Monday Morning Cup of Coffee

A look at the stories on HousingWire’s weekend desk…with more coverage to come on bigger issues:

Three banks in Florida made up nearly half of the bank closures over the weekend. The FDIC brought a total of seven banks into receivership last Friday, thereby breaking the century mark. This year, 105 banks shuttered operations.

The recent closures are: Bank of Elmwood in Wisconsin with total assets of $327.4m and total deposits of approximately $273.2m.

First DuPage Bank in Illinois, with total assets of $279m and total deposits of approximately $254m.

Flagship National Bank in Florida with total assets of $190m and total deposits of approximately $175m.

Riverview Community Bank in Minnesota with total assets of $108m and total deposits of approximately $80m.

American United Bank in Georgia with total assets of $111m and total deposits of approximately $101m.

Hillcrest Bank in Florida with total assets of $83m and total deposits of approximately $84m.

Partners Bank in Florida with total assets of $65.5m and total deposits of approximately $64.9m.

A weekend report declares that embattled Capmark, formerly GMAC’s commercial property arm, and the nation’s top commercial real estate lender, is finally filing for bankruptcy.

The firm recently reported a second-quarter loss of $1.6bn and struggled for options to stay afloat.

According to the release, Capmark continues to look for appropriate strategic outcomes in light of the institution’s financial condition and the ongoing challenges of the commercial real estate market. The firm will remain in operation for the short term.

Home sales in two states showed positive results according to local Realtor data. Illinois home sales increased year-over-year in the month of September for the first time since March 2006 with first-time buyers driving the rebound in sales.

According to the Illinois Association of Realtors latest report, statewide total home sales (which include single-family and condominiums) in September 2009 reached 10,350 homes sold, up 3.3% from September 2008 sales of 10,018.

The Illinois median price in September 2009 was $160,000 down 9.3% from $176,450 in September 2008. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

Florida’s existing home sales rose in September, which marks more than a year (13 months) that sales activity increased in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors.

September’s statewide sales also increased over sales activity in August in both the existing home and existing condominium markets.

Existing home sales rose 34% last month with a total of 14,419 homes sold statewide compared to 10,778 homes sold in September 2008, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide existing home sales last month increased 4.1% over statewide sales activity in August.

Florida Realtors also reported a 77% increase in statewide sales of existing condos in September compared to the previous year’s sales figure; statewide existing condo sales last month rose 8.9%over the total units sold in August.

All of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased existing home sales in September; all but one MSA also showed gains in condo sales. A majority of the state’s MSAs have reported increased sales for 15 consecutive months.

The Information Management Network kicked off its ABS East conference in Miami yesterday. The conference is buzzing with new offerings from several technology companies offering a new range of performance tracking tools for securitization professionals.

First American Core Logic is promoting a new bond pricing platform for non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). The idea is to better predict loan-level behavior.

On Tuesday, Principia Partners will launch an updated version of its software platform. The update will offer an enhanced interplay between bank capital requirements and the structured finance markets. More on the specifics of the product later in the week.