MercuryNewsPhoto.com - "Auction at Paseo West" (10-9-07)

"Paseo West, a brand new subdivision in Manteca, is having such a hard time selling new homes that they are going to auction off 34 new homes in mid-October. Some 90 houses are built now, only 27 have been purchased, making it somewhat of a brand-new ghost town. Those who own the homes are really angry about the auction, where bids start at 40 percent off asking price. They fear their values will go down and the neighborhood will suffer."

Bloomberg - "Fed Left Plans for Further Cuts Dependent on Data" (10-9-07)

"Federal Reserve policy makers left their Sept. 18 meeting without any specific plan for further interest-rate cuts because they were unsure how markets and economic growth would respond, minutes of the meeting show. 'Further actions would depend on how economic prospects were affected by evolving market developments and by other factors,' according to the records, released today in Washington. Any statement on the balance of risks to the economy 'could give the mistaken impression that the committee was more certain about the economic outlook than was in fact the case.'"

CBIA - "Landmark Research Details Latino Homeownership Crisis" (10-9-07)

"Latino homeownership in California trails the nation, but what is a crisis now may become a catastrophe in the future if trends continue. Today, the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) and the California Homebuilding Foundation (CHF) unveiled the results of a groundbreaking research project detailing the problem and providing insight on the attitudes and priorities of Latino Californians."

Business Week - "Housing: That Sinking Feeling" (10-9-07)

"Las Vegas was once the hottest of the - real estate markets. But when sales really started choking up last year, developer KB Home (KBH ) did something drastic. Determined not to be caught with a big backlog of unsold homes through one of the industry's notorious down cycles, the builder started slashing prices. A lot. In the 1,400-home Huntington community, a subdivision of two-story stucco houses west of the famed Strip, homes that started at $320,000 a year ago are now listed for $270,000--just a starting point for potential deals."

Bloomberg - "Fed Adds $12.5 Billion to Banking System With Overnight Repos" (10-9-07)

"The Federal Reserve added $12.5 billion in temporary reserves to the banking system when it arranged overnight repurchase agreements, or repos. When the Fed added the reserves, Federal funds, the overnight lending rate between U.S. banks, traded at 4 13/16 percent, above the central bank's target rate of 4 3/4 percent, according to ICAP Plc, the world's largest interdealer broker. Dealers submitted $46.25 billion bids to Fed."

Bloomberg - "Thornburg Raises Loss Estimate From Mortgage Sales" (10-9-07)

"Thornburg Mortgage Inc., the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based lender, boosted its loss estimate to $1.1 billion from selling bonds backed by adjustable-rate home loans as rising defaults eroded demand for the securities. Thornburg, which said in August that the loss was $863 million, declined 8.7 percent in New York trading. The company also sold about $22 billion of mortgages, not the $20.4 billion previously announced, it said in a statement today."

Yahoo - "Fed members all backed bold cut to buffer economy" (10-9-07)

"All members of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee agreed a half-percentage point federal funds interest rate cut was necessary to shield the economy from credit disruptions and an intensifying housing slowdown, minutes of their September 18 meeting released on Tuesday showed."

The San Diego Union Tribune - "S&P says subprime far from over;understated fraud" (10-9-07)

"The U.S. subprime housing crisis will not peak until 2009, rating agency Standard and Poor's said on Tuesday, adding it had underestimated the extent of fraud in the industry. S&P expected the world economy to grow 3.6 percent in 2007 and 3.5 percent in 2008, with emerging market economies driving growth. The U.S. economy would lag at 2 percent in both years, down from 2.9 percent in 2006."