Everyone, even I would like a crystal ball to see into the future. What investments should we look into? Who should we marry? Should we order the cold cuts? Everyone from fortune tellers to mortgage brokers act as though they know—and of course we listen to them. When the North Shore real estate predictions come true, we go back for more insight. When they don’t—well, some of us go back looking for what the future holds and a revised outlook anyway.

Housing prices in the year 2012; based on the findings from the research firm Fiserv,  historical data is weighed against current trends to get a sure bet on which way the markets might jump at one-year increments.

With that said, there has been a recent increase in Chicago’s North Shore mortgage applications, while mortgage delinquencies are expected to decline during 2012. This forecast comes as potential homebuyers become more confident in the nation’s housing market.

National mortgage loan application volume, spiked 12.8 percent in the week ending December 2. Meanwhile, the Refinance Index rose 15.3 percent from the previous week and now makes up 76 percent of total loan applications. Across the board,  it’s estimated that real estate prices will drop before rising by the fourth quarter of 2012. Why is that important? Both homeowners and potential buyers might be better able to make an informed decision about when, and whether, they should move or stay put.

Bottom line, indicators point to hardest-hit markets beginning to see improvement by 2012. An added positive is that mortgage rates continue to hover near historic lows and that 85.5 percent of applications for home purchases were for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, while 6.8 percent were for 15-year…..More here and here