Monday Morning Cup of Coffee

A look at news across HousingWire’s weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues: The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded nearly $127 million in grants to 48 local projects Saturday to clean lead-based paint and prevent other house safety hazards. According to a blog post over the weekend by Jon Gant, director of the HUD office of healthy homes and lead hazard control, the grants will help restore 11,000 homes, train workers in lead safety and increase public awareness about the dangers posed to children. Roughly $10 million of these funds will also go to addressing other issues such as mold, moisture, fire hazards, radon and carbon monoxide poisoning. In May 2009, HUD awarded $100 million in Recovery Act funds to the same cause. HUD was able to make more than 16,700 homes safe that year, and in the last decade, the amount of children who tested positive for lead poisoning fell from 8% a decade ago to less than 1% today. The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule late Friday detailing how security-based swaps participants should disclose information in the transaction to others involved in the deal. The rule created under powers given to the SEC by the Dodd-Frank Act to regulate the securities industry establishes standards for the confirmation and documentation of security-based swap transactions such as credit default swaps, which were rampant during the housing boom. The rule requires all participants in a deal to provide electronic record of information. It also requires a party in the deal to acknowledge a transaction within 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 24 hours of the execution depending on if the transaction was processed electronically or not. December home sales in San Diego fell 17% from the year before, but the area’s housing inventory remains in stable condition, according to a report from the Berkland Group, a research firm based in the area. In the first half of 2010, when the homebuyer tax credit was still in force, home sales trended 2.5% higher than the same period the year before, but fell 14.5% off of the 2009 pace in the back half of the year. Still, though, more evidence shows that San Diego is one of the fastest markets to a recovery. The housing inventory there reached 5.9 months worth of homes. A balanced market usually has a six-month supply of homes for sale, the Berkland Group said. Rents on apartments fell in nearly 60% of U.S. markets during the fourth quarter, though most were minimal, according to real estate data provider Real Facts. The average rent on an apartment is $956, down $2 from the previous quarter. This according to the firm shows that the sector is not distressed. The occupancy rate remained unchanged at 92.8% from the previous three months and up 1.7% from a year ago. Real Facts said many landlords are hoping to push prices back to pre-crisis levels, but buyers aren’t budging. “The reality is that today’s market belongs to the renter, especially those with good credit,” Real Facts said. “Renter’s are clearly demonstrating price resistance for this commodity at the present moment and property owners will have to play the waiting game as the economy makes its snail paced comeback.” One bank closed over the weekend, bringing the total for 2011 so far to three. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed Ogiethorpe Bank, and Bank of the Ozarks agreed to assume all $212.7 million in deposits. It also agreed to purchase essentially all $230.6 million in total assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimates the closing to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $80.4 million. Write to Jon Prior. Follow him on Twitter: @JonAPrior