NAR - "NAR Urges Passage of 4-Point Housing Stimulus Plan and Return of Congress for Lame-Duck Session" (10-15-08)

"The National Association of Realtors® will offer a four-point legislative plan to reinvigorate the housing market, calling on Congress to act during a lame-duck session. NAR believes the plan will give a boost to the economy and help to calm jittery potential homebuyers. The plan features such consumer-driven provisions as eliminating the repayment of the first-time homebuyer tax credit and expanding it to all homebuyers, making higher mortgage loan limits permanent, pushing banks to extend credit to Main Street, and prohibiting banks from entering into real estate."

CBIA - "California New Home Market Conditions Remain Challenging, CBIA Announces" (10-15-08)

"Sales at California new-home communities in August continued to move along at a lackluster pace, the California Building Industry Association reported today. The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (HWMI) New Home Sales and Pricing Report showed that new home sales in August were 39 percent below August 2007. The decline was smaller than the 57 percent year-over-year drop seen during July, but August 2007 was a particularly bad month last year, which makes the comparison look less dire."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Increase In Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (10-15-08)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 10, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 489.3, an increase of 5.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 465.5 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5.4 percent compared with the previous week and was down 17.0 percent compared with the same week one year earlier."

Bloomberg - "Americans Embrace Big Government to Help Solve Market Crisis" (10-15-08)

"Americans are looking to big government to dig the country out of the financial crisis, a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows. A plurality of voters support the $700 billion financial- market rescue bill President George W. Bush signed into law Oct. 4. That is a turnaround from a Bloomberg/Times poll in September, when a solid majority said it wasn't the government's responsibility to bail out private companies."

Bloomberg - "Kravis Says Bank System Is `Beginning to Stabilize'" (10-15-08)

"Kravis followed Blackstone Group LP Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman in welcoming the U.S. government's attempt this week to unfreeze credit markets and boost confidence in the financial system. The U.S. said yesterday it will invest $125 billion in nine of the country's banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in return for preferred shares. The plan follows similar moves by European leaders."

Bloomberg - "GMAC Has Limited Funding, May Scale Back Outside U.S." (10-15-08)

"GMAC is restricting auto lending to buyers with credit scores of at least 700, who represent about 58 percent of U.S. consumers. The move this week added to the global credit squeeze that threatens to choke economic growth as companies and consumers find it harder and more expensive to borrow. Plummeting auto sales and record foreclosures have resulted in $5.4 billion in losses at GMAC over the past year and led credit agencies to reduce the debt to junk."

Bloomberg - "AIG Bonuses, Retreats Violate State Law, Cuomo Says" (10-15-08)

"New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating 'unwarranted and outrageous expenditures' at American International Group Inc., which received an $85 billion federal bailout last month. In a letter to AIG's board of directors, Cuomo demanded the company stop 'extravagant' expenditures and recover millions of dollars in unreasonable payments, or face legal action."

Realty Times - "Condo Trends: Bigger Units, Higher Prices Coming" (10-15-08)

"Nationally, condominium inventory is at its highest levels, however, many metropolitan areas are starting to see the number of condominiums on the market decrease dramatically. This latest trend means higher prices are on the way, according to San Diego's largest condo development company."