Yahoo - "Sales of existing homes fall 1 percent in April" (5-23-08)

"Sales of existing homes fell for the eighth time in the past nine months, with the backlog of unsold single-family homes rising to the highest level in more than two decades. The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales dropped by 1 percent to 4.89 million units, matching the all-time low set in January. These records go back to 1999."

Bloomberg - "Citigroup Says Swaps Mania in Muniland Is Finished" (5-23-08)

"perhaps the most popular type of interest-rate swap engaged in by states and municipalities is history."

Bloomberg - "Muni Yields Fall to 3-Month Low as `Sanity' Returns" (5-23-08)

"U.S. municipal bond yields fell to the lowest in three months as 'sanity' returned to the tax- exempt market following the auction-rate rout, helping borrowers escape interest costs as high as 20 percent. The benchmark Bond Buyer 20 index of yields on long-term tax-exempt debt fell to 4.52 percent this week, the lowest since Feb. 14. Rates declined from a high of 5.11 percent Feb. 28, after investors abandoned the $166 billion market for municipal bonds with yields set through periodic auctions. State and local governments have spent the last three months replacing the debt."

CNN - "In search of a fix for jumbo loans" (5-23-08)

"as part of the Economic Stimulus Act, Congress tried to get funds for jumbo loans flowing again by temporarily raising the dollar limits for mortgages that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy. The two government-sponsored entities (GSE) had previously only been permitted to buy so-called conforming loans of up to $417,000 and then resell them on the secondary market."

Bloomberg - "Ranieri, Ex-GMAC Execs Plan $1 Billion Home-Loan Fund" (5-23-08)

"Ranieri is the latest investor to plunge back into a U.S. housing market wracked by record foreclosures. BlackRock Inc., which manages almost $1.4 trillion, is backing Private National Mortgage Acceptance Corp., or PennyMac, which will buy delinquent mortgages, while firms including Lone Star Funds and Blackstone Group LP raised more than $25 billion to invest in real estate-related assets."

Realty Times - "Realty Viewpoint: Enjoy Those Mortgage Interest Rates While You Can" (5-23-08)

"If you are a home buyer who is dependent on a good interest rate to qualify for a home, or you're a homeowner considering refinancing to lower your interest rate, or you're a Realtor working with buyers, you might consider locking in your mortgage interest rate while they're still below or at 6.00 percent for a 30-year fixed rate."

Realty Times - "Long-Term Rates Slip on Weak Economic News" (5-23-08)

"Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.98 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending May 22, 2008, down from last week when it averaged 6.01 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.37 percent."

Orange County Register - "Early May O.C. home price below $500,000" (5-23-08)

"Fresh homebuying stats from DataQuick shows you no longer need a half-million bucks to buy the mythical 'typical' Orange County residence. For the 22 business days ended May 6, the median selling price was $490,750, a 22.1% drop from a year ago and 23.9% off the June ‘07 peak of $645,000. If the current pricing hold for all of May, it would mark the first time a month’s median had been below $500,000 since March ‘04."

Orange County Register - "Good credit, good job but still need mortgage aid? Maybe…" (5-23-08)

"Credit counselors say lenders are now willing to work with borrowers who have trouble paying their mortgage, even if they have good credit and are current on their payments. That’s a big shift from the housing boom when most of the time homeowners had to start missing payments, and thus ding their credit, before a lender would even talk about cutting a deal."

The Wall Street Journal - "Builders Tout Incentives In Bid to Sell Homes" (5-23-08)

"Highlighting their desperation to sell houses, builders are bringing back the gimmicks -- mortgage rates that start low, help with down payments, zero out-of-pocket expenses -- that helped fuel the housing bubble before it went bust."