Business in brief: Home sales data similar to last June
Home sales in Spokane County dipped slightly in the past month but remain near levels seen a year ago.
The average sales price in June was up from May but lower than one year ago, the Spokane Association of Realtors reported Monday.
Closed sales totaled 506 in June, down from 519 in May. In June 2009, there were 501 closed sales in the county.
The average sales price in June was $190,308, up from $180,523. A year ago, the average sales price was $193,164.
Closed residential sales in the first half of the year are up 24.5 percent from the same period in 2009.
The number of homes and condominiums for sale grew in June to 3,406. That’s up by 102 properties from May. A year ago, 3,282 homes and condos were on the market.
Scott Maben
Agency probes loans to mortgage giants
WASHINGTON – A federal regulator is taking steps that could lead to the recovery of some losses sustained by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Monday it is looking to get back money that the two government-controlled companies have lost on mortgage securities packaged and sold by Wall Street firms.
During the housing market’s boom years, the two government-sponsored companies snapped up those securities, which contained some of the riskier loans made during the housing boom years. But they declined dramatically in value after the market went bust.
The regulatory agency said it has issued 64 subpoenas seeking loan files and other documents to determine whether the sellers of those securities made any false statements or omissions. Fannie and Freddie had tried to do so themselves but have faced resistance in getting the loan documents.
Associated Press
Briefcase
From wire reports
• Alcoa Inc. said Monday it posted a second-quarter profit as it sold more aluminum in the commercial vehicles, packaging and construction markets. The manufacturing giant reported net income of $136 million, or 13 cents a share, for the quarter ending June 30. That compared with a loss of $454 million, or 47 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $5.19 billion from $4.24 billion.
• Weyerhaeuser plans to distribute $5.6 billion to shareholders through a special dividend, the company said Monday. The payout, expected on Sept. 1, includes the regular quarterly dividend of approximately $11 million. It will be paid to shareholders as of July 22.
• Corvette owners could soon be revving up an engine they built with their own hands. General Motors Co. said Monday that buyers who order a 2011 Corvette Z06 or ZR1 can help assemble their cars’ high-performance engines. The engines will be built at GM’s Performance Build Center in Wixom, Mich., where GM assembles all of its high-performance engines by hand. GM said it will take buyers about six hours to assemble, adjust and clean their engines with the parts provided. A skilled technician will supervise.
• Consumer Reports said Monday it will not recommend Apple Inc.’s newest iPhone because of reception problems caused by its antenna design. After the iPhone 4 went on sale in June, buyers started complaining that holding the gadget a certain way could cause reception to fade and calls to drop. Apple has said that any phone will lose signal strength when gripped in certain ways. It said the iPhone 4 seems to show a larger drop because it has been using a faulty formula to decide how many signal bars to show. But Consumer Reports said it tested phones that use AT&T Inc.’s network, and only the iPhone 4 seemed to have reception issues.