Sep. 17, 2010 at 6:59 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Two years after they were taken over by the federal government, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face a new challenge: The mortgage-finance giants are becoming two of the nation’s largest home sellers at a time when the housing market shows new signs of softening.
Fannie and Freddie have already taken back nearly as many homes in the first half of the year as they did all of last year. They owned more than 191,000 homes at the end of June, double the year-earlier total. That number will grow because they are taking back homes faster than they sell them. Get the full story »
Sep. 16, 2010 at 6:26 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
The fewest number of initial foreclosure notices were sent to Illinois homeowners in August since February but more than 4,000 homes in the state continue to be repossessed by lenders each month, new data shows.
In August, 6,912 Illinois homeowners received notice that their loans were in default and their lender had started foreclosure proceedings against them, a decrease of almost 19 percent from July’s activity, RealtyTrac reported. Get the full story »
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
There will be no seventh annual Chicago Luxury Home Tour this fall.
Greenspring Media Group, the Midwest Home magazine offshoot that organized the annual event, is mothballing the tour for a year because it couldn’t secure enough high-end new homes to make it worth consumers’ while. Get the full story »
Sep. 3, 2010 at 5:46 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Chicago executives,
Housing,
Real estate
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has slashed the asking price of his 18-room Gold Coast mansion from $9.5 million all the way down to $6.95 million.
The Tribune has learned that the eight-bedroom, 13,500-square-foot mansion now is listed for slightly more than half of Dimon’s original $13.5 million asking price for the home in 2007. Now based in New York, Dimon, 54, paid $4.68 million for the mansion in 2000. Get the full story »
Aug. 31, 2010 at 10:35 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Mortgages,
Real estate,
Updated
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Home prices in the Chicago area rose for the third straight month in June, raising them up to a level equivalent with a year ago, new data released Tuesday shows.
While Chicago’s one-month price gains were greater than many of the cities in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, national economic trends are likely to temper future home price appreciation, economists said.
“It’s a mixed bag,” said Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, “Corporate profits are still strong, inventories are low and that’s supposed to be a positive indicator. But confidence is a major driver of the economy. What really bothers me is the very high level of long-term unemployment.” Get the full story »
Aug. 26, 2010 at 5:13 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Jobs/employment,
Mortgages,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Almost one in 10 of Illinois’ 1.7 million home mortgage loans were at least 30 days past due in the second quarter, a troubling sign that might spell more foreclosures in the future, according to new data released Thursday. Get the full story »
Aug. 26, 2010 at 3:28 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Litigation,
Real estate,
Updated
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
George Wilborn at the Dirksen court house this morning. (William DeShazer/Tribune)
The U.S. Justice Department is taking over the case of Chicago radio personality George Willborn, who allegedly was the victim of racial discrimination because of his family’s failed efforts to buy a home in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development filed a federal housing discrimination complaint this month against Bridgeport homeowners Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia, Prudential Rubloff Properties and real estate agent Jeffrey Lowe. HUD said they violated the Fair Housing Act when the Sabbias backed out of a verbal agreement to sell the $1.799 million home to the Willborns, who are African-American.
The matter could have been handled as an administrative case by HUD or in the federal court system by the Justice Department. The Willborns elected to transfer the matter to federal court, which means the Justice Department has, by statute, 30 days to file a case. The transfer to the federal court system means the Willborns could be eligible to receive punitive damages as well as compensatory damages from a jury. Get the full story »
Aug. 26, 2010 at 9:40 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Housing,
Mortgages,
Real estate
By Reuters
A home for sale in Kildeer, Ill. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
U.S. mortgage rates fell in the latest week to the lowest on record and posted their ninth drop in the last ten weeks, Freddie Mac said on Thursday. Get the full story »
Aug. 26, 2010 at 7:35 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Housing,
Real estate
By CNN
AGreyson Properties employee walks in front of a Western Springs home his company built. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Toll the bell for the McMansion. After years of growth, the Census Bureau recently reported that median new home size fell to 2,135 square feet in 2009 after peaking at more than 2,300 earlier in the decade.
“Home buyers are asking for less, cutting back on options and reducing square footage,“ said Steven Pace of the North Carolina-based Pace Development Group, which builds both custom and tract houses ranging in price from below $250,000 to more than $2 million. Get the full story »
Aug. 25, 2010 at 10:28 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Reuters
U.S. luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. beat Wall Street expectations and reported its first quarterly profit in three years Wednesday, sending its shares and those of other homebuilders higher. Get the full story »
Aug. 24, 2010 at 10:47 a.m.
Filed under:
Energy,
Housing,
Stock activity
By Associated Press
Oil prices sank again on Tuesday after a disappointing report on home sales underlined the slow economic recovery and weak demand for oil and gas.
Aug. 24, 2010 at 8:20 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area nosedived 25.1 percent in July, partly due to the end of a government tax credit program that had propped up the housing market for more than a year.
The anemic results caused 12 months of consecutive year-over-year sales volume gains for the local market to come to a screeching halt last month, according to data released Tuesday by the Illinois Association of Realtors. It was the worst July performance for the local real estate market since at least 2000 when the trade group began tracking home sales.
Many real estate agents, while pleased with the local market’s still-positive first-half performance, are beginning to think their year is peaked, despite mortgage interest rates that are consistently falling to new weekly record lows. Get the full story »
Aug. 20, 2010 at 12:14 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Housing,
Mortgages,
Policy,
Real estate,
Updated
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
The Treasury Department said Friday that the nation’s housing market “remains fragile” and reported that far fewer delinquent mortgage borrowers received loan modifications through a federal government program in July than they did in June. Get the full story »
Aug. 18, 2010 at 8:59 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Mortgages,
Real estate
By Associated Press
Mortgage applications rose 13 percent last week as consumers refinanced at the lowest rates in decades. The Mortgage Bankers Association says the increase was driven by a 17 percent surge in applications to refinance home loans. Those taken out to purchase homes fell by more than 3 percent. The numbers are adjusted for seasonal factors. Get the full story »
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Donald Trump and his lenders have inked a new loan agreement that resolves long-standing litigation related to the development of his Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago.
Trump and his lenders, led by Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas and Fortress Credit Corp., last week agreed to extend the term on an approximate $600 million construction loan for five years. So, all litigation between the parties has been dismissed. Get the full story »
