Freddie Mac's 2005 earnings down

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Tuesday that profit fell to $2.1 billion, or $2.75 a share, in 2005, compared with $2.9 billion, or $3.94 a share, in 2004.

The McLean, Va.-based government-sponsored enterprise said the decline was primarily caused by $600 million of costs associated with a settlement of shareholder lawsuits, charges related to Hurricane Katrina and the net impact of certain accounting changes.

In its report, Freddie Mac also said its regulator might limit the growth of its portfolio of home loans.

The mortgage finance company is recovering from $5 bil  more...

Canadian real estate sales sink

Canadian existing-home sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service decreased slightly in April from their year-ago level, as home prices hit new highs, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association.

A total of 39,912 homes were sold through the MLS last month, down 0.5 percent compared with April 2005, CREA reported.

Sales activity set new records for the month of April in Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and surpassed all previous records for the first four months of the year in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Pr  more...

Companies partner to provide paperless mortgage services

ELynx Ltd., a company that digitizes paper-intensive business processes, announced today that it is partnering with ditech.com to provide services for mortgage consumers.

ELynx will bring its eWelcome tool to ditech.com customers, which will allow ditech.com mortgage customers to securely receive, review and approve documents at any time and from any location with an Internet connection.

Phil Huff, president of eLynx, said in a statement that ditech.com "has paved the way for t  more...

Real estate purchases drop

Overall mortgage applications declined 1.9 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, with refinancings taking the biggest hit, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 0.2 percent to 395.5 from 396.4 the previous week whereas the refinance index decreased by 4.8 percent to 1,409 from 1,480.5 one week earlier.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 34.9 percent of total applications from 35.7 percent the previous week.  more...

Overnight real estate rates stand pat

Long-term mortgage interest rates were flat Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 5.08 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average remained at 6.21 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate held at 5.87 percent. The 1-year adjustable was unchanged at 5.26 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield inched up to 5.18 percent.

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

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...

Inman launches video destination site

TurnHere, the video insider's guide on where to go and what to do, formally launched its new Web site, including new sections dedicated to the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York markets.

TurnHere also announced it has signed online travel service Expedia.com as an advertising sponsor for the launch.  more...