Homes: About to get much cheaper - By Les Christie, - National home prices are forecast to shrink another 11%. ... Overall, the national median home price is predicted to drop 11.3% by June 30, 2010, according to Fiserv, ... He pointed out that the tax credit for first-time home buyers helped support prices during the three months of Case-Shiller gains. ... - hattip to B - CNNMoney.com

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Dear Middle Class: Thanks To You, Hamptons Sales Surge 32% To Five Year High On Upcoming Record Bonuses - Submitted by Tyler Durden - Zero Hedge

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Why The Rich Are Renting - Stephane Fitch - Rents fall more than prices on high-end homes. - ... But sellers of fancy homes, while refusing to drop their asking prices, seem happy to lease them out for a year or two on the cheap. It was true earlier this year, but it's even more so now, thanks to some hefty rent reductions. ... - Forbes

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Another kind of risk - If Lenders Say ‘The Dog Ate Your Mortgage’ - By GRETCHEN MORGENSON - ... But some judges are starting to scrutinize the rules-don’t-matter methods used by lenders and their lawyers in the recent foreclosure wave. On occasion, lenders are even getting slapped around a bit.  One surprising smackdown occurred on Oct. 9 in federal bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York. Ruling that a lender, PHH Mortgage, hadn’t proved its claim to a delinquent borrower’s home in White Plains, Judge Robert D. Drain wiped out a $461,263 mortgage debt on the property. That’s right: the mortgage debt disappeared, via a court order. ... - NY Times

Homeowners Walking Away - By BOB TEDESCHI - A RECENT study suggests that most homeowners have qualms about abandoning a mortgage that they can afford to pay, even if it straps them to an investment that’s unlikely to pay off anytime soon.  But if the house has lost significant value, or if many neighbors walk away from their mortgages, the study says, “strategic defaults” are significantly more likely. - NY Times

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On foreclosures and return patterns = Rumors of the Death of the Credit Crisis Are Greatly Exaggerated - worth reading - John P. Hussman, Ph.D. - Hussman Funds

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Goldman Sees U.S. Housing ‘False Bottom,’ Merrill Sees ‘Treat’ - By Carlos Torres - The stabilization in U.S. home prices won’t last, according to economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York. Their counterparts at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research see a “treat” rather than a retreat. - Bloomberg

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US Housing Market Recovering Faster Than Europe’s - ... As the global housing market shows some signs of recovery, markets are re-emerging at different speeds, depending on the strength of individual real estate fundamentals. Moreover, industries that rely on the housing market have adjusted to lower demand and will likely stay cautious until they see clear signs of a rebound, says Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in a special report on the global housing market. - Research Recap