Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. MarketWatch, "Countrywide Financial Corp. said Tuesday its total October mortgage-loan fundings fell 48% from a year earlier as the lender continues to struggle against a slumping housing market and the credit crunch."

"In Countrywide's $1.47 trillion loan servicing portfolio, delinquencies as a percentage of unpaid principal rose to 5.94 percent from September's 5.85 percent and 3.97 percent a year earlier."

From Reuters. "Countrywide said it funded $22 billion of home loans in October, down from $41.9 billion a year earlier. Adjustable-rate lending totaled $3.1 billion, down 81 percent from a year earlier and 19 percent from September."

"Subprime loans totaled just $42 million in October, down 84 percent from September, and 99 percent from $3.3 billion a year earlier. Home equity loans totaled $1.36 billion in October, down 15 percent from September and 68 percent from a year earlier."

The Street.com. "'October's operating results continue to be indicative of current market trends,' said David Sambol, Countrywide's president and chief operating officer. 'Total fundings were down substantially on a year-over-year basis...and production funded through the Bank has now surpassed 90% of total fundings.'"

The Investment Executive. "Royal Bank of Canada today announced it expects to record a charge in its capital markets segment in the fourth quarter associated with the valuation of subprime collateralized debt obligations and subprime residential mortgage-backed securities of approximately $360 million pre-tax."

From Bloomberg. "Legg Mason Inc. invested $100 million in one of its money-market funds and arranged $238 million in credit for two others as a cushion against potential losses on commercial paper linked to subprime mortgages."

"Legg Mason holds about $10.7 billion in debt issued by structured investment vehicles, the company said in a Nov. 9 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission."

"'The investments have not affected the $1 per share net asset value of the funds and Legg Mason does not expect that they will, although no guarantees are given,' the company said in the filing."

"German bank WestLB has warned that it expects a loss this year instead of a profit. The bank is the latest victim of a global credit crisis set off by US sub-prime mortgage lending."

"WestLB says it expects to report a full-year pretax loss in the low, triple-digit, million-euro range. 'The substantial price losses of structured securities in the past weeks are the main reason for this development,' the bank said in a statement."

The Irish Times. "Several of the country's leading business figures are nursing losses on their investments in a Dublin finance firm which yesterday said it was writing off at least €70 million in assets due to the global credit crunch."

"International Securities Trading Corporation, which was set up in 2005 by former Anglo Irish Bank executive Tiarnan O'Mahoney, yesterday suspended trading in its shares, postponed its results and scrapped plans to raise €150 million through a bond issue."

"The highly specialised firm, which raises money on international markets to lend to banks, made the decision after writing off at least €70 million on investments totalling €210 million in high-risk financial units called structured investment vehicles (SIVs)."

"O'Mahoney previously described the share register as 'a who's who of Irish business.' ISTC said in a statement yesterday: 'The turmoil experienced in financial markets since July last is unprecedented, and has represented one of the most difficult and challenging market environments experienced by the banking sector over the past 30 years.'"

"Mr O'Mahoney said, 'We can weather this storm. It will need a lot of work and agreement from our banks.'"

"Most of the company's estimated 250 shareholders are sitting on losses, given that they bought the company's shares above the €100-a-share mark. ISTC shares traded at €60 in an unofficial market operated by Goodbody Stockbrokers, down from a high of €345 earlier this year, before their suspension yesterday. The company is now valued at about €115 million, down 83 per cent from its peak."

From Forbes. "According to a recent E*Trade's Securities and Exchange Commission filing, 70% of the firm's total assets are related to residential real estate loans and mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities."

"According to Citi analyst Prashant Bhatia, there is a high risk that the company will lose its high-end clients, who have accounts with more than $100,000 (the investment limit that is insured by the government's Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). These accounts represent $15 billion, and make up 50% of deposits or roughly 25% of E*Trade's funding."

"The mass exodus of clients, could force the company to sell-offs assets. The liquidation could total $5 billion in losses, 'more than wiping out tangible equity,' Bhatia said."

"The U.S. credit crisis deepened on Friday as Wachovia Corp...lost as much as $1.7 billion related to mortgages in October. Wachovia also expects to boost loan losses by $500 million to $600 million this quarter, largely because of 'dramatic declines' in housing values."

"The bank paid $24.2 billion in October 2006 for Golden West Financial Corp, a California adjustable-rate mortgage lender."

"'It now becomes even more obvious that Wachovia purchased the thrift at the wrong time of the cycle,' Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Mike Mayo wrote."

"'This is now worse than Long-Term Capital (Management),' said Jack Malvey, chief global fixed-income strategist at Lehman Brothers Inc., referring to the hedge fund whose 1998 collapse threatened to unhinge global financial markets. 'This is a painful lesson in financial engineering.'"

"There's a greater than 50 percent probability that the financial system 'will come to a grinding halt' because of losses from mortgages, Gregory Peters, head of credit strategy at Morgan Stanley, said."

"'You have the SIVs, you have the conduits, you have the money-market funds, you have future losses still in the dealer's balance sheet in the banks,' Peters said in an interview in New York. 'That's all toppling at once.'"

From The BBC. "The slowdown in the housing market is becoming more pronounced, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Almost all surveys have suggested the market has been cooling since the summer."

"'The housing market is seeing the awaited slowdown that many had been expecting, with modest falls reported across most UK regions,' said Rics spokesman Ian Perry. 'Credit market turmoil has yet to put downward pressure on prices in the capital, although prices have now stabilised even here,' he added."

The Star Telegram. "Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton, struggling with falling home sales amid the national housing slump, sold nearly 7,000 acres in Arizona for $70 million to two real estate firms. The property is zoned for 23,050 residential lots, which will be sold to home builders."

"Horton, which reported its first quarterly loss in its nearly 30-year history this year, said last month that sales of its homes nationwide fell 39 percent in the third quarter of the year, and that nearly half its customers backed out of purchases."

"Home prices in Arizona, as well as in California, Nevada and Florida, are declining after years of strong demand that sent prices soaring."

"In July, Horton, the largest U.S. home builder, said it owned 252,000 lots as of June 30, representing a 5.4-year supply."

From Builder Online. "If the normal industry cycle had run its course, there would have been a correction in 2001 and 2002, and, says real estate consultant John Burns, builders would be in the middle of another cycle."

"But as Larry Mizel, CEO of M.D.C. Holdings, put it, 'Everyone forgot that there are cycles in housing.' Since builders have 'borrowed demand from the future,' says Burns, the industry is in the second year of a 3-to-5-year correction."

"When the downturn ends, he says sales activity will correct back to 1995 levels. But when will that be? Burns says it will hinge on...downpayments. 'When [current] renters can save up a downpayment, [to buy a home] then we will see the end.'"

The Edmonton Journal. "I'm sitting in the sun-splashed boardroom of a small real estate office, chatting with a friendly young realtor named Kacey Fotopoulos about the state of Calgary's housing market."

"Since local house prices peaked earlier this year after a record-busting run, buyers have dried up, prices have slid and new listings have soared. With some residents cashing out and heading home to Saskatchewan or the Maritimes, Calgary's once-torrid housing market has stalled."

"'From January to June I felt like a rock star,' says Fotopoulos. 'Now, there's so much to choose from, buyers can take their time. It's not unheard of for people to offer $100,000 under list.'"

"After sitting on the market for 111 days, one new two-bedroom condo in northwest Calgary recently sold for $255,000 -- $64,000 below the initial list price. A luxury executive condo in trendy Eau Claire recently sold for $450,000 -- $150,000 below the asking price."

"For Fotopoulos, who was born and raised in Calgary, Canada's perennial boomtown, these are uncharted waters. After four years in the real estate game, she has only seen local house prices go in one direction: straight up. Until now. Ditto for her friends. For most, it's their first taste of anything vaguely resembling a slowdown."

"'Calgarians just aren't used to this,' she says. 'They got very greedy. Now, they have to realize if they want a nice, balanced market, they have to price more appropriately, they need patience, and their realtor has to work a lot harder.'"

The Seattle PI. "The housing market really is quite good. That pretty much sums up what members of the National Association of Realtors had to say at the opening session of their annual convention in Las Vegas Monday."

"It was a stage show of 'Realtor Scene Investigation' (after a show with a similar name set in Las Vegas) complete with association Chief Economist Lawrence Yun sitting in a 'crime lab' wearing a white coat."

"'While 2007 is not a record-setting market, it still has strong fundamentals,' Yun said."

"But, Yun said, there are problems: High foreclosures brought on by 'toxic' loans and, in reaction, tighter credit making it harder to get mortgages."

"So, who's to blame? Suspects include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

"'They let some baaaad people into the (mortgage) business,' one of the Realtor 'investigators' reported. Investigators also faulted federal officials."

"At the same time, the Realtors said they had 'a DNA match,' with 2007 looking a lot like 2002, when the market was good, but not spectacular. One difference they did not note is that 2007 comes after several of the craziest years ever in American real estate."