Tag Archives: Investment

A lower supply of inventory and fewer distressed sales led to stronger home price gains across the country, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed in a recent report. On a national level, the median price for existing single-family homes increased 7.6 percent to $186,100 in the third quarter of this year compared to last year, the strongest annual gain since first-quarter 2006. The median price for existing homes improved in 120 out of 149 areas since last year.

The delinquency rate on U.S. commercial real estate loans saw its biggest drop in more than a year in October.

Goldman Sachs is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a mortgage securities class action lawsuit that the company says could cost Wall Street tens of billions of dollars, according to a report from Reuters. The bank is facing a suit from the NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund, which is suing on behalf of investors who say they were misled about the securities' risk. Goldman's lawyers are arguing against the suit, citing a 2011 decision that investors may not sue over securities they did not purchase themselves.

One day after posting better-than-expected├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┬Øalbeit reduced├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┬ØQ3 quarterly earnings, Citigroup announced the resignations of CEO Vikram Pandit and president and COO John P. Havens. Pandit's sudden and unexpected announcement has some analysts and investors baffled. Michael Jones, chairman and chief investment officer of Riverfront Investment Group, LLC, told Reuters he thinks the move raises "red flags everywhere."

The percentage of homes purchased with cash slid down this year from its 2011 peak, suggesting heightened demand from non-investors.

Performance on vintage prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) continues to degrade, Fitch Ratings revealed in a report.

Commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) delinquencies have posted substantial declines over the past two months, according to Trepp.

Wall Street took notice as the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) Working Group fired its first shot against a major financial institution.

Home prices and home sales are rising, despite lackluster demand of traditional owner-occupied housing, according to Tim Rood of The Collingwood Group.

The U.S. economy grew in the second quarter at 1.7 percent, slightly faster than the originally estimated 1.5 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday. At the same time BEA reported second quarter grew at a meager 0.5 percent from the first quarter, but an improvement from the 2.7 percent drop in corporate profits registered in the first quarter. Profits in the financial sector though fell more than 9 percent. The upward revision in second quarter GDP growth was in line with the forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.