Housing News

“Moreover, growth is projected to remain broadly unchanged in 2009”

The global economic outlook is increasingly grim with the United States mired in a recession from a housing meltdown whose effects are still spreading, the IMF said Wednesday. via New Straits Times

“This is a step in the right direction”

Americans with mortgages exceeding the value of their homes face long odds of getting help under an expanded Bush administration program aimed at helping distressed borrowers. via Peninsula Clarion

“It was interesting to see the majority seeing contraction in the first half and the risk of something more lasting and severe”

Short-term Treasury prices rose Tuesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting revealed policymakers fretted over the prospects of a deep recession when cutting interest rates last month. via Houston Chronicle

“While investors had a pretty much washed-out, pessimistic view of the economy, those investors also had an unrealistic view on earnings ... It seems investors are conflicted between their pessimism on the economy and their optimism on earnings”

Wall Street retreated Tuesday after aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. and chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. via Peninsula Clarion

NOT ANYMORE. TONIGHT WE GIVE YOU A SNEAK PEEK AT THE LATEST MARKET REPORT FOR THE ALBUQUERQUE AREA. via ClipSyndicate

“The House bill puts families first _ offering a refundable tax credit to first-time home buyers, essentially a zero-interest loan to help defray the cost of purchasing a house.”

Democrats are split over how to respond to the housing debacle, with House leaders focusing on helping homeowners facing foreclosure while the Senate moves to take care of businesses impacted by the subprime crisis.

The Senate could pass its bipartisan, business-friendly measure, which showers some $25 billion in tax breaks on home builders and banks, as early as Wednesday. That's also when a key House panel is to consider a rival Democratic plan that instead steers tax breaks toward first-time home buyers and investors in low-income rental housing. Read more

If you think the media has a tendency to exaggerate the threat the mortgage meltdown poses to the world economy , here's the latest, straight from the horse's mouth. via Inman News Blog

Greenspan says US home prices may stabilize later this year; Analysis by Alan Greenspan, Former Fed Chairman; Analysis by Dariusz Kowalczyk of CFC Seymour; Fed should give greater weight to home prices in ... via ClipSyndicate

“My concern is that stingier lending standards are leading to more deals falling apart.”

An industry group said Tuesday that pending U.S. home sales fell in February to the lowest reading since the index began, signaling the housing market distress is not yet over.

The National Association of Realtors' seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 84.6 from January's upwardly revised reading of 86.2. The index stood at 107.6 in February 2007.

Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would inch up to a reading of 86.3. Read more

Stocks were poised to open lower Tuesday, after downbeat corporate reports from aluminum company Alcoa Inc. via Athens Banner-Herald

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the current credit crisis is the worst in at least 50 years. via Bloomberg Business News

Critics say a bill designed to help ease the foreclosure crisis and boost demand for housing may actually encourage foreclosures and drive down house values. via WLOS

It's touted as easing the foreclosure crisis and boosting demand for housing, but critics warn that a bill before the Senate might actually encourage foreclosures and drive down house values. via Guardian Unlimited

A new report confirms what real estate agents have long known: Sales of vacation homes in Florida and across the country have plunged. via WTLV

For the first time since December, the bond market is closing the credibility gap with Ben S. Bernanke and signaling its agreement with the Federal Reserve chairman that an economic collapse has been averted ... via Bloomberg

“The great news is they are still going to do apartments because they believe in South End, the rail corridor and the overall Charlotte market”

The developers of a 75-unit condo project in South End have stopped sales and will build it as apartments instead.

'We designed Chelsea South End with multiple strategies, and one strategy was a condo building,' said Terrence Llewellyn, whose Llewellyn Development is doing the project with Dean Kiriluk of Kirco.

Since condo sales began there in November, home sales have slowed, financial markets have become more volatile, and lenders have tightened mortgage lending requirements.

All the changes created more risk than the developers anticipated and persuaded them not to proceed with the $20 million project, Llewellyn said. Read more

“If a property is priced right, it sells in a day and you have multiple offers. There are plenty of buyers out there kicking around.”

While home prices in much of the rest of the nation are falling, Charlotte managed to eke out modest gains compared with a year earlier. via Press-Telegram

Recently, the National Association of Realtors reported that 12 percent of all existing home sales last year were not primary residences - instead the sales were vacation homes, condos and secondary residences. via Georgia mountain land for buyers, sel...

“A central bank that wants to stabilize the economy is better served by responding to house prices, both when they go up and when they go down”

As a weakening housing market appears to be dragging the U.S. economy into recession, the International Monetary Fund warned this week that home prices in other industrial countries were even more overvalued. via International Herald Tribune

“Without that, you're going to see more deterioration in the credit markets, and in the real economy.”

The fear of the unknown that has rattled the stock market for months appears to be fading. The question now is whether upcoming corporate financial reports and readings on the housing market will further calm Wall Street's anxieties or rekindle them.

Stocks rose early last week and, despite data showing that U.S. employers are eliminating more jobs than they have in five years, held onto their gains. There was a palpable relief that some banks such as Merrill Lynch & Co. feel they have enough cash, while others in need of capital _ namely Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Switzerland's UBS AG _ are able to sell stock to raise cash. Read more