NAHB - "Housing Starts Decline 3.3 Percent In May" (6-17-08)

"Providing the latest evidence of the ongoing downturn in the nation’s housing market, the U.S. Commerce Department reported today that new-home starts declined 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 975,000 units in May. This was the lowest total starts number since March of 1991. Single-family starts declined 1.0 percent to a rate of 674,000 units, their lowest since January of 1991."

Bloomberg - "John Kukral's Northwood Raises $1.25 Billion for Real Estate" (6-17-08)

"Northwood Investors LLC, the firm started by former Blackstone Group LP executive John Kukral last year, raised about $1.25 billion for property investments, a person with knowledge of the fund-raising said. The cash was divided into a main fund of $750 million and a side fund of $500 million after Greenwich, Connecticut-based Northwood surpassed its $500 million goal, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the capital-raising is private."

Bloomberg - "AIG's Wilmington Stops Home Lending Through Brokers" (6-17-08)

"American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer by assets, said its Wilmington Finance Inc. unit will stop originating mortgages through brokers and reduce the number of loans it makes directly to homebuyers. Wilmington will eliminate 335 jobs by year-end, the unit said today in a statement. The move will cost New York-based AIG $27 million before taxes in the second quarter as it pays to end leases, according to a regulatory filing."

Bloomberg - "Standard Pacific Falls as Second-Quarter Orders Drop" (6-17-08)

"The company lost 83 percent of its value in the past year because most of its home sales are in California, where the foreclosure rate in May was the second highest in the U.S. One in every 183 homes in the state received a foreclosure filing in May, according to data provider RealtyTrac of Irvine, California."

Orange County Register - "Calif. seen as No. 1 destination for movers" (6-17-08)

"California and Texas are the two most popular states for people to move in 2007, based on interstate and intrastate moves combined. Surveys over the past decade have shown that California (the largest state by population) has always ranked first in terms of destination state for people changing residences. This trend continues, despite the growing mortgage crisis, which has heavily affected many areas of California. The effect of declining home values combined with the high cost of living has not kept consumers away. Only 43 percent of people moving to a new location in California currently live in California; thus 57 percent of all moves to California are people moving from other states. Therefore, California is the number one destination state with 6 percent of the total sample moving from another state to California"

Orange County Register - "North County suffers smallest home-sales slump" (6-17-08)

"DataQuick identified 679 home sales last month in ZIPs in north inland communities, a drop of 6% from a year ago. In these 23 ZIPs, last month’s median price change was -17.8% vs. a year ago. In fact, Fullerton’s 92835 was one of just two of O.C.’s 83 ZIPs with rising selling prices (+11.4%) and rising sales (+35%)."

Realty Times - "New Homes: A Silver Lining in Today's Housing Market?" (6-17-08)

"While it seems no one has a crystal ball about the housing market, you'd assume it's a bad time to build that dream home – at least until the market comes into some kind of balance. But the truth is, it may never be a better time to build. The silver lining in all this is that land prices have been and continue to go down, materials prices are competitive and there are a lot of contractors out of work, willing to resort to bargain basement prices for their services."

Inman News - "Lawsuit challenges real estate auctions" (6-17-08)

"A lawsuit filed in California Superior Court challenges real estate auction practices, charging that some auction companies engage in deceptive advertising and violate provisions of federal law related to real estate closing services."

CNN - "Housing rescue group steps up efforts" (6-17-08)

"Life may get a little bit easier for troubled borrowers. Hope Now, the alliance of lenders, mortgage servicers, investors and community advocacy groups put together to fight the foreclosure epidemic, announced new guidelines Tuesday that should help speed up the process of helping borrowers who are trying to hang onto their homes."