Regions

New York–A major auditor’s re-interpretation of bank loan tax treatments could offer homebuilders a new way of handling its assets, the Financial Times reported Friday.The debate involves accounting firm Ernst & Young’s new interpretation of the accounting rule FAS 109, which determines how to treat tax assets when a company sees an overall income loss for three consecutive years. An auditor will apply tests during the loss period to determine whether the company can handle its total tax asset and to reduce the amount of income taxes when the company is again profitable. If the auditor decides the company will…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Rockrose Development Corp., a New York-based real estate development company, has completed its condo conversion of the 67-year-old former office building at 99 John Street in New York’s financial district. Sales for the building have officially begun.Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, architects of the Empire State Building, designed the 99 John Street building back in 1933. Then Rockrose renovated it in 1999 to be a rental housing building.It now contains 442 lofts, mostly studios and one- and two-bedroom units, with some three- and four-bedroom apartments and penthouses ranging in price from  $530,000 to $3.3 million.The…

New York–In regions that had almost avoided the housing slump–including Manhattan–hard-to-get credit, a slowing economy and low consumer confidence are reducing home sales and prices, the Wall Street Journal reports.Months ago, places such as the Pacific Northwest and North Carolina seemed immune to the housing decline that plagued the rest of the nation; now those formerly resilient markets are experiencing a reduction in housing demand.Even Manhattan–where prices rose sharply last year–may be on the brink of a slump because the national residential downturn has caused more than $100 billion of mortgage-related security losses on Wall Street and eliminated jobs, according…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorDurham, N.C.–Mission Residential LLC, a private multifamily real estate investment firm has acquired a 356-unit property at 4720 Dansey Drive in Durham, N.C. When contacted by MHN, Mission Residential declined to reveal the price of the property due to a confidentiality agreement.Mission acquired the 44-building property known as The Tapers from UBS Realty Investors, LLC, and  it will now be called Mission Capital Crossing. Built in 1983, Mission Capital Crossing includes a variety of one, two, and three-bedroom units and 24 town-homes. Rents for the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments range from $640 to $770…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor Scottsdale, Ariz.–Despite all the unrest in the housing industry due to the sub prime mortgage crises, the rental multifamily industry remained stable. The average apartment rental rates nationwide increased by only 1.9 percent in 2007, according to Realty DataTrust, a source that aggregates leasing data for the apartment industry. During the same period, vacancy decreased from 5.4 percent to 5.3 percent.Founded by Mike Mueller in early 2007, Realty DataTrust is designed to become a research tool for people looking to analyze trends in the apartment market as well as a resource for investors. This is…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington D.C.– Kieran P. Quinn, CMB, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) praised the Bush administration’s new stimulus package, announced this week, that includes housing provisions designed to help borrowers and stabilize the housing and mortgage markets.Quinn said in a statement, “This stimulus package will bring much-needed help to consumers and restore some stability to the housing and mortgage markets. Reform of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has long been a top MBA priority. A more modern and vigorous FHA will provide another option for first-time and low- and moderate-income borrowers and borrowers who…

Washington, D.C.–Existing home sales dropped beyond expectations in December, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Thursday.The Washington-based group said sales declined 2.2. percent to an annual rate of 4.89 million, Bloomberg reports.Single-family home sales fell 13 percent in 2007–the biggest amount since 1982–and prices plummeted for the first time in four decades. Median sale price dropped 6 percent to $208,400 from December 2006; from 2006 to 2007, median price was down 1.4 percent.Analysts expect a difficult housing market with more foreclosures next year. “I do expect sales to remain soft through the first quarter and possibly the second quarter,”…

New York–The Bush administration and congressional leaders announced Thursday that they had determined the details of the economic stimulus package, the New York Times reported Thursday morning.If passed, the $150 billion deal would give taxpayers from $300 to $1,200. Additional children could earn families $300 each.In addition, the plan provides tax incentives for businesses. Roughly one-third of plan’s funding will go to business and the remaining two-thirds will be used for consumer rebates.

Youngstown, Ohio–The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System filed a lawsuit Friday alleging government-backed mortgage financer Freddie Mac downplayed its subprime investments, costing the Ohio pension system up to $27 million, the Columbus Dispatch reports.Attorney General Marc Dann said the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. “secretly and intentionally participated in one of the largest housing investment deceptions in modern U.S. economic times.”The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Youngstown, Ohio, claims Freddie Mac concealed its subprime lender investments before its stock plummeted in November after news broke that Freddie Mac had lost $2 billion in the third quarter due mostly to…

Paris–French bank Société Générale said Thursday a rogue trader had lost €7 billion ($10.26 billion) in European stock futures and large U.S. subprime mortgage writedowns, the Financial Times reports.The Paris-headquartered bank was forced into an emergency €5.5 billion share issue as a result. The losses incurred by the trader, 31-year-old Jérome Kerviel, included €2.05 billion in writedowns on U.S. mortgage exposure and bond insurers.SocGen had told investors before it had very limited exposure to the subprime problems; now the bank’s risk management procedures have come under fire and a takeover is possible, according to the Times.SocGen will take €1.1 billion…