NAR - "Metro Areas Show Greatly Mixed Home Price Performance; Half Show Gains" (2-14-08)

"Roughly half of metropolitan areas continued to show rising home prices in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the latest quarterly survey by the National Association of Realtors®. In the fourth quarter, 73 out of 150 metropolitan statistical areas(1) show increases in median existing single-family home prices from a year earlier, including 11 areas with double-digit annual gains and another 12 metros showing increases of 6 percent or more; 77 had price declines including 16 with double-digit drops."

DQNews - "Bay Area home sales lowest for any month in two decades" (2-14-08)

"Bay Area home sales plunged below 4,000 transactions for the first time in over 20 years last month as the market remained hamstrung by the credit crunch and uncertainty among buyers, sellers and lenders. Price declines steepened, especially in inland markets hit hard by foreclosures, a real estate information service reported. A total of 3,586 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area in January. That was down 29.2 percent from 5,065 in December, and down 41.9 percent from 6,168 in January 2007, DataQuick Information Systems reported."

Bloomberg - "GMAC May Face `Substantial Difficulty,' Cerberus Says" (2-14-08)

"GMAC LLC, the auto and mortgage lender controlled by Cerberus Capital Management LP, may run into 'substantial difficulty' if credit markets don't improve, said Stephen Feinberg, founder of the private-equity firm. GMAC, the former financing arm of General Motors Corp., lost $2.3 billion last year as record U.S. home foreclosures led to an increase in bad loans and auto-lending profit declined, the Detroit-based company said Feb. 7. GMAC is in talks with potential buyers about parts of its Residential Capital mortgage unit, which posted a $4.3 billion loss."

Bloomberg - "Bernanke Pledges `Adequate Insurance' Against Risks" (2-14-08)

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke indicated that policy makers are prepared to lower interest rates further as the economy continues to deteriorate. The Fed 'will act in a timely manner as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks,' Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee in Washington today. 'A significant worsening in financial conditions or in credit availability would certainly be a warning bell that we need to take further action.'"

Bloomberg - "Americans Selling Homes See Prices Go Below Mortgage" (2-14-08)

"By the end of this year as many as 15 million U.S. households may owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to an estimate from Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist of New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. That may fuel an increase in foreclosures, erode prices, and increase mortgage bond losses, he said in a Feb. 1 report."

Bloomberg - "UBS Won't Support Failing Auction-Rate Securities" (2-14-08)

"UBS AG won't buy auction-rate securities that fail to attract enough bidders, joining a growing number of dealers stepping back from the $300 billion market, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation. The second-biggest underwriter of the securities, whose rates are reset periodically at auctions, notified its 8,200 U.S. brokers of the decision yesterday, said the person, who declined to be identified because the announcement wasn't publicly disclosed. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc. allowed auctions to fail as mounting losses from the collapse of subprime mortgages causes capital markets to seize up."

Yahoo - "Banks to ask government to take bad loan risk: report" (2-14-08)

"The banking industry is proposing to members of the U.S. Congress and the White House that some of the risk of troubled mortgages should be shifted to the federal government, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday."

The Washington Post - "Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime" (2-14-08)

"Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive 'teaser' rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets."

Freddie Mac - "FREDDIE MAC CHANGES MORTGAGE INSURER ELIGIBILITY RULES TO CAP PREMIUM CEDES ON CAPTIVE REINSURANCE" (2-14-08)

"Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) today announced it is temporarily changing its Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements [PDF 160K] in order to increase the claims-paying and capital retention capacities of its mortgage insurance counterparties during the current market correction. Effective on or after June 1, 2008, Freddie Mac-approved private mortgage insurers may not cede new risk if the gross risk or gross premium ceded to captive reinsurers is greater than 25 percent. Beyond limiting the allowable cede to 25 percent, the temporary policy does not limit the mortgage industry's use of captive reinsurance."

Financial Times - "Subprime litigation" (2-14-08)

"Where are all the lawsuits? Banks and pension funds have lost hundreds of billions of dollars in the subprime blow-up, yet surprisingly few institutional investors have made their way to the courthouse. The identity of the one exception and its legal team helps explain why. Barclays is suing Bear Stearns over hedge fund losses and the UK-based bank has convinced Linklaters’ New York office to represent it. The giant law firm had occasionally done work for Bear, but Barclays is one of Linklaters’ most important clients."

Bloomberg - "Paulson Foreshadows Proposals to Tighten Loan Rules" (2-14-08)

"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said U.S. regulators plan to alter rules for packaging loans into bonds in the aftermath of the subprime-credit collapse. Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who testify before Congress today, first want markets to stabilize, reducing borrowing costs for companies and consumers. Policy makers are trying to revive an economy that expanded at the slowest pace since 2002 last year."

Orange County Register - "Calif. home price off 18.7%, nation’s worst" (2-14-08)

"First American CoreLogic says California home prices were falling at an 18.7% annual rate through late January, the nation’s largest decline. California has held that dubious distinction of FACL’s worst performing state since May."