Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac suspend foreclosure sales

"Freddie Mac is on track to help three out of every five troubled borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned loans avoid foreclosure this year," Freddie Mac Chief Executive David Moffett said in a statement. "Today's announcement builds on this momentum and provides a new measure of certainty to many of these families during the holidays."


The government-controlled mortgage companies said they are ordering a national network of mortgage servicers and foreclosure attorneys to prohibit the sale of foreclosed homes for single-family and two- to four-unit properties with mortgages owned by the two entities.

Freddie Mac's Moffett added he expects that lenders servicing Freddie Mac-owned mortgages will work with borrowers to help people stay in their homes. Freddie Mac plans to approve settlements for mortgage payments with roughly 84,000 homeowners; however, 140,000 mortgages are delinquent on Freddie Mac-owned mortgages.


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Home builders distraught over economic crisis

U.S. home builders have never been as anguished about their industry as they were in early November, with their monthly market index gauge plunging five points to a record low 9, the National Association of Home Builders reported Tuesday.

"We are in a crisis," said Sandy Dunn, chairman of the NAHB, and a builder from Point Pleasant, W.Va. "If there's any hope of turning this economy around, Congress and the administration need to focus on stabilizing housing." See related story on the clash over helping homeowners.

"Worsening problems in the financial markets, job market weakness and overwhelming uncertainty about the economy" were depressing sales, the NAHB said in a release.

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting the index to be unchanged at 14. See Economic Calendar.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index shows that fewer than one in 10 builders is optimistic about the market for new single-family homes, with builders particularly discouraged about the pace of sales and the dearth of potential buyers. They are slightly more optimistic that sales could improve over the next six months.
The home builders' index has been falling for nearly three and a half years after peaking at 72 during the height of the housing bubble. The index dates to 1985.

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Pending Home Sales Down on Tight Credit and Economic Slowdown

Pending home sales fell on the heels of a strong gain a month earlier as credit tightened and economic conditions deteriorated, according to the latest survey. The Pending Home Sales Index declined 4.6 percent to 89.2 from an upwardly revised reading of 93.5 in August, but is 1.6 percent higher than September 2007 when it stood at 87.8. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said pending sales have been above year-ago levels for two months in a row. “The month-to-month weakening in pending home sales is understandable, but because the index remains above year-ago levels it means we’re still in a broad period of stabilization,” he said. “Conditions remain mixed around the country, but markets that are showing annual sales gains include Long Island, N.Y.; Boston; Minneapolis; Denver and Washington, D.C., in addition to consistent solid gains in California and Florida.”

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Public transit Catch-22

More turn to trains and buses even as transit officials struggle with funding

Higher fuel prices over the past two years combined with household fiscal concerns are leading record numbers of Americans to ditch their cars and hop on trains, subways and buses each day, a pattern that if sustained would help the U.S. to reduce fuel consumption and cut tailpipe emissions. But transit agencies are facing a classic Catch-22: Just as public transit is seeing record-breaking levels of users and more cars sitting in the suburbs, state and local governments are struggling to find dollars for transit improvements and expansions needed to bring more riders onboard.

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Buy Real Estate Now

Is it now a right time to buy?


On Halloween, Radar Logic published a new compendium of housing for the year ending in August.

The results were frightening: House prices have held up in just a precious few cities (Milwaukee, up 3%; Columbus, flat; Charlotte, down 3%). All the big California cities tanked, falling 23% to 28%. Prices in Phoenix and Vegas dropped 29% and 30%. Even prices in resilient New York City are off 7%.

These kinds of price declines in housing are unprecedented. Our friends at Zillow.com reported on Oct. 29 that half of American homeowners believe their residences are worth just as much or even more than they were worth a year ago.

Forbes has assembled a panel of real estate experts to discuss the current markets. A lively e-mail exchange was the result, with picks in both residential real estate and stocks. Joining us were Spencer Rascoff of Zillow.com, Michael Feder of Radar Logic, Donald Trump Jr. of the Trump Organization and Peter Slatin of Real Capital Analytics. The moderator, Stephane Fitch, covers real estate for Forbes magazine.

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