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JP Morgan and Citigroup are expanding in ?jumbo? mortgages used to buy the most expensive homes, helping revive a market that shriveled amid a three-year jump in homeowner defaults. JPMorgan resumed buying new jumbo loans made by other lenders this month, after halting purchases in March, spokesman Tom Kelly said. Borrowers must have checking accounts with the bank, he said. Citigroup is again offering the loans through independent mortgage brokers, spokesman Mark Rodgers said. The two New York-based banks are signaling new interest in a market hobbled since 2007, when record-breaking defaults on home loans caused investors to flee securities backed by mortgages. With the recession sapping demand for new consumer and corporate loans, lenders are competing harder for creditworthy customers, said Harry Davis, banking professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales ticked up 2.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million units compared to the downwardly-revised rate of 4.66 million in April. The sales missed expert forecasts of 4.82 million annual units, according to a consensus estimate of analysts compiled by Briefing.com, and are off 3.6% from the 4.95 million-unit pace 12 months ago.

The number of homes listed for sale in many U.S. cities continued to fall in April in what some analysts see as a sign that the market may be nearing a bottom…The supply of homes for sale in 29 major metropolitan areas at the end of April was down 3.6% from a month earlier, according to figures compiled by ZipRealty Inc., a real-estate brokerage firm based in Emeryville, Calif.

This is excellent news although the period being examined is relatively short.

In some of the markets most affecting Maui real estate Bakersfield inventory was down 14%, Orange County was down 8%, San Diego and Sacramento 5%, Las Vegas down 11%, Los Angeles down 14%.

This is GREAT news.