U.S. mortgage rates drop as credit crunch begins to weigh (Market Watch)
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Long-term mortgage rates eased this week, following consecutive weeks of increases, Freddie Mac's chief economist said on Thursday.

CORRECT: U.S. mortgage rates edge lower: Freddie Mac (Market Watch)
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. mortgage rates edged lower in the week ending Thursday, with the national average on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan hitting 6.37% vs. 6.42% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said in its weekly survey. The 15-year, five-year hybrid adjustable-rate and one-year ARM also inched down. The declines follows three weeks in which rates on longer-term mortgages had risen. ...

Mortgage applications down 2.7% last week, MBA reports (Market Watch)
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- The volume of mortgage applications filed last week decreased by 2.7%, coinciding with a week-to-week drop in interest rates on fixed-rate loans, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

Number of minority home buyers down in 2006 (Market Watch)
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- The total number of minority home buyers who took out a mortgage dropped 7.1% in 2006, led by a 21.5% decrease in the number of Asian-American buyers. But the number of African-American home buyers actually rose slightly last year, reflecting a 0.6% increase over 2005, according to a study released on Thursday.

Fitch Presale: Bear Stearns Commercial Mortgage Trust Securities Trust 2007-TOP28 (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
CHICAGO----Fitch Ratings has issued a presale report on Bear Stearns Commercial Mortgage Trust Securities Trust 2007-TOP28.