NAR - "Realtors Urge Congress to Stop Foreclosure Rescue Scams" (5-6-09)

"Foreclosure rescue scams and other predatory and irresponsible lending practices have been on the rise, negatively impacting families, communities, and the housing market. The National Association of Realtors® testified today on the importance of protecting homeowners from these anti-consumer practices."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (5-6-09)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 1, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 979.7, an increase of 2.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 960.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.4 percent compared with the previous week and 43.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier."

CNBC - "Are Home Prices Really As Low As 'Experts' Say?" (5-6-09)

"The Realtors have told us that they guestimate about 50 percent of existing home sales in March were of distressed properties, and they only count what goes through real estate listings, not auctions, so the number could be far higher. So if there is all this pent up demand of not just buyers, but sellers, hanging out on the sidelines, then that tells me that the only regular people (not banks) selling homes now are being forced to sell their homes for financial or location or family reasons; that of course makes them desperate and makes them more amenable to price cuts."

CNN - "20% of homeowners 'underwater'" (5-6-09)

"More than 20% of American homeowners owe more on their mortgage debt than they can sell their homes for, according to an industry report released Wednesday. The real estate Web site Zillow.com reported that 21.8% of all U.S. homes, representing more than 20 million residences, were in a 'negative equity' or 'underwater' position after prices dropped more than 14% nationally in the year ended March 31."

Orange County Register - "Perhaps home sales haven’t bottomed" (5-6-09)

"Recent headlines based on Seasonally Adjusted (SA) data are misleading. Reporters have been trained to cover the SA numbers each month. While the SA numbers have merit, they bounce around a lot because of sample size, weather, or other issues such as whether Easter is in March or April. These issues are often addressed in the body of the article, or in the later stages of the TV report, but most people unfortunately do not pay attention to the details."

Orange County Register - "Chase loaned $6.7 billion to Californians in Q1" (5-6-09)

"JP Morgan Chase made more than 400,000 new loans to Californians totaling $6.7 billion in the first three months of 2009, which the bank said today was an increase from the previous quarter when it took over troubled Washington Mutual."

Bloomberg - "Rich Default on Luxury Homes Like Subprime Victims" (5-6-09)

"The number of U.S. homes valued at more than $729,750, the jumbo-loan limit in the most affluent areas, entering the foreclosure process jumped 127 percent during the first 10 weeks of this year from the same period of 2008, data compiled by RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, California, show. The rate rose 72 percent for homes valued at less than $417,000 and 78 percent for all homes, RealtyTrac said"

San Francisco Chronicle - "California had most subprime loans, study says" (5-7-09)

"The study published Wednesday on the Center for Public Integrity's Web site analyzed government data on $1.38 trillion worth of subprime mortgages made from 2005 to 2007. The analysis found that about 56 percent of those loans were originated by 15 lenders from California."

Los Angeles Times - "New jobless claims unexpectedly plunge to 601K" (5-7-09)

"The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number newly laid off workers applying for benefits dropped to 601,000 last week. That was far better than the rise to 635,000 claims that economists expected"

Bloomberg - "Simon Boosts Size of Offering, May Raise $1 Billion" (5-7-09)

"Simon Property Group Inc., the biggest U.S. shopping mall owner, increased the size of its stock offering today and said it may raise as much as $1 billion. The company will now sell 20 million shares at $50 each, Indianapolis-based Simon Property said today in a statement. Yesterday the company said it would sell 14 million shares in an offering that would be used to repay debt or fund acquisitions."

Bloomberg - "Fixed Mortgage Rates Rise in U.S., Freddie Mac Says" (5-7-09)

"The average rate for a 30-year home loan climbed to 4.84 percent from 4.78 percent a week earlier, Freddie Mac, the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage buyer, said today in a statement. The 15-year fixed rate averaged 4.51 percent, up from 4.48 percent last week, Freddie Mac said."

Bloomberg - "Fed’s Bank Results ‘Reassuring,’ Show No Insolvency" (5-7-09)

"Federal regulators today unveil what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said will be a 'reassuring' picture of a U.S. banking system able to withstand whatever stresses the recession may inflict on it once a handful of institutions add to their capital base."

Orange County Register - "Got equity? Not half of recent O.C. buyers!" (5-7-09)

"The typical buyer from this 5-year period is 'under water' by $8,116 — or 1.8% of the home’s value. The problem centers largely around buyers from 2005 to 2007."