California: The unlikely state leading U.S. out of housing bust

The U.S. housing market is seeing signs of improvement, and California is leading the way. In September, housing defaults in the Golden State fell 45 percent from a year earlier. For the country, defaults hit their lowest level in almost five years with just one in every 248 homes getting a filing, according to Realty Trac. U.S. home values rose 1.2 percent in July from the previous year—the second straight 12-month advance since August 2010, according to the S&P/Case Shiller index.