Foreclosures remain high

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Foreclosures remain high

The residential mortgage foreclosure rate in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area remained near its recent high in July. The 3.76 percent rate outpaced the national rate of 3.25 percent and was up from 3.20 percent in July 2011, real estate industry analyst firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday. The local rate rose steadily over the past two years from about 2.5 percent and peaked in April at 3.8 percent.

The rate of 90-day or more delinquencies also rose, but at a much slower pace. It was 6.76 percent in July, CoreLogic said, up from 6.63 percent a year earlier. The rate has hovered between 6.5 percent and 7 percent since January 2010.

Home prices rise continues

Home prices in the nation’s largest cities rose 1.6 percent in July to their highest level in nearly two years, according to a leading index released Tuesday, adding to recent data showing the housing market finally has begun its rebound from the deep recession.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of prices in the 20 biggest U.S. cities rose for the fourth straight month. And in a sign the rebound is broad-based, it was the third consecutive month that prices rose in all 20 cities from the previous month.

Toys R Us ups hiring

Toys R Us is hiring 45,000 seasonal workers to staff up its pop up stores and help fulfill its expanded customer services, like shipping online purchases to stores, this holiday.

Toys R Us said part of the increase is to help fulfill customer orders made with its new online shipping options, such as ordering online and picking up items in store.

Toys R Us plans to open 150 to 200 temporary stores, similar to the number it opened last year.

Record airline bag fees

U.S. airlines collected more than $1.7 billion in baggage fees during the first half of the year, the largest amount ever collected in that six-month period.

Delta Air Lines Inc. once again claimed the title as the airline collecting the most in baggage fees: nearly $430 million from January through June, according to a report from the Bureau of Transportation statistics released Tuesday.