The mortgage mess contributed to the single largest annual drop in homeownership on record, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. The national homeownership rate fell to 67.8 percent during the fourth quarter, a drop of 1.1 percentage points from year-ago levels. CNNMoney reported that the drop, while expected, still represents the largest [...]

The WSJ’s Steven Rattner says that the U.S. economy is just fine, thank you — and that the financial innovations now causing heartache for many also managed to spread risk out, which is a good thing. We especially like how he calls out blogging critics as calling plays “from the bleachers.” A ploy to win [...]

Federal investigators at the FBI have opened a criminal investigation of 14 mortgage-related companies, focusing on alleged accounting fraud, insider trading and securitization practices, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday afternoon. Even bankrupt firms aren’t free from the scrutiny, with the Journal quoting FBI economic crimes chief Neil Power as saying that investigators were combing the [...]

A measure of national mortgage risk rose 9 percent since October of last year, underscoring the expectation that borrower defaults will continue to pressue the mortgage finance industry for the foreseeable future. The Core Mortgage Risk Index (CMRI), produced at the start of each quarter by First American CoreLogic, found that a greater preponderance of REO [...]

As the House readies a vote on a $146 billion economic aid plan today, one key piece of mortgage legislation has been dropped under pressure from Bush administration officials. The Associated Press reported Tuesday morning that House lawmakers had removed FHA reform provisions from the proposed stimulus package, although a temporary increase in FHA lending [...]

There has been plenty of attention given lately to the idea of the so-called “ruthless default” — hat tip goes to Tanta at Calculated Risk here — which says that borrowers are becoming increasingly more likely to simply walk away from their mortgages, even if they may have the ability to pay or otherwise have [...]

Click for larger image The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, out today, show that the U.S. housing market continued its downward price spiral late last year. The 10-City composite index — perhaps the most widely-used of the various indices included in the Case-Shiller universe — posted an annual decline of 8.4 percent in November, a new record low [...]

(Update 1; adds discussion of non-performing assets) So much for that promise to return to profitability during Q4. Instead, the nation’s largest lender posted its first annual loss in more than 30 years — including a Q4 loss that the company had said a few months ago it would avoid. Countrywide Financial Corp. reported a $422 million [...]

A total of 215,749 foreclosure filings were reported in December, according to foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac — up 97 percent from December 2006, and bringing total fourth quarter foreclosure activity to 642,150 filings on 527,740 properties. Fourth quarter’s total was up 1 percent from the previous quarter and an 86 percent increase from the fourth [...]

In incendiary remarks against a CRL study pushing for so-called ‘cram-down’ bankruptcy reform, MBA chairman-elect David Kittle said that the consumer group was misleading policymakers into overreacting on the hotly-contested issue. “By choosing to misread and misinterpret the existing data on subprime loans, officials at the Center for Responsible Lending have again demonstrated they are [...]