Blog Title: Housing Wire

At WaMu, a Lack of Oversight

Want the latest evidence of just how fast and loose the RMBS game was played during the recent run-up in housing and mortgage securities? Look no further than an obscure downgrade to the master servicing arm at failed thrift Washington Mutual. Fitch Ratings said Tuesday that it had cut its U.S. residential mortgage master servicer rating read more..

Grubb & Ellis Dives into Distressed CRE Management

Grubb & Ellis Company (GBE: 1.03 +5.10%), a well-known commercial real estate services provider, said Wednesday that that it had formed the a financial services asset management practice designed to provide critical services to financial institutions, special servicers and government agencies dealing with challenged real estate and mortgage assets. The new line of business will provide read more..

Treasury Funds On the Way to Credit Unions?

Credit unions might soon see their own version of a mortgage bailout program. National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) chairman Michael Fryzel on Tuesday unveiled a proposed plan to use funds borrowed from the U.S. Department of the Treasury at lower rates than those available through private sources to aid credit unions in temporarily lowering monthly read more..

LPS Rolls Out Mass Loan Mod Solution

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS: 20.41 -5.03%) said Wednesday morning that it’s the latest mortgage industry services provider to roll out an end-to-end loan modification platform. Called RediMod, the new platform focuses on enabling mass loan modifications by automating loan eligibility and best-fit determinations for modification programs, and then combining loan-level and portfolio analytics with read more..

Housing Starts Hit Rock Bottom, For Now

Same story, different month: single-family housing starts fell again in October, this time by 4.5 percent to a seasonally-adjusted rate 791,000, bringing new construction to its lowest level since just after World War II, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday. Housing starts have now plunged 38 percent in the past year, and are down 70 percent read more..

SoCal Sees Sales Rise, as Foreclosures Make the Market

The old real estate mantra used to be location, location, location — but a new mantra seems to be enveloping certain markets now. Instead of the tried and true, the newest axiom might best be buy foreclosures, and shun everything else. In some of the hardest-hit local housing markets across the nation, steep discounting on read more..

Key RE Index Drops to Record Low in October

A highly-watched indicator of activity among architects, often seen as a leading indicator of construction activity, tanked as design firms saw their billing hours shrink in October. The architecture billings index, or ABI, hit a record-low of 36.2 in October, down from 41.4 in September, the American Institute of Architects said Wednesday. The October level is read more..

Moody’s, Fitch Targets of Housing Discrimination Complaint

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a consumer-advocacy group, said late Tuesday that it had filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity against two of the nation’s leading credit rating agencies. The complaint seeks to obtain relief for consumers and communities the NCRC read more..

NAR: Home Sales Fall, Despite Increase in Distressed Sales

The volume of existing-home sales fell in 32 states during the third quarter compared to one quarter earlier, as an increasing volume of distressed home sales in some of the nation’s hardest-hit housing markets could not completely offset continuing weakness in the U.S. residential housing market, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday afternoon. Distressed read more..

Mortgage Applications Send Mixed Signals, Again

Did mortgage applications fall or merely remain flat? The answer, as has been the case throughout the current industry crisis, depends on your data source. Data released Wednesday morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association suggested that applications fell a seasonally-adjusted 6.2 percent for the week ended Nov. 14, as purchase applications tanked despite lower average read more..