Lax home sales push Pulte loss to $593M
Bloomfield Hills-based Pulte Homes Inc., the nation's third largest home builder, reported a second-quarter loss of $507.6 million, or $2.10 per share, down from year-earlier earnings of $243 million, or 94 cents a share. Revenue was down from $3.36 billion to $2.02 billion. More »
D.R Horton reports quarterly loss
Tightened market, high inventory levels continue to challenge home builder More »
SEC blesses workouts on securitized loans
Lenders won't have to put loans back on balance sheets More »
Wall St higher in volatile session (FT.com)
FT.com - Wall Street stocks closed higher on Wednesday as investors responded to generally upbeat company earnings from companies including Amazon and Boeing (NYSE:BA) and got to grips with fresh housing market data. More »
Justice Dept. probes discrimination by lenders (Reuters)
Reuters - The U.S. Justice Department has opened up several investigations into whether borrowers faced discriminated by providers of mortgages and other credit products, an official told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday. More »
Nomura hit by US subprime exposure (FT.com)
FT.com - Nomura, Japan's largest broker, on Wednesday said it was considering withdrawing from the US residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market following substantial losses related to the subprime mortgage market and a writedown of its US operations. More »
Existing-Home Sales Hit 41/2-Year Low As Housing Still Looks For The Basement (Investor's Business Daily)
Investor's Business Daily - Housing activity has yet to find the floor, the latest existing-home sales data showed Wednesday. More »
Economy registers moderate growth (AP)
AP - The economy registered modest growth in the early summer, considering how consumers and some businesses were buffeted by both high gasoline prices and the sour housing market. More »
Analysts say mortgage woes may worsen (AP)
AP - Here's a scary thought about the latest bad news on housing: A surprising increase in late loan payments and defaults among home owners with good credit is so far coming from traditional woes, like divorces, job losses and unexpected medical bills. More »
Real Estate Bets in Shaky Times (BusinessWeek Online)
BusinessWeek Online - The slump in the U.S. housing market has convinced many investors to stay away from real estate investments for the foreseeable future, with analysts unable to call a market bottom. That's weighing not only on hard assets such as homes and condos, but on stocks like real estate investment trusts, whose prices have dropped since the beginning of the year. More »
No Housing Turnaround for Two Years? (BusinessWeek Online)
BusinessWeek Online - First, it was the second half of 2007. Then it was 2008. Now analysts are saying the national housing market may not rebound until 2009 More »
US new home sales plunge 6.6 percent in June (AFP)
AFP - Sales of new homes in the United States dropped 6.6 percent in June to an annualized 834,000 units, in a further sign of the persistent slump in the housing sector, the Commerce Department said Thursday. More »
US new-home sales slide 6.6% (FT.com)
FT.com - Sales of new homes in the US fell by the most this year last month in a sign of continued weakness in the housing market. More »
Treasury bonds climb more on econ data (AP)
AP - Treasury bond prices rose Thursday morning, pushed up by tame durable goods orders data and a fresh round of concerns over subprime mortgages that hit the stock market. More »
Things go from bad to worse for U.S. home builders (Reuters)
Reuters - The slaughterhouse that has been the U.S. housing market for the past few months got bloodier on Thursday as several industry leaders reported worse results, July home sales fell more than expected and stocks throughout the sector hit multiyear lows. More »
New home sales fall, durable goods orders weak (Reuters)
Reuters - Sales of new homes dropped more than expected in June, while orders for long-lasting U.S.-made goods were weaker than analysts thought, according to reports on Thursday that raised fresh concerns about economy. More »
Wells Fargo shuts nonprime mortgage unit, cuts jobs (Reuters)
Reuters - Wells Fargo & Co. , the second-largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Thursday it will close its nonprime wholesale lending business, which processes and funds loans for third-party brokers, citing turmoil in the market for riskier home loans. More »
Comcast net up, but shares down on subscriber loss (Reuters)
Reuters - Comcast Corp. posted a 28 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, but its shares fell nearly 7 percent as it lost more subscribers than expected, amid concerns that the weak housing market could hurt growth. More »
Investor losses seen in housing slump (AP)
AP - The national housing slump could lead to billions of dollars in losses for Wall Street investors as it drags on for at least another year and mortgage defaults increase, economists said Thursday. More »
Subprime coming home to roost? (FT.com)
FT.com - At least some people are benefiting from the pain being felt by American homeowners. Word on Wall Street is that the head of one trading desk, after making a lucrative bet against securities backed by mortgages to people with bad credit histories, has had T-shirts made up that cheerfully proclaim: "I'm short your house". More »
Dow plummets over 400 points (AFP)
AFP - The leading Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index plunged over 400 points in afternoon trade Thursday, or three percent, with investors gripped by housing market and "credit crunch" fears. More »
HSBC braces for $9 billion in mortgage price hikes (Reuters)
Reuters - A $9 billion wave of risky mortgages resetting at higher interest rates in the United States could force Europe's biggest bank, HSBC Holdings Plc , to absorb another big hit to profits as more customers default. More »
New home sales down substantially (AP)
AP - Sales of new homes tumbled in June by the largest amount in five months, provoking new worries on Wall Street about just how much the overall economy will be harmed by a prolonged housing slump. More »
Lowry range parcel listed for $19.5 million
The world's largest explosives- manufacturing company moved its North American headquarters to a large swath of land that had been part of the Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range. More »