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Today I received a nice note from an economist at HUD saying they are using the market report series we prepare for Prudential Douglas Elliman in US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s US Housing Market Conditions site, specifically their annual Regional Activity summary. Using-our-market-reports-aside, its a pretty good overview of what happened in each region. Sort of reminds me of a Beige Book-like housing analysis.

Not only that, but they provide access to a slew of data, research papers and reports as well as interactive maps that allow you to drill down to local levels.

This isn’t a sales pitch so check it out.

Here’s a hot button research paper on their site now:

Loan Modifications and Redefault Risk: An Examination of Short-Term Impacts

>A primary concern with loan modification efforts is the seemingly high rate of recidivism. Within 6 months, more than one-half of all modified loans were 30 days or more delinquent and more than one-third were 60 days or more delinquent (OCC and OTS, 2008). Do these high rates of redefault imply that loan modifications are failing?

I would say as currently structured – YES.