Home construction plunged last month to the lowest level since October as the economy remained weak and demand for housing plummeted. But driving the June decline was a more than 20 percent drop in condominium and apartment construction, which makes up a small but volatile portion of the housing market. Construction of single-family homes, the largest part of the market, was down slightly. It dropped 0.7 percent.

Foreclosure filings fell 5 percent in the first half of the year but still exceed the first six months of 2009 by 8 percent, according to figures released today by RealtyTrac. One in 78 homeowners received a foreclosure notice in the first half.

via upi.com

Posted via email from Title Insurance
Continuing Ed for Title Agents

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Title Insurers’ Risk-Adjusted Capital Adequacy at Year-End 2009

July 15, 2010 admin

Fitch Ratings’ 2009 U.S. title insurance industry’s risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio of
133% was a significant improvement over the 2008 RAC ratio of 105%. However, from a
historical perspective, 2009’s ratio is the second lowest since Fitch began calculating
the ratio in 1997. Fitch calculates the industry RAC ratio on a weighted average basis,
thus Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (Fidelity) and First American Financial Corp (First
American), whose market shares are 42% and 27%, respectively, have a great influence
on the industry ratio.