DQNews - "Temporary Drop in California Foreclosure Activity" (1-27-09)

"Lending institutions sent homeowners 75,230 default notices during the October-through-December period. That was down 20.2 percent from 94,240 for the prior three months, and down 7.7 percent from 81,550 for fourth-quarter 2007, according to MDA DataQuick."

San Francisco Chronicle - "Consumer confidence darkens further in January" (1-27-09)

"The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index edged down to 37.7 from a revised 38.6 in December, lower than the reading of 39 that economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected. In recent months the index has hit its lowest troughs since it began in 1967, and is hovering at less than half its level of January 2007, when it was 87.3."

Yahoo - "Home prices plunge record 18.2 percent" (1-27-09)

"Home prices plunged a record 18.2 percent in November from a year earlier as the country's housing market remains in the throes of a deep recession, according to an index from Standard & Poor's. Prices in 20 metropolitan areas tracked by S&P fell 2.2 percent from October as housing continues to suffer from a huge supply of unsold homes, tighter lending standards and record foreclosures."

Orange County Register - "O.C. home sales up 66%" (1-27-09)

"Orange County home sales shot up a whopping 66 percent in December, while the median price for existing single-family homes dropped 32 percent, to $442,640, the California Association of Realtors reported today. The median price was down 2 percent from November. Home sales in the county were up 13.5% from that month."

Bloomberg - "Wells Fargo Says Mortgage Demand Slows Fall in Rates" (1-27-09)

"Wells Fargo & Co., the second-biggest U.S. home lender, has been prevented from lowering mortgage rates faster because it can’t keep up with demand and the costs of making home loans are rising, an executive said."

Orange County Register - "Countrywide asking $1.25 million for H.B. foreclosure" (1-27-09)

"According to a recent report from Steven Thomas, president of Altera Real Estate, there are about 870 houses and condos for sale in Orange County in the range of $1 million to $1.5 million. He estimates it would take nearly 18 months to sell them all at the current pace of sales, a sign of a slow market."

Orange County Register - "Homebuilders told housing bottom to be in late 2011" (1-27-09)

"Forecasters from Beacon Economics told homebuilders last night that the median price of an Orange County house will hit bottom in the third quarter of 2011, dropping to $323,000 in just under three years."

Orange County Register - "O.C. real estate jobs at 5-year low" (1-27-09)

"O.C. real estate and finance companies have trimmed 36,000 jobs — or 1-in-7 of the workers — since falling off its 2006 peak. Employment in real estate/finance industries — from brokers to lenders to construction workers — to lumberyard employees to janitors — at 225,000 in December. The last time real estate/finance employment was this low in O.C. was in January 2004. Employment in these property-related niches topped out at 261,000 jobs in September 2006."

Orange County Register - "Bank’s job cuts skip O.C., mostly" (1-27-09)

"FirstFed Financial, parent of First Federal Bank of California, is cutting 10% of its workforce, or 62 jobs, but only two are in Orange County. The Los Angeles-based thrift will stop nearly all lending under a cease-and-desist order revealed Monday by the company and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Babette Heimbuch, CEO of FirstFed, said there will be no changes at bank branches, included the five in Orange County (Anaheim, Buena Park, Irvine, Laguna Hills, and Mission Viejo)."