REAL ESTATE

With home prices low, now could be a good time for parents to give their children a home or even an investment property.

It is a little too early to celebrate new life in the housing market, but Americans should soon have something to party about if the spring housing season is any gauge.

The deterioration of the Manhattan office availability rate slowed in the second quarter, signaling the worst may be over for the market, real estate services company FirstService Williams said in a report.

Signs that home prices may have bottomed have stirred hope on Wall Street that the economy is on the mend, yet tight credit and a new foreclosure wave cast doubt on any looming housing revival.

The end of the decline in real estate is nowhere near, and yet U.S. banks may feel it shrewd to hold onto troubled loans in the sector rather than sell them or take losses.

As deep-pocketed private investors line up to take advantage of a depressed U.S. commercial real estate market, the eventual winners are likely going to be players with the capital -- and the stomach -- to jump in while prices are hitting bottom.

U.S. mortgage applications climbed last week from a seven-month low, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday, adding to emerging signs that the three-year housing market collapse may be abating.

Budget hotel chain Red Roof Inn Inc. has defaulted on $361.4 million of mortgage debt, credit rating agency, Realpoint LLC, said on Tuesday.

The Brazilian real estate market is booming again after fizzling at the end of last year as sales have rebounded in one of the best emerging markets, a New York-based real estate private equity investor said in an interview on Tuesday.

Borrowers in the market for office, retail and apartment buildings are beginning to come to terms with lost value in commercial real estate, portending a capitulation required for a market rebound, a top industry lawyer said on Monday.

Sales of previously owned homes in the United States rose at a slower-than-expected pace in May, an industry survey showed on Tuesday, pointing to a sluggish recovery from the severe economic recession.

Bruce Rose, founder of hedge fund Carrington Capital Management LLC, and a pioneer in the roller-coaster market for mortgage credit, is set for the next phase of the housing crisis: recovery.

Not a lot of goodness and cheer in the real estate industry these days.

LaSalle Investment Management has about $1.5 billion to $2 billion ready to use to buy U.S. commercial property for its investors but does not expect to pull the trigger for a few quarters.

The president of Citi Property Investors (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday he expected to retain his stake in troubled Austrian developer Atrium European Real Estate for at least 5-7 years, and that he was happy with the double-digit returns it yielde

Toxic real estate mortgages are holding the global economy to ransom and the banking sector will not return to health without a purge of its distressed property assets, the CEO of Citigroup Property Investors said.

Downtown Manhattan is poised for a powerful rebound in coming years despite Wall Street's downsizing and millions of square feet of new commercial real estate expected to come to market, a top Manhattan commercial real estate broker said on Monday.

Delinquencies on mortgages that underlie commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) rose by $1.63 billion in May, pushed up in part by the bankruptcy of General Growth Properties Inc (GGWPQ.PK), according to rating agency Realpoint.

The global economic renaissance will remain in grave peril until banks and investors quit mourning the end of a long-dead real estate boom and face up to losses inflicted by years of reckless lending and spending.

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The multifamily sector is leading all other types of U.S. commercial real estate in having the highest loan default rate but the others are likely to follow, experts say.

U.S. mortgage rates dropped in the latest week, retreating sharply from a seven-month high as fears over inflation abated and Treasury yields dropped.

Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.57 percent late Thursday after hovering around 5.47 percent on Wednesday, according to real estate Website Zillow.com.

This year's peak home-buying season was lackluster, as buyers seeking to trade up to larger houses were absent, said the head of one of the country's largest real estate firms.

Those green shoots that optimists keep seeing may be growing in the real estate market -- there are some indicators of healthier, more stable activity in housing.

The Department of Commerce reports that housing starts for privately owned structures increased by 17% in May on a seasonally adjusted basis.The 17% increase well exceeded economist expectation of a 4.8% increase.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a fourth consecutive week, with overall demand plunging to its lowest level in nearly seven months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

The Obama administration is pushing tough reforms for credit rating agencies and wants them to differentiate between corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities -- a measure long opposed by Wall Street and the real estate finance industry.

Freddie Mac (FRE.N) (FRE.P), the second largest U.S. home funding source, hopes to name a new chief executive officer and a finance chief next month, the Wall Street Journal said.