A heads up for real estate professionals: H.R. 2454, the cap and trade legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 26, 2009, if passed into law, would have a profound effect on the real estate sector.According to an excellent article by Leanne Tobia of Reuters, entitled, How the Cap-And-Trade Bill Could Transform […]

A total of ONLY 52 percent of the $1.8 billion of Commercial Mortgage Backed Sercurity (CMBS) loans that matured in July 2009 were refinanced, according to analysis by Barclays Capital.
That’s in line with the 53 percent refinance rate for the $9.5 billion of loans that have matured so far this year and indicates that borrowers continue to have […]

Today’s release of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices for May 2009 showed the first month-to-month gain in 34 months (almost 3 years!).
Clearly this is a notable development but it’s important to put today’s results in perspective before getting to confident that even the initial leg of the declining trend has ceased.

First, it’s important to recognize […]

Governor Martin O’Malley and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown released data in the form of a StateStat Update on foreclosure prevention outreach efforts in Maryland:

Through the first six months of 2009, approximately 18,112 foreclosure filings occurred in
Maryland.
Compared with 17,625 filings for the same period last year, this represents a growth of about 2.8 percent.
In […]

Mortgages on commercial property held by U.S. banks have been failing at the fastest rate in nearly 20 years, the Wall Street Journal said. 
Losses on loans used to finance commercial spaces would possibly reach about $30 billion by the end of 2009 at the current rate.  The $30 billion estimate is based on financial reports […]

Moody’s REAL CPPI July 2009 Report

The Long-Term Budget Outlook
Today I  — the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) — had the opportunity to testify before the Senate Budget Committee about CBO’s most recent analysis of the long-term budget outlook.
Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy […]

We have reported here before on the PPIP (Public Private Investment Program), back in April 2009 (just three short months ago).
Previously we discussed how the PPIP — yet another Obama administration and Treasury Department alphabet soup solution —  can not, and will not, work when you look at it through the lens of Game Theory.
Sure enough, […]

The infamous NYC real estate developer Mort Zuckerman has a compelling article in todays Wall Street Journal, outling the 10 reasons that there is more trouble ahead:
 #1: June’s total assumed 185,000 people at work who probably were not. The government could not identify them; it made an assumption about trends. But many of the mythical jobs are […]

So Much Thats False & Nutty_07!08!09