NAR - "Pending Home Sales Record Fourth Straight Monthly Gain" (7-1-09)

"The Pending Home Sales Index,¹ a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in May, increased 0.1 percent to 90.7 from an upwardly revised reading of 90.6 in April, and is 6.7 percent higher than May 2008 when it was 85.0. The last time there were four consecutive monthly gains was in October 2004."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (7-1-09)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 26, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 444.8, a decrease of 18.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 548.2 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 18.5 percent compared with the previous week and decreased 7.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier."

Bloomberg - "Hotel Loan Defaults Double as Recession Cuts Travel" (7-1-09)

"As many as one in five U.S. hotel may default on their loans by the end of 2010 as the recession forces companies to spend less on travel and perks, according to Kenneth Rosen, an economist at the University of California."

Bloomberg - "Freddie Mac Board Said to Consider Haldeman to Head Company" (7-1-09)

"Regulators seized federally sponsored mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September amid concerns the two would fail. Since then, they have received or requested about $85 billion in aid from the U.S. Treasury to remain solvent. The Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency would need to approve Haldeman’s appointment."

Bloomberg - "FirstFed Boosts Modifications on Option-ARM Loans" (7-1-09)

"FirstFed Financial Corp., the Los Angeles-based savings and loan operating under a cease-and- desist order since January, has modified $1 billion in mortgages for 2,000 families in its efforts to stay afloat."

Orange County Register - "Housing evangelist back to Scary Gary" (7-1-09)

"The recession has gone on so long and has been so crippling that any small piece of economic data that comes out favorably leads one to think that things are finally going to get better. Unfortunately, this is not so!"

Orange County Register - "Distressed inventory drops in 2 south coast cities" (7-1-09)

"Distressed inventory has dropped in two of our SoCo cities, but continues to rise in one, according to a biweekly report done by Steven Thomas of Altera Real Estate. Two weeks ago, Dana Point’s percentage of distressed active inventory (foreclosures and short sales) was 24%, which has now dropped slightly to 23.5%."

Orange County Register - "Census: Irvine among 25 fastest-growing cities" (7-1-09)

"Irvine was among the nation’s 25 fastest-growing cities in 2008, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The list included only cities with populations over 100,000. Irvine ranked #7, with a net population increase of 7,658 people from July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008."

Reuters - "California misses budget deadline, readies 'IOUs'" (7-1-09)

"Democrats who control the legislature could not convince Republicans late on Tuesday night to back their plans to tackle a $24.3 billion budget shortfall or a stopgap effort to ward off the IOUs. The two sides agree on the need for spending cuts but are split over whether to raise taxes."