By Keat Foong, Executive EditorNew York— Centerline Capital Group has refinanced its tax-exempt housing bond portfolio with Freddie Mac for $2.8 billion.  Centerline Holding Co., the parent company of Centerline Capital Group, announced that the securitization of the portfolio, which is secured by 275 multifamily low-income housing tax credit properties in 31 states and the District of Columbia, has been completed. Centerline says it is using the proceeds from the securitization to redeem its existing financing arrangements, retire corporate debt and repay the costs and expenses associated with the transaction.Centerline says the transaction represents a step toward accelerating its evolution…

Baltimore–Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon’s administration will file suit today in U.S. District Court alleging California-based Wells Fargo Bank has engaged in predatory lending practices in black neighborhoods, The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday.The potentially groundbreaking lawsuit, which the Sun says could be the first in which a city tries to recoup foreclosed home costs, revolves around allegations that the lender practiced reverse redlining, selling high-interest subprime mortgages to black Baltimore citizens more often than to white residents. Reverse redlining is a violation of federal housing law.Since 2004, Wells Fargo has been one of Baltimore’s two largest mortgage providers. The bank made…

Chicago–After two months of increases, the National Association of Realtors’ existing-home sales index dropped in November, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.The Chicago-based NAR’s index for pending sales of previously owned homes fell in November at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.6 percent to 87.6. In October, the index was 89.9, which was an increase from September.Previously owned home sales are expected to recover later in 2008 as customers see the market is calming, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said.”The exact timing and the strength of a home sales recovery is a bit uncertain,” Yun said. “A meaningful recovery…

Sydney–Australian residential construction approvals rose unexpectedly in November by the largest amount in nearly nine months, according to the Bureau of Statistics.Home and apartment approvals were up 8.9 percent from October, when they had declined 3.6 percent, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.Private home construction approvals increased 0.3 percent to 9,340 in November and apartment and renovation approvals were up 28.4 percent to 4,882.Construction rises–considered the result of growing employment, wages and immigration–increase the likelihood of Australia’s central bank elevating borrowing costs next month to curtail already-high inflation. The Reserve Bank of Australia opted not to change the benchmark rate in December because…

Chicago–President Bush said Monday that the economy was strong but providing mixed signals, making it difficult to address the housing slump, oil price increases and the threat of a recession, The New York Times reports.Speaking at the Union League Club in Chicago, Bush told business leaders that “recent economic indicators are increasingly mixed.”In New York, Treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. on Monday echoed the president’s sentiments in a speech to the New York Society of Securities Analysts. Paulson told the group that the economy could worsen before it gets better, alluding to the large housing inventory and increased unemployment…

By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorAtlanta — RentBureau, the first national online system providing apartment owners and managers with current rental payment histories of apartment residents and applicants, has contracted with Lane Company, also headquartered in Atlanta, to include information from Lane’s approximately 26,000 units in more than 10 states in its National Rental Data Exchange (NRDE) database, reports Eric Hartz (pictured far right), RentBureau CEO and president. As a participating RentBureau member, Lane Company will have access to RentBureau’s NRDE database to integrate into its existing resident screening software and procedures.Dan Haefner (pictured near right), acting president and CIO…

Asheville, N.C.–Santa Ana, Calif.-based Triple Net Properties LLC sold a 392-unit apartment complex in Asheville, N.C. on behalf of tenant-in-common investors for an undisclosed amount in late December. The Meadows Apartments community was sold to the Steven D. Bell & Company of Greensboro, N.C. Pender Murphy of Apartment Realty Advisors, headquartered in Atlanta, brokered the transaction.The Meadows Apartments, built in three phases between 1974 and 2001, includes 25 two- and three-story apartment buildings. Units are 994 square feet on average and feature walk-in closets, washer/dryer connections, gourmet kitchens, fireplaces and private patios or balconies.Situated on 35 acres, the property includes…

By Erin Brereton, Content ManagerDenver–Foreclosures hit an all-time high in 2007, prompting Denver-based housing organization HomeAid Colorado to intensify its efforts–and local builders followed suit, donating more than $600,000 in labor and materials to build homeless shelters.As a result, HomeAid has six projects scheduled for completion or groundbreaking in 2008.On any given night in Colorado, nearly 12,000 people–mostly women and children–find themselves without a home. HomeAid Colorado connects local charities that service the temporarily homeless– who comprise approximately 90 percent of the homeless population, according to HomeAid–with residential builders to create multifamily shelters. Most include two units or more, such…