a banking group revealed that more and more homeowners are missing their mortgage payments.

A report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed that the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process fall to 4.57% in the second quarter from 4.63% in the first quarter of the year. The association attributed the decline to various efforts to ease payments for homeowners and to the federal tax credit program.

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Bond-fund manager Bill Gross considers government involvement a “necessity” in the nearly $1-trillion mortgage market.

Gross, chief of Pacific Investment Management Co. (Pimco), said that if the government completely pulls out from the industry, it would lead to “crippling any hopes of a housing-led revival to the economy.”

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Registered real estate agents in areas affected by the country’s worst oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be entitled to around $12,000 per claim.

Reports said the five state real estate associations along the US Gulf Coast – Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas – will receive a total of $60 million in compensation. The money will be sourced from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which is managed by fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg.

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The National Association of Realtors has reported a huge drop in the number of existing home sales for the month of July.

According to the group, the July home sales were in their lowest level since May 1995. Analysts believe fears over unemployment are affecting resales despite relatively lower prices of single family homes and record-low mortgage rates.

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The August edition of the Obama administration’s comprehensive housing report has been issued.

The report, released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of the Treasury, shows mixed results.

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