DQNews - "California mortgage default filings drop amid procedural change" (10-23-08)

"The number of mortgage default notices filed against California homeowners fell last quarter for the first time in three years as a change in the state's formal foreclosure process took effect. If that procedural change hadn't kicked in during early September, indications are that third-quarter default filings would have been about the same as the record number filed in this year's second quarter, a real estate information service reported."

Inman News - "Reports: Home prices to keep falling" (10-23-08)

"National home prices fell 11.3 percent from a year ago in August, and recently reported layoffs are likely to push foreclosure-related filings past the 3.2 million mark this year, First American CoreLogic said in releasing its latest home-price index."

Mercury News - "Bad news, good news on valley foreclosures" (10-23-08)

"The number of Santa Clara County homeowners caught up in foreclosure nearly tripled in the third quarter of this year compared with a year ago, according to data released today, but dropped slightly compared with the second quarter of this year. Countywide, 5,777 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice from July through September, up 181 percent from 2,056 filings in the third quarter of 2007, said foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac."

Yahoo - "Greenspan 'shocked' at credit system breakdown" (10-23-08)

"Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress on Thursday he is 'shocked' at the breakdown in U.S. credit markets and said he was "partially" wrong to resist regulation of some securities."

Yahoo - "Goldman Sachs said to cut 10 percent of work force" (10-23-08)

"Goldman Sachs will cut about 3,260 jobs. Goldman's work force, which was at record high levels at the end of the third quarter, will be pared back close to 2006 and 2007 levels. No additional cuts are planned, the person said. This person requested anonymity because the company hadn't publicly disclosed details of the plan."

Yahoo - "US working on plan to help homeowners refinance" (10-23-08)

"Federal regulators told Congress Thursday they're working on a plan that could help many distressed homeowners escape foreclosure in a global financial crisis that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned will get worse before it gets better."

Bloomberg - "Volatile Mortgage Rates to Persist Until Year-End, Analyst Says" (10-23-08)

"Gyrating U.S. residential mortgage rates show no signs of stabilizing, according to Keith Gumbinger, a mortgage-research analyst in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. Average rates for 30-year fixed mortgages jumped to 6.46 percent last week, the biggest one-week gain in more than 21 years, according to a survey by Freddie Mac, the McLean Virginia-based mortgage-finance company. That compares with a low of 5.78 percent last month and the year's high of 6.63 percent in July."

Bloomberg - "Bernanke May Seek New Tactics as Fed Rate Nears 1%" (10-23-08)

"Federal Reserve officials are likely to bring interest rates down so aggressively over the next few months that they will have to search for fresh tactics to continue easing credit. The Fed's Open Market Committee will probably reduce the benchmark federal funds rate by half a point next week to 1 percent, the lowest since May 2004, according to futures trading. The official rate has never been lower since the Fed made it an explicit target in the late 1980s."

Bloomberg - "Goldman, Coller May Buy Stakes in Lehman's Private Equity Funds" (10-23-08)

"Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Coller Capital and Lexington Partners Inc. are weighing bids for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s investments in U.S. and European private-equity funds, people with knowledge of the matter said. Lehman is trying to sell stakes in real estate, merchant banking and venture-capital funds with about $15 billion of assets, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are confidential. The venture capital portion is expected to be sold by November, the merchant holdings and real estate by year end. As many as a dozen potential buyers have indicated interest, one of the people said."

MSNBC - "Homebuilders scramble to downsize floorplans" (10-23-08)

"Los Angeles-based KB, which builds homes to order, began downsizing some of its floor plans last year. The company initially pared down 3,400 square-foot homes that sold for around $450,000 to smaller, 2,400 square-foot homes selling for around $300,000. Now, the builder is shrinking floor plans again. It recently launched a new line of homes in foreclosure-ravaged Southern California that start at 1,230 square feet and are priced a little over $200,000."