Home prices in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas probably dropped in February at a slower pace, adding to evidence the market may be stabilizing, economists said before a private report today.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index decreased 18.7 percent from a year earlier after a record 19 percent decline in January, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Another report may show consumer confidence climbed in April for a second month.

* Full story available on The Bloomberg

First-time home buyers would get their $8,000 tax credit as a state loan at closing, under a measure the state Legislature has approved.

The federal government is offering the income tax credit to first-time buyers who buy a home through November, but won’t pay the credit until after buyers file this year’s tax return. The new budget amendment would set up a “Tax Credit Advance Loan Program” to give buyers the money as a loan at closing, meaning they could use the money for down payments, then pay it back when they got their tax refund.

* Full story available on The Seattle Post Intelligencer

Despite dips in occupancy and net operating income, Washington Real Estate Investment Trust reported soaring earnings for the first quarter.

The Rockville-based trust (NYSE: WRE) reported funds from operations (FFO) — the key metric for real estate investment trusts — of $34.2 million, or 65 cents per diluted share for the first quarter, compared to FFO of $17.8 million, or 38 cents per diluted share, for the same period one year ago.

* Full story available on The Biz Journals

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said Monday he expects that rolling back home and condominium insurance regulation will trigger “substantial” rate increases and won’t keep insurers in Florida – the reason many lawmakers support it.

“Not a single company has indicated to me a willingness to either stay in Florida or write new business if this proposal is adopted,” he said in a statement.

The pending deregulation legislation would allow large insurers to sell essentially unregulated home and condo insurance policies at whatever price they want. The House of Representatives passed its bill last week by a 105-13 margin and the Senate plans to discuss its version Tuesday.

* Full story available on The Sun Sentinal

California’s housing-market slump showed hints of improvement in March, with sales of existing single-family homes increasing 64% from the prior-year period and median home prices rising month-to-month for the first time since August 2007, according to a trade group report.

California’s inventory of unsold homes in March fell to a three-year low of five months, according to a report released Monday by the California Association of Realtors. That compares with 12.2 months of inventory the group reported for March 2008.

* Full story available on The Wall Street Journal

About 340 lawyers have volunteered to serve as mediators to work with lenders to keep Nevadans from losing their homes to foreclosure, Nevada Chief Justice Jim Hardesty said today.

Hardesty told the Assembly Ways and Means Committee that he expects mediation hearings will begin in August and that as many as 3,000 Nevadans a month will seek mandatory mediation to work out loan modifications that allow them to remain in their homes.

* Full story available on The Las Vegas Review Journal

Rick Knauf, managing partner for Colliers’ International Peninsula office, minced few words when he called the first quarter of 2009 “the worst” for commercial real estate in eight years.

Almost 800,000 square feet of space was given back to the market, sending vacancy rates on the Peninusla soaring to more than 18 percent. But he noted in the quarterly report, rather than rental rates plunge, activity has simply stopped.

* Full story available on The Biz Journals

Before the housing market crashed, adjustable rate subprime mortgages were a popular way for people with shaky credit or low incomes to buy or refinance a home.

Sold on the promise of deals that sounded too good to be true, many people took out loans they didn’t understand on the hopes they could refinance later into a fixed rate.

* Full story available on The Minnesota Public Radio

Spring is the season of renewal, and we are seeing definite signs of it in the Massachusetts housing market. We are also witnessing some fundamental changes in the home-buying process, specifically the dynamics of the buyer-agent relationship.

First, the encouraging numbers: over the first quarter of 2009, the majority of our markets are showing strong signs of recovery. And it is the first-time home buyers who are leading this surge, spurred by a large inventory of homes, affordable prices, historically low interest rates and the $8,000 federal tax credit.

* Full story available on The Metro West Daily News