The Fed lowered its target Tuesday for the federal funds rate 25 basis points to 4.25 percent. The discount rate, what banks pay to borrow from the Fed, was also cut by a quarter-point to 4.75 percent. The Fed hopes its actions will boost the economy. But yesterday morning, many people were hoping something else–that the Fed would do more. The industry has been speculating for weeks about what the Fed would do at its December meeting. For awhile, a big cut seemed almost certain. And then, a rush of recently-released economic reports threw some uncertainty into the mix. Government…

Yesterday, we touched on what mortgage bailout plan criticisms many economists, politicians and industry members have expressed. Much of the concern surrounds the plan’s scope and schedule, which some say won’t help enough homeowners in enough time. And now, three days after the initial announcement, some confusion still surrounds who exactly will benefit from the rate freeze and other plan breaks. But the bigger question is: Who won’t? Interest-only loan holders. Borrowers with 2-28 and 3-27 loans, in which typically just the interest is paid for the first two or three years before switching to paying principal and interest for…

Late last week, President Bush announced a new proposal to help troubled homeowners, which included halting increases on many of the adjustable rate mortgages due to reset soon. The housing crisis is ongoing–and could, if foreclosures keep increasing, greatly affect spending and the national economy. It is clear something needed to be done: But is the mortgage plan the right solution? Not everyone thinks so. In a letter to Congress last week, 61 economists said they oppose the plan and basically told the government to leave the housing situation alone, Bloomberg reports. Many members of the government aren’t too keen…

The past two weeks have provided us with a dizzying array of economic information–new job data, construction spending results, forecasts from Fannie Mae and Moody’s. And it’s all fueled the ongoing speculation about whether or not the Fed will change the interest rate next week when it meets. Last week, it looked like that was a strong possibility; and now, economists aren’t so sure. It is, of course, impossible to know what the Fed will decide. But we can predict some of the key information they’ll likely consider: Home Prices. The housing slump will undoubtedly influence the Fed’s decision, even…

President Bush today announced the highly anticipated interest rate freeze program, designed to help prevent further waves of home foreclosures. The voluntary, private-sector arrangement involves no government funding and will only affect mortgages for owner-occupied homes. You can’t have missed any payments, and the loan has to have been taken out between 2005 and July 30, 2007 and be set to reset in 2008 or 2009, according to MSNBC. “There is no perfect solution,” President Bush said during the announcement. “The homeowners deserve our help. The steps I’ve outlined today are a sensible response to a serious challenge.” (Watch the…

Today’s multi-housingnews.com news included an item about California affordable housing builder AMCAL focusing efforts on market-value apartments. The company plans to build two this year. Why? According to Sid Paul, AMCAL Equities’ Vice President of For-Sale Housing, mortgage restrictions and dwindling loan options in California–which saw some of the greatest increases in property values before the housing slump and some of the biggest declines during it–are prompting more and more residents to rent. "We’re seeing a void for workforce earners who may not be low wage earners, but who may have a need for rental properties," Paul told multi-housingnews.com. Although…

Read all about it–the housing slump has taken a new victim. This time, newspapers are feeling the burn of the housing boom bust. (And–somewhat sadly, yet logically–they’re also the ones to report the news of their lower revenues.) Print periodicals may seem like an unlikely byproduct of the decline in home prices, values, sales–and just about everything else–but two major publishers reported serious ad revenue losses due to the slump last week. As we reported last week, The Chicago Tribune, the second largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., announced last Tuesday that its October revenue dropped 9.3 percent due to…

Today’s news contained a number of stories speculating on what the proposed bailout system would be (and it should be noted almost all stressed no government official feels this is a true bailout–those able to afford higher payments and homeowners seriously at risk likely won’t be helped.) Here’s what we knew this morning about the plan: It Has Tentative Support. Office of Thrift Supervision Director John Reich said on Monday that U.S. banking regulators are in agreement about a plan to modify subprime mortgages, Reuters reports. Reich said he’s up for freezing the rates for at least three years. The…

It’s not many days we get to link to a newspaper commentary that ends with an attribution like "The writer is heir to the British throne" — so Out and About couldn’t resist sharing Prince Charles’ thoughts on climate issues, published today in the Financial Times. The prince wrote about a climate recommendation that the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change prepared yesterday for the group of world leaders that are scheduled to meet next week in Bali to discuss that very issue. And the 150 U.S., European, Chinese and Australian businesses in the CLGCC — what the prince called…

The number of cities with green building programs has increased 418 percent since 2003. In just four years–wow. Think about it: 418 percent. That’s an increase from 22 to 92, according to the American Institute of Architects, who recently paid for a study of areas with more than 50,000 residents to find out how effective green building policies are. The report, Local Leaders in Sustainability, analyzed 661 communities, according to the online Dexigner publication. We knew cities were signing on to green building — not only have numerous cities tried to establish green building codes, the summer U.S. Conference of…