Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street and Washington, the LA Times. "Is the Ameriquest empire assembled by Roland E. Arnall about to be dismantled? The Los Angeles billionaire's financial lending business has declined sharply since his appointment as ambassador to the Netherlands in February."

"(Consultant) David Olson is among those who think a sale or outright closure of Ameriquest and Argent is increasingly likely. The sub-prime market 'has been a disaster for the past six months,' he said."

"Olson said the company still faced the threat of lawsuits by aggrieved borrowers. 'I can't imagine who would want to buy them as a firm since there would be huge potential legal liability,' Olson said."

"Ownit Mortgage Solutions, an Agoura Hills-based wholesale lender, has ceased operations and laid off 800 employees nationwide, part of the shakeout in the sub-prime lending business."

"'The small and mid-sized lenders that specialize in those loans have been facing a lot of pressure lately,' said John Bancroft, managing editor of Inside Mortgage Finance Publications Inc. in New York. 'These are companies that depend almost exclusively on new loans. That market grew rapidly in the last 10 years, but it couldn't last forever,' he said. 'Eventually you reach just about every marginally qualified borrower you can.'"

"In its statement, Ownit blamed Merrill Lynch & Co. for the closure, saying the company was one of its primary lenders and had cut off its funding Tuesday."

From MarketWatch. "The end came quickly for Ownit. 'We were all working yesterday, assuming we were fine,' Dave Hanthorn, a New Jersey-based employee who sells the firm's loans to mortgage brokers, said Wednesday evening. 'At 5:15 last night we got the call that we were ceasing operations.'"

"Ownit laid off all its staff, according to a headhunter, who received an email that was reviewed by Dow Jones from a friend who worked at the firm."

The National Post. "Economist Benjamin Tal said he had expected to see the earnings of major mortgage lenders, which were quick to lend the money, get hit as the number of defaults began to increase. 'It's payback time,' he said."

"Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has...completed a restatement of past earnings but still faces tough work to make its financial reporting current. The restatement for 2001 through June 30, 2004, wiped out $6.3 billion in profit for the government-sponsored company, which finances one of every five home loans in the United States."

"Analyst Jim Vogel said that for Wall Street, the concern is 'if there's a pattern of sustained quarterly losses that appear to reflect more difficulties in risk management than the market had thought.'"

The Chicago Sun Times. "Executives of several of the largest home builders predicted that inventories would decline, and prices and home starts would rise, in the latter half of 2007, as they spoke at the 10th annual Homebuilding Conference."

"Toll Brothers Inc. CFO Joel Rassman declined to predict when the market would hit bottom. 'Nobody can know when the bottom is,' Rassman said. 'I think there's a reason to believe that when the big builders control 50 percent to 60 percent of a market, they'll probably have to eat each other,' he said."

The New York Times. "The broadest government measure of house prices is calculated by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But it has three big weaknesses that end up making it much less useful than it could be. First, it excludes any mortgage over $417,000, because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big mortgage buyers, don't own loans so large."

"Second, the data for individual metropolitan areas includes not just house sales but also appraisals done for a mortgage refinancing. Appraisal values, as many people know, tend to be inflated."

"Finally, and by necessity, the index includes only houses that have actually sold lately. In a falling market, with an enormous number of properties for sale, the houses that are selling tend to be more appealing than the average house. 'We're dependent on houses that are actually transacting,' said Patrick Lawler, the chief economist at the oversight agency. 'It's true that may not evenly reflect the market.'"

From USA Today. "Dozens of sawmills around the country are laying off workers, shutting down temporarily or trimming hours, as a steep drop in home building hits demand and prices. 'In lumber, basic economic rules apply: supply and demand. The demand dropped off quickly, and so did the price," says Joe Kusar, VP of Tolleson Lumber, the largest lumber maker in Georgia."

"In Northern California, Pacific Lumber said Dec. 1 that it was laying off 90 people, or 19% of workers. 'A (price) decline of this magnitude is virtually unprecedented in the last 20 years,' says Pacific Lumber spokeswoman Andrea Arnot."

"Tim Cochran of an independent newsletter specializing in softwood lumber, calls the current downturn the longest bear market since 1990. '(Prices) went up so high with the housing boom … and so when they go up hard they just go down that much harder,' Cochran says."

The Arbutus Times. "With a cooling housing market in the state, the Maryland Association of Realtors recently launched a lobbying group that plans to advocate for lower home prices. Despite its name, the League of Maryland Homeowners' 34,000 members are almost all Realtors, though Kessler said she hopes to recruit more homeowners."

"Ilene Kessler, president of the Maryland Association of Realtors, said the lobbying group is necessary because there is a 'gap' between what the average buyer can afford to pay for a home and the actual prices of homes on the market. The group plans to push for tax credits for first-time homebuyers and employers that donate money to nonprofit organizations that help build homes."

"The move comes at a time when home prices are falling nationwide and growing more slowly in the state. In Maryland this summer, home sales fell at least 20 percent in every jurisdiction. 'Some say the (housing) bubble is bursting, but the market is just adjusting,' Kessler said."