NAHB - "Housing Starts Regain Some Ground In February" (3-17-09)

"Nationwide housing starts turned upward for the first time in eight months this February, posting a 22.2 percent gain that was due primarily to a big bump on the often-volatile multifamily side, according to numbers released from the U.S. Commerce Department today."

DQNews - "Southland home sales outpace last year again; median price steady" (3-17-09)

"A total of 15,231 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was essentially unchanged from 15,227 for January, and up 41.3 percent from 10,777 for February 2008, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego."

CNN - "Housing starts unexpectedly surge" (3-17-09)

"Initial construction of U.S. homes unexpectedly surged in February, after falling for eight months, according to a government report released Tuesday. Housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 583,000 last month, up 22% from a revised 477,000 in January, according to the Commerce Department. It was the first time housing starts increased since June, when they rose 11%."

Inman - "Builder confidence remains near record low" (3-17-09)

"Builder confidence remained steady in March, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)-Wells Fargo Housing Market Index report released Monday. A rating below 50 signals builders view sales conditions as poor -- the index stood at 9 for March -- it was the fifth straight month the overall index has held steady. The index hit a record low at 8 in January."

Bloomberg - "Bernanke May Need to Ramp Up Fed’s Asset Purchases" (3-17-09)

"Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Federal Reserve policy makers may have to ramp up their purchases of mortgage securities and other assets after the economy and job market deteriorated further since they last met. The Federal Open Market Committee, gathering today and tomorrow in Washington, needs to redouble its efforts after the central bank’s balance sheet shrank 17 percent from a $2.3 trillion December peak, Fed watchers said. The retreat came even as Bernanke acknowledged the chance that the unemployment rate will exceed 10 percent for the first time in a quarter century"

Bloomberg - "U.S. Bailouts Add to Risk of Depression, Rogers Says" (3-17-09)

"The U.S. risks sending the world into a depression as its bailouts of failed companies rob healthy businesses of capital, investor Jim Rogers said. 'The U.S. is taking assets from competent people and giving them to incompetent people,' said Rogers, chairman of Singapore-based Rogers Holdings"

Bloomberg - "Thornburg Considers Bankruptcy, MatlinPatterson Says" (3-17-09)

"Thornburg Mortgage Inc., the jumbo mortgage lender trying to restructure its debt, is considering options that include bankruptcy, according to MatlinPatterson Global Advisers LLC, formerly the company’s biggest shareholder."

Inman - "MARI: Mortgage fraud at 'all-time high'" (3-17-09)

"Reported incidents of mortgage fraud rose 26 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to a new report by the industry group Mortgage Asset Research Institute, or MARI. Application fraud was the most commonly reported type of fraud, representing 61 percent of all cases. Fraud related to tax returns and financial statements was up 60 percent from 2007, representing about one in four reported cases."