Zillow inks listings deal with ERA

Real estate Web site Zillow has inked its first agreement for a bulk load of property listings with a prominent real estate brokerage company.

Zillow today announced an agreement with ERA Franchise Systems LLC in which the brokerage company will feed about 80,000 property listings onto Zillow.com each day. The deal gives ERA's property listings free exposure to Zillow's consumer base, while beefing up the number of for-sale listings displayed at Zillow.  more...

Merrill Lynch posts $1 billion Q3 loss on subprime mortgages

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. said today it posted a $2.3 billion net loss in the third quarter, thanks largely to $7.9 billion in write-downs and losses on investments in subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs).

Those write-downs, which the company conceded were "significantly greater" than the $4.5 billion write-down disclosed in its earnings pre-release, helped send the major stock indexes lower Wednesday.  more...

NAR: Single-family sales rate nears 10-year low

The sales rate for previously owned single-family homes dropped to its lowest level in about 10 years, and the price of resale single-family homes, condos and co-ops dropped 4.2 percent year-over-year in September, the National Association of Realtors reported today.  more...

Falling interest rates boost refis

A considerable drop in interest rates last week sparked a rush to refinance but did little to drive home purchases, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

While rates on long-term loans fell an average of 21 basis points from the second week of October, MBA's market composite index -- which measures overall mortgage application volume -- inched up only slightly during the period.  more...

Centex reports $644 million Q2 net loss

Home builder Centex Corp. on Tuesday reported that "serious disruptions" in the mortgage and credit markets contributed to a net loss of $643.8 million in the second quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with net earnings of $137.4 million in second-quarter 2006.

The net loss for the quarter amounted to $5.26 per diluted share.  more...

Real estate rates flat overnight

Long-term mortgage interest rates held steady Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.4 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average stayed at 5.94 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate froze at 5.56 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.71 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield stayed at 4.69 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  more...