Chart of the Day - Today's chart presents the median single-family home price divided by the price of one ounce of gold. ... When priced in gold, the median single-family home is down 75% from its 2001 peak ... - Chart of the Day

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CHART OF THE DAY: Check Out The New Housing Frenzy Our Government Engineered -  Vincent Fernando, CFA and Kamelia Angelova - Thanks to the upcoming April 30 expiration of the government's new-home-buyer tax credits, in March the U.S. just experienced the sharpest spikes in new home sales back to 1963    Read more:  Clusterstock at Business Insider
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Reverse engineering rating agency models - Rating Agency Data Aided Wall Street in Mortgage Deals - By GRETCHEN MORGENSON and LOUISE STORY - ... One of the mysteries of the financial crisis is how mortgage investments that turned out to be so bad earned credit ratings that made them look so good. ... In essence, banks started with the answers and worked backward, reverse-engineering top-flight ratings for investments that were, in some cases, riskier than ratings suggested, according to former agency employees. ... But by routinely sharing their models, the agencies in effect gave bankers the tools to tinker with their complicated mortgage deals until the models produced the desired ratings. ... - NY Times

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Rating Agency Testimony: "Must say yes" to Wall Street - by CalculatedRisk

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Housing PPI: Wow! - Casey Mulligan - ... The big news today is that construction costs are significantly higher than they were 9 months ago. ... - Supply and Demand In That Order

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Back To The Future. Homebuilders Snapping Up Land - Tom Lindmark -  Uh-oh! The New Normal is beginning to look like the Good Old Days. - But Then What

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Shiller: The Housing Recovery Could Be on Shaky Ground - By Jennifer Schonberger - ... "Home prices have been going up for nearly a year now, according to our data, the S&P/Case-Shiller indices ... Normally we could extrapolate that kind of upward trend because historically home prices have shown a lot of momentum. But I think we're in a very unusual circumstance because of the massive bailouts, the homebuyer tax credits, the Fed's purchase of mortgage-backed securities -- and these things are coming to an end. So it's an unusual period. So I don't trust the trend that we have. I'm worried that it might get reversed." ... - Motley Fool

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Tax Credit and Down Payment Madness - Tim Iacono - ... Tax Credit and Down Payment Madness - Evidence that we may all be going mad at a slightly quicker pace comes in these tidbits from this story at the Wall Street Journal Developments blog about the unsuccessful attempt to raise FHA down payment requirements and the public’s view of the soon-to-expire homebuyer tax credit that has been propping up the housing market. ... - The Mess That Greenspan Made

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Revisiting rent vs buy - Felix Salmon - Reuters Blogs

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Florida's Underwater Mortgages - Dr. Duru - has 3 stories - Seeking Alpha

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Countrywide Reportedly Settles Subprime-Related Securities Lawsuit for $600 Million - by Kevin LaCroix - ... The settlement agreement would include the release several top Countrywide executives, including former CEO Angelo Mozillo.  The settlement is also subject to court approval; however, the agreement reportedly was the product of mediation before U.S. District Judge Harold Matz, and accordingly it seems unlikely that it would be set aside by the court, assuming it ultimately is approved by all parties. ... - D&O Diary

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Principal Limit Reductions Force Reverse Mortgage Lenders to Innovate - As reverse mortgage volume continues to slide and the possibility of another principal limit reduction in October, reverse mortgage lenders have been forced to innovate and bring down costs to ensure seniors have access to the HECM program.  The drop in home values across the country has played a big role in the decline in volume, but the principal limit reduction from last year hurt even more ... - Reverse Mortgage Daily

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nonsense or not? - Honey, I Lost the House. Now It’s Time to Party: Caroline Baum - ... By now you’ve probably seen the analysis, if you can call it that, on how mortgage defaults are driving consumer spending.  Yes, you read that correctly. Those deadbeat homeowners, facing possible eviction and in some cases unemployed, are throwing caution to the wind -- and money at retailers. ... - Bloomberg

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Federal Reserve to consider changes to HMDA - ... The hearings will serve three objectives: ... has list - National Mortgage Professional