Yahoo - "BofA to cut 7,500 jobs after Countrywide deal" (6-27-08)

"Bank of America said Thursday it will cut about 7,500 jobs after it closes its acquisition of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. The job cuts amount to about 12.5 percent of the combined companies' mortgage, home equity and insurance businesses, after the purchase is completed next week."

Bloomberg - "KB Home Reports Loss as Slump Hurts U.S. House Sales" (6-27-08)

"KB Home, the Los Angeles-based homebuilder founded by Eli Broad, reported its fifth straight quarterly loss as rising mortgage rates and falling prices reduced demand for homes. The fiscal second-quarter net loss was $255.9 million, or $3.30 a share, more than three times the average estimate of $1 per share in a Bloomberg survey. KB Home's shares dropped as much as 7.5 percent in New York. Revenue dropped 55 percent to $639.1 million, the company said today in a statement."

Bloomberg - "Homes Less Affordable as Prices Fall, Rates Rise, Zillow Says" (6-27-08)

"Rising mortgage rates are driving up the cost of buying a house even as prices fall, making property more expensive across the U.S., according to a new study by Zillow.com, an online provider of home valuations. Monthly payments on 30-year fixed mortgages are 6 percent to 10 percent higher in 41 of the top U.S. housing markets than they were two months ago. First-quarter prices have declined from a year earlier in 88 percent of those areas, Zillow said."

Bloomberg - "Values of Higher-Priced Homes May Drop Faster, JPMorgan Says" (6-27-08)

"The U.S. home-price declines most associated with lower-priced properties may accelerate among more expensive houses, according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. The increasing odds that the U.S. will enter a recession and a wave of payment spikes on option adjustable-rate mortgages make the larger percentage drops more likely, New York-based mortgage- bond analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a report today."

Bloomberg - "Fed Reviews Bank Investment Rules to Channel Capital to Lenders" (6-27-08)

"Federal Reserve officials are reviewing regulations that limit investment firms' stakes in banks, aiming to channel more capital into the U.S. banking system. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have urged lenders to raise capital to compensate for almost $400 billion in writedowns and credit losses from the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market. Concern about rising loan losses has sent the Standard & Poor's 500 Banks Index into a 21 percent dive this month, putting it on course for its worst monthly return in almost a decade."

Bloomberg - "AIG to Absorb $5 Billion Loss on Securities Lending" (6-27-08)

"American International Group Inc. plans to absorb losses for a dozen insurance units after their securities-lending accounts suffered $13 billion of writedowns tied to the subprime-mortgage collapse during the past year. Moody's Investors Service and A.M. Best Co. both cited the writedowns in May when they downgraded New York-based AIG's credit ratings. State regulators in Texas said they didn't know AIG was investing cash collateral from the securities-lending business in subprime-linked assets and were concerned the insurance units hadn't put aside enough capital to cover potential losses."

Realty Times - "Investor Report: Anti-Flipping Rules" (6-27-08)

"Here's some really good news for anyone involved in acquiring, rehabilitating and reselling foreclosed houses: The Federal Housing Administration is temporarily waiving its 'anti-flipping' rules and will now insure mortgages on properties that have been owned by the current seller for less than 90 days."

Realty Times - "Realty Viewpoint: New Home Sales Will Reverse Without Stimulus" (6-27-08)

"New home sales fell another 2.5 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted rate of 512,000 units. At this rate, about one million new homes will be sold by the end of the year. That's about half what both the National Association of Home Builders and the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard says sustainable new home sales should be."