NAHB - "Tax Credits Boost Incentive For Greening American Homes" (2-18-09)

"Expanded tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements in the new economic stimulus package puts more money in consumers’ pockets by providing financial incentive for home owners to go green on their renovation projects in 2009 and 2010. While more efficient homes save on water and energy bills, these tax credits will make such home upgrades even more affordable."

NAR - "Realtors® Support Aid to Troubled Homeowners" (2-18-09)

"President Obama’s $75 billion Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan would help struggling homeowners by providing incentives to lenders, servicers, mortgage holders and borrowers to help modify mortgage loans. The U.S. Treasury Department will be issuing uniform guidelines in two weeks. Consistent with NAR’s recommendations, financial institutions receiving assistance must agree to follow the guidelines."

NAHB - "Housing Starts Plummet In January" (2-18-09)

"Continuing an uninterrupted free-fall, U.S. housing starts and permits fell for a seventh consecutive month in January, according to U.S. Commerce Department figures reported today. New-home production fell by 16.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units, while permits for new housing construction fell 4.8 percent to a rate of 521,000 units. Both of these numbers were new record lows."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (2-18-09)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 13, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 875.3, an increase of 45.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 600.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 47.7 percent compared with the previous week and 5.2 percent compared with the same week one year earlier."

CAR - "Entry-level housing affordability increases to 59 percent" (2-18-09)

"The percentage of households that could afford to buy an entry-level home in California stood at 59 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with 33 percent for the same period a year ago, according to a report released today by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.)"

The Press Enterprise - "K-12 enrollment declines for Inland area school districts" (2-18-09)

"Public school enrollment in Riverside and San Bernardino counties dropped by more than 8,700 students this year as the region suffered from a housing crisis and high unemployment rates, preliminary estimates show. The decline represents only about 1 percent of the K-12 enrollment in public schools in the two counties, which totals more than 840,000 students. But for Riverside County, which lost nearly 1,600 students, it was the first drop in enrollment in decades."

Bloomberg - "California Foreclosure Center Shows Obama Challenge" (2-18-09)

"Merced, the epicenter of the U.S. foreclosure crisis, demonstrates the steep challenges President Barack Obama will face in trying to stem defaults. One in 59 housing units in the Merced metropolitan area received a foreclosure filing in January, the highest rate in the U.S., according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based seller of default data. For- sale signs are everywhere and a building boom fueled by subprime mortgages has been brought to a standstill. Just 16 construction permits were issued last year. In 2005, there were 1,427."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Economy: Factory Output, Housing Starts Plunge" (2-18-09)

"Manufacturing and housing in the U.S. collapsed in January, government reports showed, as the Obama administration unveiled new proposals to stem what may become the worst recession in the postwar era. The Federal Reserve’s industrial production index dropped 1.8 percent to 101.3, the lowest level in more than five years, the central bank reported today in Washington. Housing starts plunged 17 percent to an annual rate of 466,000, the fewest since records began in 1959, Commerce Department data showed."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Office Vacancy Rate to Climb to 16.7%, Reis Says" (2-18-09)

"The vacancy rate at U.S. office buildings will rise to 16.7 percent this year and could reach an 18-year high next year as tenants cut jobs and try to sublet space, property research firm Reis Inc. said. "