jed kolko, chief economist at trulia, is skyping with us this morning. hello jed. - good morning. - and how far into the housing recory are we? - we're more than halfway back to normal. we look at several measures of the housing recovery to see where we are today compared to the worst point during the recession, and the long-term normal level. and right now, we're a little more than halfway back, but there's still a ways to go before the housing market returns to normal. - what trends do you see forming in the second half of the year? - we've seen very big price increases over the past year. i expect we're going to see those start to slow down a bit. higher mortgage rates; more inventory coming onto the market, which is good news for buyers; and investors getting a little less eager to buy now that prices are higher should all slow down those price gains a bit. so rising mortgage rates, more inventory, a little bit less investor interest should equal prices rising a little more slowly than they have been. - what are you seeing among younger buyers? this h

that was jed kolko of real estate site trulia.the case shiller report out this month also notes there is a risk of momentum weakening in the housing recovery due to speculators n the market. attorneys for george zimmerman--are asking the state of florida to cover his legal fees. zimmerman was handed a not guilty jury ruling in the shooting death of trayvon martin, an african american teen who was walking through zimmerman's neighborhood. usa today reports-- ziimmerman's lawyers will file a motion to recoup up to $300,000 in legal fees to be paid by the state. florida allows defedants who win cases to file motions for money. when it comes to prison time, raj rajaratnam is far from roughing it. the former trader is currently serving 11-years in a massachusettes prison for an insider trading conviction. reports in the new york post say rajaratnam's white-collar prison cell includes a servant, who cooks for him, along with a shared balcony, private toilets, and televisons. to say the least, that's been described as "special treatment.

chief market strategist at residential finance and joining us from san francisco, a chief economist, jed kolko backup a point? is it starting to bite or people have decided that i better do it now and therefore they are deciding to before it goes up more. >> they have been strong on the purchase side. the latest survey shows that purchase applications up over 1%. they helped pretty firm. i think some of the housing numbers we've seen overstate the health of the housing market a couple of months back because people wanted to get in while the getting was good. it's norm tool see a lull. me migrate transactions forward. we're seeing it come back strong. >> try to explain the movement in housing stocks, do you? a stock market thing? >> well look. they have been very, very strong for the past couple of years, actually. >> is it a form normal pullback? >> i think so. it's a natural reaction. >> up 30 to down or whatever? >> you know, when you see interest rates -- >> gets your attention. >> interest rates moved up faster than they have done, in the last 52, 53 years so it's going to shock the market