Housing Starts Jump 9.3% in November
Housing Starts Jump 9.3% in November
By Paul Sakuma, USA TODAY, Dec. 20, 2011
A surge in apartment construction gave builders more work in November. But 2011 is still shaping up to be one of the worst years in history for homebuilders. The Commerce Department says builders broke ground on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 homes last month, a 9.3 percent jump from October. That's the highest level since April 2010.
Florida AG Lax in Pursuing Banks Amid Foreclosure Crisis
By Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel, Dec. 18, 2011
As attorneys general in other foreclosure-battered states step up their investigations into fraudulent mortgage practices by large U.S. banks, some Florida groups are accusing state Attorney General Pam Bondi of being soft on the giant lenders.
Florida Supreme Court Ends Foreclosure Mediation Program
By Jeff Ostrowski, Palm Beach Post, Dec. 19, 2011
Florida's foreclosure crisis lives on, but a statewide mediation program for troubled borrowers is dead. Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady issued an order Monday ending the effort to encourage lenders and borrowers to avoid foreclosure. The program was a flop. Only 3.6 percent of cases referred to mediation statewide yielded a written agreement between the lender and homeowner. In Palm Beach County, which began its program in July 2010, a mere 1.6 percent of the 4,632 cases sent to mediation resulted in a written agreement.
An Inconvenient Truth
By Joe Nocera, New York Times, Dec. 19, 2011
There is so much about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that we should be angry about. In their heyday, these strange hybrids — part corporation, part government agency — were the biggest bullies in Washington, quick to bludgeon critics who dared suggest that their dual missions of maximizing profits while making homeownership affordable for low- and moderate-income Americans were incompatible. They steamrolled their regulator and pushed back at any suggestion that their capital was inadequate.
Will Home Prices Pop After They Hit Bottom?
By Nick Timiraos, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 19, 2011
For anyone taking comfort in the fact that home prices could hit bottom in the next year or two, there’s this reminder: Home prices aren’t likely to rise quickly once they do find a floor. Economists at Goldman Sachs predict in a new report that home prices will fall by another 3 percent through the middle part of 2012 before stabilizing in 2013.