Thursday, June 19, 2008

CBIA - "California New-Home Market Still Searching for Bottom, CBIA Announces" (6-19-08)

"The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (HWMI) New Home Sales and Pricing Report showed that new-home sales in April were 44 percent below April 2007. While a significant decline, the drop is an improvement from the year-over-year decline of nearly 49 percent in March."

Bloomberg - "Wealthy Investors Shift Funds From Global Banks to Reduce Risks" (6-19-08)

"Trust companies like Wilmington are benefiting from record subprime-infected losses at companies led by Zurich-based UBS AG, the world's biggest money manager for the rich. UBS clients probably withdrew a net $39 billion during the past three months after the company reported more than $38 billion of writedowns and credit-market losses in the past year, London-based analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimate."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Charges 400 in National Mortgage Fraud Crackdown" (6-19-08)

"Federal prosecutors have charged more than 400 people across the U.S. in a crackdown against mortgage fraud, as the government stepped up efforts to address the subprime loan crisis."

Bloomberg - "Ex-Bear Stearns Fund Managers Indicted for Fraud" (6-19-08)

"two men were charged with misleading investors about the health of two Bear Stearns hedge funds whose implosion ignited the subprime mortgage crisis. Cioffi was also charged with insider trading in the indictment, which cites a series of e-mails between the two men. They both face as much as 20 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy, and Cioffi faces an additional 20-year term if found guilty of insider trading. The U.S. government has been investigating possible fraud by banks and mortgage firms whose investments in subprime loans and securities plunged in value, causing losses that now total $396.6 billion. Cioffi and Tannin were also sued today by the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Bloomberg - "Thornburg Says Survival in Doubt; Delays Tender Offer" (6-19-08)

"Thornburg won't complete a planned tender offer this month and wants to extend the deadline to the end of September, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based company said in a regulatory filing yesterday. To complete the rescue, Thornburg needs to buy back 90 percent of its preferred shares for about $5 each, a fifth of what investors paid for them. The lender specialized in mortgages of more than $417,000, which typically were used to buy expensive homes. Falling home sales left the company near bankruptcy, before it announced in March the plan to raise $1.35 billion. That plan hinges on a successful tender offer for the preferred shares."

Bloomberg - "Global REIT Shares are Set to Recover, LaSalle Investment Says" (6-19-08)

"Returns on global REITs fell 19 percent last year as borrowing costs rose worldwide due to the faltering U.S. economic outlook following the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market, according to LaSalle Investment. The average earnings of the trusts meanwhile climbed 11 percent, Canter said."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Senate Considers Foreclosure Bill; Bush May Veto" (6-19-08)

"The U.S. Senate today debated legislation that might help prevent home foreclosures, as the Bush administration said the effort to stem losses in the housing market probably will be vetoed. The measure includes a temporary program to offer government insurance to struggling homeowners, a new regulator for mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and funding for counseling to help homeowners avoid foreclosure."

Bloomberg - "Triad Plunges as Freddie Mac Rejects Mortgage Insurer" (6-19-08)

"Triad Guaranty Inc. plunged 40 percent and became the first mortgage insurer to stop selling policies after Freddie Mac disqualified the company as a guarantor of new home loans. The worst housing slump since the Great Depression led to record losses at mortgage insurers, which reimburse lenders when homeowners default. Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Triad, which traded above $60 a share in 2005 as the housing market boomed, lost money in the last three quarters and fell 83 cents to $1.22 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading."

Orange County Register - "Calif. homebuying at 13-year low" (6-19-08)

"A total of 33,024 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was up 6.0 percent from 31,150 in April and down 10.7 percent from 36,975 for May last year. Last month’s total made for the slowest May since 1995 when 32,223 homes sold. Of the homes sold in May, 38.3 percent were foreclosure resales, up from a revised 37.6 percent in April and 5.4 percent in May a year ago."

Orange County Register - "Brooks to clients who lost money, I can’t pay" (6-19-08)

"The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority awarded $532,300 this week to a client of Brookstreet Securities Corp., the Irvine investment firm that collapsed last year when it lost millions by investing in collateralized mortgage obligations."

Orange County Register - "Gas prices helping O.C. landlords" (6-19-08)

"Vacancy rates rose to almost 14% this year, up from 8.5% at the start of 2007, caused by overbuilding and by the shuttering of several O.C.-based subprime lenders. Sherlock forecast it will be between 17% and 18% by the end of 2008. This year’s forecast calls for O.C. to lose 15,000 office jobs, he said, and in 2009, office jobs will rise 10,000 — not enough to spur a dramatic increase in demand for office space."

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