MHN

Where in the United States did housing sales actually go up in December? The San Francisco area, bastion of exceedingly high housing costs throughout the early- to mid- 2000s, saw home sales spike upward 19.7 percent in the last month of 2008, compared with November, according to MDA DataQuick, which specializes in compiling real estate information. Compared with December 2007, last month saw 36 percent higher home sales in greater San Francisco.It’s no coincidence that the spike comes after a sharp drop in the Bay Area’s median home price, which is now a shade more than 50 percent lower than…

After a fine optimistic day ahead of the presidential election yesterday, Wall Street wasn’t feeling as peppy today. In fact, the Dow Jones index took a considerable thumping, ending down 486 points, or a shade over 5 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq similarly slid–5.27 percent and 5.53 percent, respectively. An election is one thing, but a bleeding services sector may be on investors’ minds more today: the U.S. private sector lost 157,000 jobs in October, according to ADP payroll data. The government’s numbers, which probably won’t be any better, are due Friday. The nation is now entering what may…

On a day that has so far brought somewhat of a lull in the federal government’s efforts to avoid being remembered as the people who brought you “1929: The Sequel,” many eyes were on Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and later spoke to The Economic Club of New York. In concisely summarizing to the latter the federal government’s actions over the past few weeks, Bernanke (pictured) struck a measured but confident tone, certainly not implying that the crisis is past the worst, but emphasizing that the government has the tools it needs to…

In a transaction orchestrated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Reserve and Department of the Treasury, Citigroup Inc. will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia Corp. According to Citigroup, the deal will make it the largest U.S. bank in terms of total deposits. The announcement by the FDIC noted that “Wachovia did not fail; rather, it is to be acquired by Citigroup Inc. on an open bank basis with assistance from the FDIC.” For a payment of about $2.16 billion in stock, Citigroup will acquire the majority of Wachovia’s assets and liabilities, including five depository institutions, and will assume…

The two giant government-sponsored entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, always had the implicit backing of the U.S. government. But that unspoken backing gained official status in September when the government placed the two troubled giants into conservatorship.The new agency that oversees the two GSEs, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, released a statement on Sept. 12 emphasizing its commitment to the multi-family market.“FHFA recognizes the importance of all aspects of the enterprises’ multi-family businesses–including the LIHTC (low-income-housing tax credit) area and liquidity facilities for remarketed mortgage revenue bonds–for a healthy secondary market and housing affordability. In particular, support for multi-family…

Bank of America’s purchase of Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers’ filing for bankruptcy protection this weekend is unlikely to thaw the year-old credit freeze-up that has plagued lending for commercial real estate. “This is bad news, of course,” said Lawrence Longua, clinical associate professor at the Schack Institute of Real Estate at New York University. He said that the news adds another layer of uncertainty to the market. “Lehman’s bankruptcy means that there will be $40 billion of real estate that they are going to be unloading. There are no buyers out there, there are only sellers.” “Lehman provided equity,…