MSN - "Developers helped build a bust" (8-26-07)

"Elizabeth and Armando Motto are living a real-estate nightmare with a new breed of monster: the big home builder as lender. In November 2005, the couple, who have four children, agreed to pay $540,000 for a newly built three-bedroom house in suburban Clarksburg, Md., near Washington, D.C. Rather than send them to a bank, the builder, Beazer Homes USA Inc., offered to provide a mortgage itself in an arrangement of the sort that helped fuel the long housing boom across the country."

The San Diego Union Tribune - "Why can't mortgages be more affordable?" (8-26-07)

"Ever since P.T. Barnum imported an elephant named Jumbo to America, the word jumbo (based on an African word for elephant) has been a synonym for gigantic. Huge. Enormous. Except when it comes to home loans. Especially in a place like San Diego. Across the nation, a jumbo mortgage is defined as any loan that is above the “conforming limit,” which is currently set at $417,000."

Recordnet.com - "Realtor numbers thin during slump" (8-26-07)

"Victoria Rodriguez was not only a thriving real-estate agent in recent years, she was honored as one the area's top-selling real-estate agents four years in a row. That was in the boom time, and that spigot shut down to a trickle nearly two years ago. Today Rodriguez is still in the real-estate field, but she's not working as an agent. As a single mother with four children, she said she simply couldn't pay her bills. This in a residential real-estate market slammed so hard that sales plummeted over the months from nearly 900 in May 2005 to a low of 268 last month - a 70 percent decline in business."

Los Angeles Times - "Property value worries sink Santa Barbara art project" (8-26-07)

"Call it the Santa Barbara meltdown. Two of the city's great preoccupations -- progressive politics and sky-high real estate values -- have collided over the last couple of months, yielding high drama over an art project that was to denote land imperiled by global warming with blue waves painted on downtown intersections."

Orange County Register - "O.C. Foreclosures by ZIP code" (8-26-07)

"In the three months ending on June 30, 2007, the number of foreclosures in Orange County increased to 840 from 101 during the same period last year."

Orange County Register - "O.C.’s got a year’s worth of home to sell" (8-27-07)

"Jitters in world financial markets helped nudge the inventory of O.C. homes for sale past one year’s worth of current buyers’ demand, says Steve Thomas at Re/Max Real Estate Services in Aliso Viejo. Thomas calculates “market time,” a benchmark of how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the inventory in the local MLS for-sale listings at the current pace of pending deals being made. This index shows the inventory-to-selling ratio taking a decided upswing."

NAR - "Existing-Homes Sales Stable In July" (8-27-07)

"Existing-home sales were essentially unchanged in July, with increases in the West and Northeast offset by a decline in the Midwest, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Total existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, iniums and co-ops – slipped 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.75 million units in July from an upwardly revised pace of 5.76 million in June, and are 9.0 percent below the 6.32 million-unit level in July 2006."

CBIA - "California Housing Starts Drop Again in July as Buyers Watch and Wait, CBIA Reports" (8-27-07)

"California homebuilders continued to cut back on production in July, as buyers continued to wait and watch, exacerbated by the recent financial turmoil in the credit and lending industries, the California Building Industry Association reported today. Total housing starts in California, as measured by building permits issued, fell by 22 percent in July when compared to the same month a year ago. According to housing permit data supplied by the Construction Industry Research Board, production of single-family homes fell by nearly one third while multifamily units saw a slight increase in permits being pulled when compared to July of 2006."

Yahoo - "Home Sales Hit Slowest Pace in 5 Years" (8-27-07)

"Sales of existing homes dropped for a fifth straight month in July, falling to the slowest pace in nearly five years, while home prices fell for a record 12th consecutive month. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes dipped by 0.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units."

The Washington Post - "Cutbacks Mount in Real Estate Industry" (8-27-07)

"Washington's real estate industry, already pinched by a slowdown in residential construction, is bracing for further retrenchment after last week's meltdown in the mortgage market. In recent months, companies have begun cutting back in big ways and small. A Prince George's County builder laid off four workers and turned off the spigot for new projects. A four-person title company in Arlington is cutting its staff by one after watching business fall. A Fredericksburg drywaller let his 10 employees go and is struggling to keep the business afloat."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Home Resales Declined in July for a Fifth Month" (8-27-07)

"Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. fell in July for a fifth consecutive month, adding to the inventory of unsold properties and showing the housing slump that triggered a collapse in credit markets will drag on. Purchases declined 0.2 percent, less than forecast, to an annual rate of 5.75 million, from 5.76 million in June, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. That was the slowest pace since November 2002. Sales dropped 9 percent compared with a year earlier."

Bloomberg - "Housing Market Crisis May Already Have Passed: Kevin Hassett" (8-27-07)

"Has the U.S. housing market hit bottom? The market has been in free fall for some time now, with the subprime scare roiling bond and equity markets in a way that has not been seen since the Asian financial crisis of a decade ago."

Los Angeles Times - "Stocks fall following drop in July home sales, spike in inventories" (8-27-07)

"Wall Street retreated today, losing momentum from last week's gains after news that sales of existing homes slipped in July for a fifth straight month stirred concerns about the strength of the economy. Sales of existing homes slowed to their to their most sluggish pace in nearly five years, while home prices fell for a record 12th straight month. The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales slipped by 0.2 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units. Inventories rose 5.1 percent to a record 4.59 million units."

Real Estate Journal - "Five Houses Vie to Become Most Expensive Home Sale" (8-27-07)

"It might seem foolish given the recent news from Wall Street, but a group of homeowners is holding firm on an ambitious goal -- to break the record for the most expensive home sale in American history. The price to beat is $103 million. Two years ago, at the peak of the real-estate boom, only a handful of homes in the U.S. had ever been listed for $75 million, let alone $100 million. Even the highest residential sale to date -- investor Ron Baron's $103 million purchase earlier this year of a 40-acre compound in East Hampton, N.Y. -- was never publicly listed. The deal was so secret that the brokers weren't named."

Los Angeles Times - "Stocks fall following drop in July home sales, spike in inventories" (8-27-07)

"Wall Street retreated today, losing momentum from last week's gains after news that sales of existing homes slipped in July for a fifth straight month stirred concerns about the strength of the economy. Sales of existing homes slowed to their to their most sluggish pace in nearly five years, while home prices fell for a record 12th straight month. The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales slipped by 0.2 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units. Inventories rose 5.1 percent to a record 4.59 million units."

Los Angeles Times - "Bill would end mortgage tax deduction for 'McMansions'" (8-27-07)

"To add to mortgage meltdown miseries, the credit panic, plunging home sales and rising foreclosures, here's a new worry: a proposed cutoff of mortgage-interest tax deductions for all houses larger than 3,000 square feet. One of Capitol Hill's most experienced and powerful legislators is drafting a 'carbon tax' bill that would do precisely that. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, expects to introduce comprehensive climate change reform legislation once Congress returns next month."

Bloomberg - "Bear Stearns Judge Delays Ruling Banning U.S. Suits" (8-27-07)

"A federal judge refused to grant permanent protection from U.S. lawsuits for Bear Stearns Cos.' two bankrupt hedge funds, questioning whether the Cayman Islands should be the principal site of their liquidation. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in New York today said he 'will issue a decision in the next week to 10 days'' on whether Bear Stearns picked the proper jurisdiction for the funds, whose assets are mostly located in New York."