In this article

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of March 5 – March 13, by the numbers:

14% – Percentage decrease of foreclosure related notices sent to homes in February as opposed to January. Year-over-year, foreclosure related noticed were down 27% in February 2011. Also, the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure hit a 36 month low.

16.1% – Percentage jump in the mortgage application index from the prior week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. It’s the biggest gain since June. Also, “the refinance index rose 17.2 percent and the purchase index increased 12.5 percent, to the highest level so far this year.”

20% – Minimum down payment mortgage regulators are pushing for, for loans to be classified as “low-risk.”

23.1% – Percentage of residential loans underwater in the 4th quarter of 2010 according to CoreLogic. The 11.1 million borrower underwater in the 4th quarter is a 22.5% jump from the 10.8 million borrowers underwater in the 3rd quarter of 2010.

$173,200 – Median U.S. home price in 2010 according to the National Association of Realtors.

2 Years – Age of the current bull market. Since March 9, 2009, the New York Stock Exchange has nearly doubled in price.

4.88% – Average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage. The rate is up very slightly from 4.87% the previous week.

3% – Predicted percentage gain in 2011 for home values in San Jose, CA, the city where home value are expected to rise the most in 2011 according to Local Market Monitor.

11% – Predicted percentage loss in 2011 for home values in Daytona Beach, FL, the city  where home value are expected to decrease the most in 2011 according to Local Market Monitor.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.