NAHB - "Builder Confidence Edges Down Further In January" (1-21-09)

"Concerns about the faltering economy and reluctant home buyers pushed builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes down further in January, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. The HMI edged down a single point to a new record low of 8 in January."

DQNews - "Bargain hunting dominates Bay Area home sales in December" (1-21-09)

"Bargain hunting dominated the Bay Area housing market last month as the purchase of foreclosure properties accounted for more than half of all resales for the first time. Sales patterns also reflected continued problems for buyers looking to finance purchases in the upper half of the market's price range, a real estate information service reported."

Wall Street Journal - "Revived Plan Could Boost Home Sales" (1-21-09)

"With a new administration at the helm, a Texas congressman aims to revive seller-funded housing down-payment assistance -- a campaign that, if successful, could jump-start stalled sales and offer ailing home builders a glimmer of hope. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, is championing HR 600 to reinstate a program that the government, concerned about default rates, halted in the fall. We didn't have to end it; we could have amended it and maintained it,' Rep. Green said."

Inman News - "Fewer reverse mortgage options in '09" (1-21-09)

"Most reverse mortgage options have left the market, victims of the global credit crunch. Yet the biggest player with the longest history still remains, and it pushed the industry into positive growth territory for the 19th straight year. While the 4.3 percent increase in the number of FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) was down significantly from previous years, it bettered the negative numbers of conventional, or 'forward,' loans. The Federal Housing Administration is a component of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and now the main player in the conventional (forward) and reverse mortgage market."

Bloomberg - "Bankruptcy Bill May Hurt Banks on Mortgage-Bond Quirk" (1-21-09)

"A proposed change to bankruptcy law to allow judges to reduce homeowners’ mortgages may boost the capital needs of banks and insurers by hundreds of billions of dollars, First Pacific Advisors LLC’s Julian Mann said. The issue, identified by investors such as Mann and analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co., stems from language buried in the more than one hundred pages of prospectuses for many 'prime jumbo' and 'Alt-A' home-loan securities."

Orange County Register - "BofA chief buys stock, price jumps 30%" (1-21-09)

"Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis on Tuesday spent about $1.2 million to buy 200,000 common shares of the bank, reports Reuters. Other directors bought more than 300,000 shares, according to a separate report in the Wall Street Journal. Other investors appear to have reacted favorably to insiders buying BofA stock; its price rose more than 30% today to close at $6.68. (Of course, the 30% gain equates to $1.58.)"

Orange County Register - "O.C. homebuilding at post-World War II low" (1-21-09)

"Orange County governments issued 3,156 building permits to homebuilders in 2008, the slowest year in a stream of figures dating back to 1946. The non-profit Construction Industry Research Board reports that the level of homebuilding here has fallen to just 7% of the amount in 1963 — O.C. homebuilding’s pinnacle — when residential construction peaked at 44,656 units."

Orange County Register - "O.C. furniture mall loses $63 million in value" (1-21-09)

"The South Coast Home Furnishings Centre in Costa Mesa — conceived as a one-stop outlet for home remodelers — has lost customers, tenants and finally ended up in receivership after rents failed to cover loan payments and operating expenses. The 20-acre property off the I-405, which sold for $98 million in the summer of 2007, went up for sale for $65 million in September, just as the economy began to implode. By December, the receiver and the lender concurred that a $35 million offer was the best they could get for the 300,000-square-foot center."