June Mortgage Markets

Lessons from the Housing Bubble

WSJ

Boil it down to the three R's: rocket scientists, regulators, and ratings agencies.

Top 10 Worst Foreclosure States For May, 2008

[The Real Estate Bloggers]

1. Nevada
2. California
3. Arizona
4. Florida
5. Michigan
6. Georgia
7. Colorado
8. Massachusetts
9. Ohio
10. New Jersey

Housing Wire: LIBOR Mess Promises to Squeeze ARM Borrowers
An international uproar over allegations that some banks intentionally manipulated LIBOR, a key interest rate used to determine rate adjustments for many adjustable-rate mortgage holders, is likely to have a real-world impact for many adjustable-rate mortgage borrowers, sources told Housing Wire Thursday.

Housing Wire: Primed for Trouble: Pace of Mortgage Distress Shifts to Prime Borrowers

One in Eleven Mortgage Holders Face Loan Problems

[NY Times]

U.S. foreclosure filings surge 48 percent in May
[ San Jose Mercury News]

Foreclosures on Prime Mortgages
[The Big Picture Blog]

Housing Wire: States Struggle to Come to Terms with Mortgage Mess
As trouble in the nation’s housing markets has roiled onward, state legislators have been moving in varied attempts to address a burgeoning crisis affecting key constituents — and with varied success, as well.

June Home Sales & Prices

84% of Nation's Housing Market Declined in Q1 2008
[MarketWatch]

Homeowners on losing end
[San Jose Mercury News]
The equity Americans have in their most important asset - their homes - has dropped to its lowest level since the end of World War II.

Case-Shiller: House Prices Fall 14%
[WSJ.com: What's News US]
New Home Sales Fall 42%
[The Big Picture]

Through The Floor -- Echoes of the Great Depression
[The Economist]

Homebuilders in the News

Two More Homebuilders Go Bust
[Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis]
Oakridge Homes LLC in California and M.W. Johnson Construction Inc., which builds homes in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida, both sought Chapter 11 protection Friday. The companies are two of many home builders in bankruptcy proceedings, including Levitt and Sons LLC and Tousa Inc.

Builders Take More Write-Downs
[WSJ.com: What's News US]

$500 million from investor may save homebuilder Standard Pacific
[The Orange County Register - O.C. Real Estate News]

Downsizing the American home
[ CNNMoney.com]

From other RE Blogs

I. New Home Sales rose 3.3% in April.
[Seeking Alpha]

Had we gone into a coma in 2003 and just woken up today, we might look at these headlines and think things were pretty good. But a look at the chart below paints a much better picture of the current state of the housing market. If you get real close to your computer, you can see the blip of a rise in the historical chart of New Home Sales since 1963. While New Home Sales did rise 3.3% in April, it was a month over month comparison. The real story is that sales declined 42% year over year.

New Housing Price Index Series Takes Bottom-Up Approach

[Housing Wire]

Case-Shiller v OFHEO: More Analysis
[HOUSING DERIVATIVES]

10 Notes on Residential Housing
[ Seeking Alpha]

Housing Wire: FHA Chief: Hits From Down-Payment Assistance Threaten Agency’s Future

It doesn’t get much more stark than the barb lobbied by Federal Housing Administration commissioner Brian Montgomery on Monday afternoon — stop allowing down-payment assistance, or send the FHA into insolvency.

Case for Abolishing the FHA and GSEs
[Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis]

Should We Be Concerned About GSEs Again?
[ Seeking Alpha]

Calculated Risk: Why Pending Home Sales are Negative for the Housing Market

The Washington Post Misunderstands the Housing/Credit Crisis
[ Seeking Alpha]

My problem with this meme is one of context: It ignores the reality of lending practices that had nothing to do with either the CRA or HUD at all. For example, the following loan types are independent of HUD, and were the primary cause of the current foreclosure wave and the root of the current credit crisis.

Pending Home Sales Data + Cancellations + Foreclosures = Turnaround? [Housing Tracker]
[ Seeking Alpha]

Looking At Housing Affordability In The Real World
[Matrix]