Please be right - Zell expects housing recovery by spring – (Reuters) — … “I believe that in a country that continues to grow and where the population continues to grow, we will see the first signs of equilibrium in the housing market in the spring of 2009 and I will expect by spring 2010 the housing market in the U.S. will look a lot better,” Zell said. … – Crain’s Chicago Business
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quite interesting – Semi-Annual U.S. Economic Outlook: Collapsing On Schedule, by Gary Shilling – John Mauldin’s Outside the Box E-Letter 

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5 Risky Assumptions for 2009 – Rick Newman – Flowchart @ USNews
Obama will fix things.
There’s more where that came from.
Gas will stay cheap.
Consumers will bounce back
It’s hopeless.
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Alt-A Loans Continue To Spiral Down – I haul out this chart every couple months. It seems there is always something that makes it relevant again. Today it’s a report from Fitch Ratings that says it expects losses on Alt-A loans to far exceed its earlier downgraded assessment. – But Then What  – this is one of my favorite charts – BC

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SIFMA predicts U.S. recession to continue through mid-2009 -  In its latest economic outlook, SIFMA’s Economic Advisory Roundtable predicts gross domestic product will drop 1.0% in 2009 as the recession continues through the middle of the year. “The perfect storm of financial market meltdown, credit freeze and economic contraction are meeting head-on in a period of political transition and regulatory overhaul,” SIFMA said. The group of leading industry economists also predicts that the jobless rate will average 7.8% 

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Government acquires mortgage-backed securities from AIG – Erik Holm – A government-funded facility acquired mortgage-backed securities with a face value of $39.3 billion from American International Group for about $19.8 billion. The acquisition was part of the federal government’s rescue plan for AIG. – Bloomberg 

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FHFA September Foreclosure Prevention Report Released -  

Press Release    Report 
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How We All Will End The Recession – Brian S. Wesbury and Robert Stein – Business cycles turn around without ”catalysts.” – Forbes

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Agencies Approve Final Rule on Deduction of Goodwill from Tier 1 Capital -  The federal banking and thrift regulatory agencies today approved a final rule that would permit a banking organization to reduce the amount of goodwill it must deduct from tier 1 capital by any associated deferred tax liability. – FRB Board 

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Loan Modification Push Will Affect Securitized Mortgages: Fitch – By PAUL JACKSON – Loan modifications will grow to 15 percent of 2005-2007 vintage securitized mortgages over the next twelve months from virtually none, according to a report released Tuesday morning by analysts at Fitch Ratings. – housingwire

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Paulson: Not contemplating plan to offer 4.5% new mortgages – By Ronald D. Orol – Marketwatch 

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Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac foreclosures slow-regulator – … Foreclosure proceedings as a percentage of loans at least 60 days delinquent declined to 7.12 percent in the third quarter from 7.81 percent in the second quarter, and 8.29 percent in the first three months of 2008 ….  But delinquent mortgages, including those in bankruptcy and foreclosure, as a percentage of all loans, rose to 2.21 percent as of Sept. 30 from 1.73 percent in June, the FHFA said.  … – Reuters 
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HUD – Ooops, Our HECM Predictions Are A Bit High – John Yedinak – After I posted FHA Outlook Report Shows Projected HECM Volume Up, different RMD readers were quick to mention that the numbers didn’t make much sense.  According to HUD’s numbers, they are projecting that there will be 200,000 HECM applications and 210,000 endorsements in FY 2009.  I’m no mathematician, but it’s hard to have more … – Reverse Mortgage Daily