White House appoints new judge to DOJ vs. NAR

The Bush administration's appointment of a new attorney general has trickled down to the 2-year-old antitrust legal battle brought by the federal government against the National Association of Realtors.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark R. Filip of Chicago, who has presided over the antitrust case related to the Realtor group's approval of policies for the online sharing and display of property information, has been tapped by the White House and U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to serve as deputy attorney general.

In a court filing this week, U.S.  more...

Minutes reveal rationale for October rate cuts

The Federal Reserve's decision to slash short-term interest rates at the end of October was driven by a belief that inflation will edge down in coming years, and that unexpected economic weakness could cause a further tightening of credit markets.

Minutes of the Oct. 30-31 meeting of the Fed's Open Market Committee also show the decision to slash the federal funds rate and discount rate by 25 basis points was a close one.  more...

Zillow: California, Florida metros rank high in home-value losses

Home values declined about 5.7 percent in the third quarter compared to the same quarter last year, according to a report by Zillow, an online real estate valuation and marketing company.

Zillow's nationwide Zindex, which is based on the median of automated value estimates for individual homes, was $244,000 in the third quarter for all home types. It was the fourth consecutive quarter of decline for the U.S. Zindex.  more...

Single-family starts, permits hit 16-year low

The rate of U.S. single-family housing starts and single-family units authorized by building permits dropped to the lowest level since 1991 in October, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of single-family housing starts dropped to 884,000 in October, down about 21.5 percent compared to October 2006. It was the lowest level since single-family starts dropped to a rate of 878,000 in October 1991.  more...

Down night for real estate rates

Long-term mortgage interest rates moved lower Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.07 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped to 5.9 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate slipped to 5.46 percent. The 1-year adjustable, however, rose to 5.48 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was down at 4.48 percent.

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

Impac Mortgage expects to declare 'stockholders' deficit'

Alt-A lender Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. has slashed expenses and outstanding debts since the company stopped funding loans in September, but liabilities exceeded assets at the end of the third quarter.

New accounting procedures the company plans to adopt on Jan.  more...