The slide in U.S. home prices may have another three years to go as sellers add as many as 12 million more properties to the market. Shadow inventory is preventing prices from bottoming after a 28 percent plunge from 2006.
A trade group for bond insurers said that Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender by assets, should repurchase as much as $20 billion in home loans that were based on wrong or missing information.
Distressed loan purchaser Kondaur Capital Corp. is cautioning about housing prices falling further still. Kondaur chief executive Jon Daurio and ratings agency Moody's expect prices to fall another 20 percent.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Sept. 14 lowered its ratings for home builder Pulte Group Inc., saying the company's earnings will likely remain weak into next year due to a slower-than-expected U.S. housing recovery.
The majority of builders say they would be building and selling more homes today if funding was more readily available, according to Professional Builder's latest reader survey.
For more than 40 years, Professional Builder has published the Annual List of Housing's Giants. In recent years, the list has become more familiarly known as the Giant 400, because it lists the 400 largest home builders in the United States. This y