Debate on the future of Fannie, Freddie heats up

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:25:58 GMT

(WASHINGTON) There would be no housing market today without the government.

Over the past 18 months, Washington has taken extraordinary steps to keep home loans available and affordable. That caused a tentative housing recovery last year. Home sales revers

Investors learn to accept bad housing numbers

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:47:26 GMT

(NEW YORK) The housing market is still in bad shape, but investors don't seem to mind.

While this week brings reports on sales of new and existing homes in February, there are no signs of heightened anxiety in the stock market. That's a big change from one and two years ago, when…

Tax gains drive profits for homebuilders

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:16:23 GMT

(LOS ANGELES) It's tax season, and the IRS is being particularly generous to some of the nation's largest homebuilders.

Several publicly traded companies, including Lennar Corp., Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. and Pulte Homes Inc., expect to rake in roughly $2.5 billion in federal tax refunds combined, according to

Govt rewarded bank auditors with big bonuses

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:14:41 GMT

(WASHINGTON) As banks gambled on the risky mortgages that helped create the worst financial crisis in generations, the U.S. government handed out millions of dollars in bonuses to regulators at agencies that missed or ignored warning signs that the system was on the verge of a meltdown.

The bonuses, detailed in.

Climate change cited as Mont. leases suspended

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:12:03 GMT

(BILLINGS, Mont.) A federal judge has approved a first-of-its-kind settlement requiring the government to suspend 38,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana so it can gauge how oil field activities contribute to climate change.

At issue are the greenhouse gases emitted by drilling machinery and industry pract

Calif. politics has short sellers facing big bills

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:00:07 GMT

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) What should have been a legislative afterthought is threatening to become a financial purgatory for thousands of California taxpayers hit by the housing crisis.

With less than a month until tax filings are due, struggling Californians who received mortgage modifications or lost their homes i

Bailout watchdog to audit gov't mortgage program

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:58:28 GMT

(WASHINGTON) The federal bank bailout watchdog is planning to scrutinize the formula used by mortgage companies to evaluate borrowers for the Obama administration $75 billion mortgage relief program.

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, will examine whether the more

Ex-exec testifies in KB Home fraud trial in LA

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:11:18 GMT

(LOS ANGELES) A former executive of KB Home testified Tuesday against former chairman and Chief Executive Bruce E. Karatz, who is accused of bilking shareholders out of millions of dollars by backdating stock options.

Prosecutors contend that Karatz, 64, illegally backdated stock-options. A stock option allows a

Housing construction drops 5.9 pct in February

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:47:44 GMT

(WASHINGTON) Housing construction fell in February as winter blizzards held down activity in the Northeast and South. The decline highlighted the challenges facing builders as they struggle to emerge from the worst housing slump in decades.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that construction of new homes and

Fed may hint at how long rates will stay at lows

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:15:27 GMT

(WASHINGTON) Federal Reserve policymakers may signal at their meeting this week how and when the improving economy will lead them to start raising record-low interest rates.

Higher rates are still months away, Chairman Ben Bernanke and other Fed offi

Dodd seeking middle ground on new financial rules

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:31:23 GMT

(WASHINGTON) The senator trying to rewrite the nation's financial industry rules is dropping plans to create a stand-alone consumer financial protection agency and to give a single regulator the power to oversee all banks, according to people familiar with the evolving proposal.

Backing away from the pr

Mortgage rates remain below 5 percent

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:03:30 GMT

WASHINGTON-(AP) Mortgage rates held below the 5 percent threshold for the second straight week, a report said Thursday, weeks before a government program that has been keeping rates low is scheduled to expire.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate WASHINGTON-(AP) The foreclosure crisis isn't over, but the pace of growth may finally be slowing down.

RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of households facing SANTIAGO, (AP) The earth shook and shook Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastian Pinera as Chile's president. It shook some more as they waited for him.

People in the balconies of the vast congressional hall in coastal Valparais

Gov't mortgage plan aids 16 percent of borrowers

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:55:41 GMT

WASHINGTON- (AP) The Obama administration's mortgage relief plan has helped only about 16 percent of borrowers who signed up since its launch last year, while hundreds of thousands of homeown

Cuba's sugar industry hit by low productivity

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:35:44 GMT

HAVANA-(AP) Production at Cuba's sugar plants has been hit hard this year by inefficiency, a spate of breakdowns and other technical problems, state-media reported Wednesday, adding to sobering news for the Communist-run island's crisis-addled economy.

Breakdowns and other interruptions have idled plants nearly 19 percent of the time so far in…
SHANGHAI- (AP) The luxury apartment buildings Yang Xuhua passes on her way to work are a daily reminder of her own frustrated efforts to buy a home. Prices for even modest apartments in Shanghai have soared, putting home purchases out of

Swiss Re puts Chile quake insurance cost at $4-7BN

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:30:48 GMT

GENEVA-(AP) Swiss Reinsurance Co. said Wednesday that the strong earthquake in last month will cost the insurance industry $4-7 billion, an estimate shared by its Germany-based rival Munich Re AG.

Swiss Re said it is common practice for PARIS-(AP) French President Nicolas Sarkozy will open a daylong conference Thursday of some 40 nations to start turning plans into action to save the world's forests and help rein in the noxious gases blamed for climate change.

Ministers from countries of the Amazon and Congo river basins and whose massive…

CHICAGO-(AP) Two major investors in General Growth Properties re joining Brookfield Asset Management in offering to inject a combined $6.5 billion in fresh funds into the shopping mall operator to help it emerge from bankruptcy protection.

General Growth said in a statement late Monday that its board is weighing an offer…

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (AP) The world's bill for the Haitian earthquake is large and growing now $2.2 billion and so is the criticism about how the money is being spent.

A half-million homeless received tarps and tents; far m

Cities not on track with Calif high-speed rail

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:16:03 GMT

BUENA PARK, Calif.- (AP) Mayor Art Brown spent years pushing for a commuter train station combined with nearby housing in his community. But as townhouses are being finished around the $14 million Metrolin

China vows moves on property prices, health care

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:08:45 GMT

BEIJING- (AP) Senior Chinese officials vowed Monday to rein in skyrocketing home prices, make medical services more affordable and improve social security, key issues that have provoked widespread discontent that the government fears could threaten stability.

The issues, in par

BLM says lease sale will proceed despite protests

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:50:44 GMT

ELKINS W.Va.-(AP) The Bureau of Land Management says it's proceeding with an oil and gas lease sale in the Monongahela National Forest despite protests from environmental groups.

Spokeswoman Da

EPA gathers more soil samples in NW Missouri

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:47:42 GMT

CAMERON Mo-(AP) The Environmental Protection Agency has collected more soil samples as part of an ongoing investigation into a potential link between soil contamination and health problems in northwest Missouri .

The EPA collected soil samples Thursday from a soccer complex in Cameron that was once the site of a rail spur used&hellip

Chile says rebuilding after quake could take years

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:44:49 GMT

DICHATO, Chile-(AP) Chile's president says it will take three years to rebuild the region wracked by an earthquake and tsunami, something all too clear to the people cleaning up this splintered tourist town.

Dichato is nestled between pine-forested hills and a lovely sheltered bay where colorful fishing boats served coastal communities and…

Lawmaker is working to improve loan modifications

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:41:58 GMT

WASHINGTON-(AP) A key lawmaker says he is working with banks, regulators and the Obama administration on ways to boost the government's struggling foreclosure prevention effort.

Rep. Barney Frank, D.-Mass, said he is in talks with several major lenders in an effort to remove a key obstacle:

Wells Fargo CEO's pay doubles to $18.7 million

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:16:49 GMT

NEW YORK- (AP) Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf's compensation more than doubled to $18.7 million in 2009, a year that saw the bank report $8 billion in profit and repay government bailout money, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory filings.

Stumpf, 56, receive

Stocks falter after drop in pending home sales

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:11:00 GMT

NEW YORK- (AP) Stocks clung to a tight range Thursday after an unexpected drop in pending home sales raised new concern about the economy.

Major indexes were little changed in afternoon trading following the National Association of Realtors' report that its index of home sale

Cement maker Holcim posts $251 million Q4 profit

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:03:35 GMT

GENEVA-(AP) Cement maker Holcim posted a disappointing fourth-quarter profit of 271 million Swiss francs ($251 million) on Wednesday, and said its outlook was unclear in Europe and North America amid uncertainty over stimulus programs.

Holcim's earnings represented a more than

France's crumbling sea walls no match for ocean

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:00:37 GMT

L'AIGUILLON-SUR-MER France-(AP) The moon was full, the wind roared, the tide was high and people died by the dozens.

After a wall of ocean water engulfed picturesque towns along France's Atlantic coast, residents, officials and experts are all asking why.

Was it due to climate change? A freak storm fueled by hurricane-force…

Quake threatens important Chile fish, wine sectors

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:57:20 GMT

TALCAHUANO, (AP) The tsunami that hit this coastal city sent 50-ton fishing boats crashing onto landWASHINGTON-(AP) More than a year after Lehman Brothers' collapse set off a financial panic, U.S. Senate negotiators are laboring to seal a deal over a consumer protection dispute holding up broad legislation to establish new rules for Wall Street.

At issue is whether a government consumer watchdog should be free from…

DUBLIN-(AP) Ireland's largest financial institution, Allied Irish Banks PLC, reported its first-ever full-year loss Tuesday as bad loans soared amid a burst property bubble.

AIB said it suffered a net loss of (

Canada's central bank leaves key rate unchanged

LexisNexis Real Estate Law Center Staff — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:16:12 GMT

TORONTO-(AP) Canada's central bank held its key interest rate at a record low 0.25 percent on Tuesday and reaffirmed that it expects it will keep the rate steady until July. But the bank also signaled it is getting closer to raising rates.

The Bank of Canada said the 5 percent economic…

LexisNexis Real Estate Law: Real Estate Law