Breitbart.com - "US home sales fall to fresh lows, glut of unsold homes rises" (10-24-07)

"US existing home sales fell 8.0 percent in September as a persistent housing slump continued to weigh on the property market and the world's biggest economy, an industry group said Wednesday. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in a monthly snapshot that sales of existing homes and apartments tumbled to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.04 million units in September from 5.48 million in August."

NAR - "Mortgage Availability Improving But Hampered September Existing-Home Sales" (10-24-07)

"Temporary problems in the mortgage market are easing and are expected to free some pent-up demand, but disrupted existing-home sales and distorted prices on sales closed in September, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Even so, prices rose in the Northeast and Midwest."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "CampusMBA Launches Certified Loan Officer Designation" (10-24-07)

"CampusMBA, the award winning education division of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today launched the Certified Loan Officer (CLO), a new professional designation created exclusively for residential loan officers. The CLO will demonstrate to consumers and the industry alike that the holder is a qualified and proven MBA certified professional."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Refinance Applications Increase In Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (10-24-07)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 19, 2007. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 656.5, a slight increase on a seasonally adjusted basis from 656.3 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 11.2 percent compared with the previous week and was up 11.5 percent compared with the same week one year earlier; these increases are partly due to seasonal effects after the preceding Columbus holiday shortened week."

Bloomberg - "Ambac Posts First Loss as Subprime Bond Prices Drop" (10-24-07)

"Ambac Financial Group Inc., the world's second-largest bond insurer, reported its first quarterly loss after reducing the value of subprime mortgage-linked securities by $743 million. The shares fell the most in 2 1/2 years after New York-based Ambac said it had a third-quarter net loss of $360.6 million, or $3.51 a share, compared with net income of $213 million, or $1.98, a year earlier, according to a company statement."

Bloomberg - "Merrill Lynch Reports Loss on $8.4 Billion Writedown" (10-24-07)

"Merrill Lynch & Co. reported the biggest quarterly loss in its 93-year history after taking $8.4 billion of writedowns, almost double the firm's forecast three weeks ago. The third-quarter loss of $2.24 billion, or $2.82 a share, was about six times deeper than the New York-based company estimated on Oct. 5. Merrill wrote down the value of subprime mortgages, asset-backed bonds and loans to finance leveraged buyouts, and Chief Executive Officer Stanley O'Neal said in a statement today that he is 'working to resolve the remaining impact from our positions.'"

Bloomberg - "Schwarzenegger Discipline Shattered by Subprime Slump" (10-24-07)

"Four years after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, vowing to 'tear up the state's credit card,' the actor and former body- builder is about to charge $7 billion to taxpayers' accounts. California is selling notes tomorrow due in eight months to help pay its bills until tax revenue comes in, the largest short-term loan since Schwarzenegger took office and almost five times more than last year. Debt is increasing after cash receipts fell $777 million below the state's projections during the first three months of the fiscal year that started July 1."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Economy: Existing Home Sales Tumble 8 Percent" (10-24-07)

"The U.S. housing industry plunged deeper into recession last month as the August credit-market collapse made it harder for buyers to obtain loans. Sales of previously owned homes fell 8 percent in September to an annual rate of 5.04 million, the fewest since records began in 1999, the National Association of Realtors said in Washington. The decline was almost twice as steep as economists forecast, while the median price dropped the most in almost a year."

Bloomberg - "Regulators Paved Way for Loan Abuses, Congress Hears" (10-24-07)

"U.S. lawmakers hear testimony today that federal banking regulators opened the door to subprime- mortgage lenders in low-income neighborhoods through lax enforcement of community-investment rules. Banks, required by a 1977 law to provide credit in areas where they take deposits, often concentrated on making loans to the most creditworthy borrowers; that left homebuyers with lower credit scores to lightly regulated finance companies, according to government data on lending patterns."