Housing

OVERNIGHT MONEY: Dim view

by Bernie Becker, Vicki Needham, Erik Wasson and Peter Schroeder - 05/18/11 11:26 PM ET

“Demand remains weak, loans are increasingly difficult to qualify for and the shadow inventory of several million distressed properties is weighing down the market,” said Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac in a statement. “All of these things need to improve before housing can recover.”

Pete Flint, Trulia’s chief executive, added that it will be another 18 months or so until prices stabilize in the housing market.

The new survey also found that about 45 percent of respondents believe the federal government hasn’t done enough to prevent foreclosures, while 17 percent say the government is too involved.

About one-third of those asked said they know someone who has struggled to pay their mortgage and has stopped altogether or tried to get their loan modified.

{mosads}In the first three months of the year, foreclosure filings dropped to the lowest level in three years, slowed by a backlog caused by problems with repossessing documentation. All 50 states and the big banks are looking into problems causing that slowdown.

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR:

An anniversary!: Well, sort of. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the Budget Committee ranking member, is set on Thursday to highlight that Senate Democrats will have last passed a budget resolution 750 days ago.

And it remains to be seen when that number might head back to zero: Democrats on Senate Budget have been unable, as of yet, to come up with a budget. Even if they had, it couldn’t be marked up this week because of a rule requiring 48 hours notice. And Budget members also are expected to focus on the floor vote next week on the House-passed Paul Ryan budget.

In short, it’s hard to imagine a budget resolution passing in May.

Debating the debt ceiling: Let Wall Street never say it hasn’t gotten attention during the debt limit discussions. This time around, Austan Goolsbee, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, is the one scheduled to speak in New York – not long after appearances by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House majority leader.

With all sorts of people closely watching the markets’ response to the debt limit machinations, Goolsbee said in Chicago on Wednesday that linking deficit-reduction and the ceiling was “quite insane.”

As you might have heard, Boehner and Cantor don’t see it that way. Geithner said Tuesday that if the GOP makes the Ryan budget a precondition for raising the ceiling, it’s on them when the U.S. has its first-ever default.

DSK in NYC: Staying in the Big Apple, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF chief charged with sexual assault and currently being held without bail, has another hearing set for Thursday. Down the I-95 corridor, John Lipsky, his at least temporary successor, will deliver a late afternoon speech at Washington’s Peterson Institute.

Talking trade: With the White House calling for a congressional vote this year on Russia’s attempt to join the World Trade Organization, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is slated to meet Thursday with Elvira Nabiullina, Russia’s minister of economic development and a key figure in Russia’s WTO push.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, said in Moscow on Wednesday that he wants the country to modernize faster than Vladimir Putin, the former president and current prime minister. Medvedev is seen as pushing for WTO membership, while Putin wants to preserve tariffs and barriers to protect vulnerable domestic industry.

Up on the Hill: Just because the House is gone doesn’t mean there won’t be fun on the Senate side.

For instance, the Banking Committee, which is responsible for authorizing the transit chunk of the federal surface transportation program, is set to discuss public transit at a Thursday hearing. Scheduled guests include industry experts and Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration.

The Small Business panel, meanwhile, checks back in with last year’s legislation that looks to boost the economy by giving tax breaks and capital to small businesses. Small business and administration officials are among those scheduled to appear.

Over at Armed Services, lawmakers are slated to hear about the costly F-35 joint strike fighter program. And Judiciary is set to mark up a bill that would set aside a portion of the billions of dollars the government collects in fines and penalties for fighting fraud, the latest effort in an ongoing push on the issue from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the panel’s chairman, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), its ranking member.

{mosads}Economic indicators:

— The Labor Department is slated to drop weekly initial jobless claims.

— And the Commerce Department is expected to circulate its leading indicators report, a roundup of mostly previously announced data including new orders, jobless claims, building permits and stock prices.

BREAKING WEDNESDAY:

The apparently true, yet not quite believable story of the day: A German insurer brought about 20 prostitutes to a party several years ago rewarding especially prolific agents.

Middle East update: As our Sam Youngman reports, President Obama, readying a speech about the region, has moved to freeze any and all American assets held by Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

On the Money’s Wednesday:

— The Fed: Yes, the economy’s still recovering, and, yes, inflation’s under control.

— WTO sides with the U.S. on at least part of the Airbus case.

— CFPB: Let’s make mortgage paperwork simpler.

— Pat Toomey: No, it’s on Geithner if the U.S. defaults.

— Darrell Issa starts a housing investigation.

— Retailers start PR blitz for Durbin (Amendment, that is).

— Baucus/Grassley/Hatch to China: You can do better on IP protection.

— SEC moves forward with new credit-rating rules.

— GOP senators to IRS: How political were those gift tax talks?

— Unions: Yes, we should cut corporate tax loopholes. No, they shouldn’t pay for lower corporate tax rates.