The Archives
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09.08.08Buckhead condos go rentalMezzo, a 94-unit, 20-story luxury condominium development on Peachtree in Buckhead is being converted to a rental-only project, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. It’s the latest casualty to a dreadful market in Atlanta for condos, which has seen a number of projects delayed or cancelled: John Weiland’s One Museum Place, a $350 million development across from the High Museum of Art is on hold until at least next year; Skyline, the planned 21-story project at Lindbergh stopped at the 4th floor with financing difficulties; and Trump towers in midtown has yet to break ground. Still it illustrates the difficulties ...
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09.07.08Govenrment bailout for Fannie and FreddieToday, officials of the Federal government announced that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pivotal players in the secondary mortgage market, are being placed under the direct control of the government. The plan, announced by Tresury Secretary Henry Paulson, places the two GSEs into "conservatorship" - with oversight by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Between the two, Fannie and Freddie back $5 trillion in home loans, but both companies have come under increasing financial pressure as the real estate industry has imploded over the past year. We’d love to be your Closing Attorneys in Georgia. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to ...
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08.26.08Home prices continue declineHome prices across the country have fallen to record lows, according to the latest report of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index – and there are few signs that the declines are slowing down. The 10-city index fell 0.6 percent in June while the 20-city index fell 0.5 percent. The year-over-year declines in home prices were 17.0 percent for the 10-city index and 15.9 percent for the 20. All 20 cities measured by Case-Shiller showed negative returns over the past year, though the pace of monthly declines in June slowed across the country as a whole when compared with May. The hardest hit areas ...
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07.26.08Atlanta ranks 20th in foreclosuresGeorgia dropped to the state with the eighth-highest foreclosure rates in the second quarter of 2008, according to the Realtytrac second-quarter foreclosure report which was published on Friday. Last quarter, the state ranked sixth in the nation. Additionally, metro Atlanta measured twentieth overall among cities with the most foreclosures. Realtytrac, which measures foreclosure filings – default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions - reported that 27,253 homes in Georgia fell into foreclosure during the second quarter. That’s a drop of 2.63 percent from the first quarter, but still 85.12 percent above last year – representing a foreclosure rate of one out of ...
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07.11.08The doomsday deviceOr: how I learned to stop worrying and the love the GSEs. Fortune: The $5 trillion mess. Fortune: The Fannie and Freddie doomsday scenario. New York Times: U.S. weighs takeover plan of two mortgage giants. Wall Street Journal: The price of Fannie Mae. Bloomberg: Fannie, Freddie ‘insolvent’ after losses, Poole says. If real estate investors thought times were tough, imagine how much worse it could be if either Fannie or Freddie went under. Fannie and Freddie, in purchasing mortgages on the secondary market, are responsible for half of all mortgage loans in the country. While a government bailout is much more likely than either company imploding, the ...