NAHB - "Weak-New Home Sales Show Need For Housing Stimulus" (1-28-08)

"New single-family home sales fell 4.7 percent in December, according to figures released today by the U.S. Commerce Department. December’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of 604,000 units was 40.7 percent below a year ago."

Market Watch - "Builders slash prices 10%, but sales fall anyway" (1-28-08)

"U.S. builders slashed prices by more than 10% in December in a failed bid to boost sales, which dropped about 5% to the lowest level in nearly 13 years, the Commerce Department reported Monday."

CBS - "House Of Cards: The Mortgage Mess" (1-28-08)

"It was another nervous week for the world's financial markets and for Wall Street. In the last six months, Americans have seen their investments shrink, their property values plummet, and the country edge closer towards a recession. At the heart of the problem is something called the subprime mortgage crisis, which began last summer and continues to ricochet through the economy. It sounds complicated, but it's really fairly simple. Banks lent hundreds of billions of dollars to homebuyers who can't pay them back. Wall Street took the risky debt, dressed it up as fancy securities, and sold it around the world as safe investments. It sounds like a shell game or Ponzi scheme; in some ways, it was a house of cards rife with corruption, greed, and negligence."

Yahoo - "Time for Bernanke to take a stand" (1-28-08)

"Enough is enough. It's time for Ben Bernanke and the rest of the Fed to pull a page from Tony Danza's book and show investors who's the boss. Yes, the economy is teetering on the edge of a recession, if it isn't already in one. But the Fed has already cut the fed funds rate by 175 basis points since September. If the Fed lowers rates much further, it risks going too far."

USA Today - "CEO Profile: Defensive mind-set keeps Toll Bros. going" (1-28-08)

"Since Bob and Bruce founded Toll Bros. (TOL) in 1967, they've used the same defensive mind-set to survive the ups and downs of the real estate cycles. The current housing recession is the worst his company has seen since 1974, Bob Toll says, and the bottom of this one is still at least half a year away, according to a majority of 51 economists surveyed by USA TODAY. Yet so far, Toll Bros. is holding up better than many of its national rivals. Toll built 6,687 luxury homes in 22 states last year, down nearly one-quarter from its peak two years ago. In the fourth quarter, orders for new homes fell a staggering 35%, and the company posted an $82 million loss — its first ever. Even so, Toll still commands one of the strongest positions in the industry, in part because the company's up-market buyers are less affected than most by the turmoil in the financial markets."

CNN - "Foreclosures spike - and will get much worse" (1-28-08)

"A report released Monday by First American Core Logic rates foreclosure risk for 381 metropolitan areas, and found that the risk of foreclosure has jumped 22 percent from January 2007, and 9 percent from three months ago. The risk scores are calculated based on economic factors such as job growth or loss, as well as incidences of fraud and other risks. Home price trends are especially important."

Bloomberg - "Merrill's Fakahany to Depart After Subprime Losses" (1-28-08)

"Merrill Lynch & Co. Co-President Ahmass Fakahany is stepping down, two weeks after the third- biggest U.S. securities firm posted a record loss on subprime mortgages and bonds acquired while he oversaw risk management. Fakahany, 49, will retire Feb. 1, New York-based Merrill said today in a statement. Co-President Greg Fleming, who served alongside Fakahany as a deputy to former Chief Executive Officer Stan O'Neal, plans to remain under new CEO John Thain, according to a person familiar with the situation."

Los Angeles Times - "Walk away from your mortgage, or stay?" (1-28-08)

"For those with itchy feet and a budget of roughly 100 times that -- $995 -- there is You Walk Away, which promises to tell you the best, simplest way to, yes, walk away from your mortgage. I'm not sure why it requires three payments of $332 to learn how to walk, but this website encourages you to 'Unshackle yourself today from a losing investment and use our proven method to Walk Away.'"

Real Estate Journal - "Washington Sets $150 Billion Plan To Give a Jolt to the Economy" (1-28-08)

"Congress and the White House hammered out an economic stimulus package that would put $150 billion into the hands of consumers and businesses while seeking to revive the market for large mortgages. It was a rare display of compromise and speed in a city known recently for partisan gridlock. Both parties were responding to middle-class economic fears, as election-year nerves are frayed by a seesawing stock market, a wave of home foreclosures and a credit crunch. "I can't say that I'm totally pleased with the package, but I do know that it will help stimulate the economy," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."