California foreclosure starts fall to 2007 level

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Times consumer columnist David Lazarus talks about the rebounding real estate market with Gary Painter, director of research at USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate, and real estate editor Nancy Rivera Brooks.By Alejandro LazoOctober 17, 2012, 10:29 a.m.The number of Californians entering foreclosure dropped in the third quarter to its lowest level since early 2007.Foreclosure filings have fallen as banks work toward completing more loan modifications and short sales. An improving economy and rising prices have also helped.“Prices in most areas today are up significantly from their low point in early 2009,” John Walsh, president of San Diego real estate firm DataQuick, said in a news release. “Additionally, during the past year, we’ve seen short sales overtake the foreclosure process as the procedure of choice to deal with homeowner distress.”http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-foreclosures-20121017,0,4276025.story

Spain debt costs seen easing on Moody's, aid request hopes

Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:05pm EDT* Spain to auction bonds due 2015, 2016, 2022* Auction results due around 0840 GMT* Yields seen lower on all three maturitiesBy Paul DayMADRID, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Spain's funding costs are set to fall at auction on Thursday after Moody's affirmed the country's investment-grade credit rating and as markets expect Madrid to ask for aid soon.The Treasury plans to raise 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion euros ($4.6 billion-$5.9 billion) in an auction of three bonds maturing in 2015, 2016 and 2022. Results of the auction will be published at around 0840 GMT.The auction comes on the heels of a successful T-bill sale on Tuesday, when the Treasury sold more short-term paper than expected at lower rates than a month earlier.Levels in the secondary market, considered a good guide to primary auction results, showed that while yields had eased on all three bonds since they were last sold, the longer-term issue remained under the most pressure."The supply should be well-covered, especially the shorter-term bonds. But our focus will be on the 10-year, which has seen fairly weak demand, and the effect of Moody's," rate strategist at RBS Harvinder Sian said."The market is still looking for the timing of the aid request, but the danger is that if the market continues to rally the Spanish government holds off (from appealing for help)."Spain is the most recent focus of attention in the almost three-year-oldeuro zone debt crisis and has seen premiums on benchmark debt soar to near unsustainable levels on concerns Madrid cannot control its finances in the midst of a recession.Madrid is under growing pressure from investors and many European counterparts to ask for aid from the rescue fund in order to trigger a bond-buying programme by the European Central Bank. The ECB buying will focus on maturities of up to three years, which may also explain part of the pressure on Spanish longer-term yields.The country dodged a bullet late on Tuesday when ratings agency Moody's left its sovereign debt rating one notch above junk, in line with that set by rival Standard & Poor's.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/17/spain-economy-bonds-idUSL5E8LHGEA20121017