because you heard it, diana olick. our chief expert on housing. i'm going to trunk ate that quote and take it out of context. thank you very much, diana. and do not miss us tomorrow night on "cnbc reports" at 8:00, have we hit a housing bottom. >>> david tice is with us and the ever-bullish bill paulson and steven staller of staller investment group and tom lieden, another bull, and cnbc's rick santelli. where should we start, gentlemen? who wants to start us off? i think this housing -- these housing numbers, despite what diana olick says, i think it's good news. >> what do you think? >> i think we've -- >> i'll jump in here, dennis. as diana said very succinctly, the numbers are the numbers. and the emotion might be there. we all want this economy to get better. i mean, i want my daughters to have a better future, et cetera. you know, i don't go home and kick puppies, dennis, as you have accused me of. however, i do believe this market, people buy more homes in june than they do in may. and unfortunately, we've lost 9 million jobs in this decline

cnbc's diana olick is in washington with all those details. diana? >> reporter: in addition to that, melissa, just a few hours ago the manhattan district attorney announced indictments against 13 people in a $100 million-plus mortgage fraud scheme. the defendants include lawyers, bankers, appraisers, and mortgage brokers. and it is just one example of a growth trend. >> this one shot -- we say over $100 million. it could easily be $200 million. it's hard. we're still looking at it. but that's one group we've looked at with $200 million of bad loans that were then bundled and put into cdos and put out into the secondary market. in the new york metropolitan area alone if you talk to the various d.a.'s offices there's hundreds and hundreds of these cases. >> the fbi now reports losses of $1.4 billion to financial institutions last year due to mortgage fraud with cases rising 36% to close at 64,000. fbi fielgsz through march put fraud reports on track to hit 70,000 this year. fraud hot spots range coast to coast. the report blames falling home prices and

i'm diana olick in washington. e sales have risen, prices still down 15%, and sales now all based on homes at or below a quarter million. >> thank you, diana. market action. oils higher, the s&p 500 touching its highest level since early november. the nasdaq going for 12 in a row. scat wapner kicks it off at the new york stock exchange. scott, we're above 9000 for the first time since january. >> and michelle, that's one of the interesting levels that traders are talking about here. the other is on the s&p as w

joining us is new york state mogul is bill rudin, president of rudin management and cnbc's diana olick back with us as well. bill, let me start with you, incredible number, 11%, saw a little graphic in that story, it is wrong. prices down 12% year over year, maybe haven't seen a bottom in prices, do you feel like there has about a change even in sentiment the past 30 to 60 days or not? >> definitely a change in sentiment, probably since the beginning of april. in our business, mostly focused in new york city, we have seen the phones ringing, people looking at space. deals are being -- >> real deals? you have seen contracts, like concrete evidence of change? >> we have 10 million feet of office space in new york city and we have seen the increase in activity probably up 20, 30%. our apartments we have done over about 110 leases in the last four months. and in general, its marketplace, just last week in new york city, there was about 5, 600,000 feet of lease assigned. eli lily signed 100,000-foot lease on the east side, a biotech center, a new expanding school in downtown took 200,000 fe

so, you know, it's a bunch of number crunching.. >> diana olick, thanks so much. should the government refuel the cash for clunkers program? let's bring in jack kaderi chairman of smarttransportation.org, calls himself the architect of the program. and also james, reuters money and politics columnist. thanks to both of you for joining us. i want to try and crunch some of these numbers as we're going through them. and since you're credited with being the architect of the program, how many new sales do you think this resulted in, and then how much does that translate to? say it's 110,000, like jd powers said, how many jobs does that mean, because we're touting this program as a big success, and tfbl it is, but what does that really mean? >> well, listen, let's first remember that the sponsors of this bill, the initial bill, dianne feinstein, steve israel, chuck sueman and others asked for $4 billion initially. not $1 billion. they knew this would be a successful program. they asked for four times the amount that was given. so now we're in a bit of of a crunch becaus

cnbc's diana olick now in washington with the details. diana?> well, maria, it took just this two-page bill and about an hour on the floor and suddenly the house had funneled $2 billion more into the cash for clunkers program. a ranking republican called it martial law tactics. but -- >> i'm very pleased with the progress that's been made in the house today on the cash for clunkers program. i am guardedly optimistic about the direction that our economy is going. but we've got a lot more work to do. >> the clunkers program, which officially kicked off monday, has spent $150 million and has another 800 to 850 million in commitments pending. commitments pending. at $4,500 per car, that's about 250,000 cars clunked and the 250,000 cars clunked and the same sold. >> let me tell you what we've seen since the official kickoff seen since the official kickoff on july 24th. we've had a 36% surge in traffic. now, here's the important component. the credit scores of the clunker traffic is higher than our normal traffic. >> though an additional $2 billion fu

let's bring cnbc's diana olick.e heard no less than five people trying to press you on a bottom on the market. have you caved in. >> it's not a question if i cave in. it's not my job to make the news, not to call my news. if you want to talk about prices, i'm e' happy to do that. >> tell us about prices. >> this is a positive report. no question about it. you're seeing these month to month increases. there are see sobl factors in home prices. historically prices always go up in the spring time. i could explain to you why. i has to do with who is buying homes. that's why year over year is much more important. that said, we are for four months in a row seeing those analyzed year-over-year price drops improving. if you remember back in the fall -- >> wait. when you say you're seeing those price drops improving. >> less worth. as in they were down at record levels, 18%, 19%. every time we got on tv every month we were saying it's another record price drop. guess what? no records in the past four months. the price drop n

>> thank you, diana olick with more of the less bad situation on the housing market.eantime, small business lender cit off of life support for now but that doesn't mean the companies are getting the financing they need to stay afloat. the national small business association out with the economic report today. and the news is not very encouraging. 80% of small business essay they run able to obtain adequate financing and almost 75% say they have not seen any impact from the stimulus package at all. whatsoever. joining us now first on cnbc is todd mccracken, president and ceo of the national small business association. great to see you, todd. the news is not looking good. what caught my eye the very first time in your survey, the majority of respondents said that they're seeing revenue decreases. that's not unlike what we're seeing a lot of companies listed here at the nyse. but the first time you're seeing it in your survey. >> it is. and it's pretty significant. the number we're having in revenue decreases that number increases 3-1. and that's a big turn around from w

now let's go to washington for some more breaking news from cnbc's diana olick. diana, this could be big. >> larry, senate democrat ken conrad is fighting back against shall we say refreshed allegations that he and fellow democratic senator christopher dodd got sweetheart deals from countrywide financial on their personal mortgages. take a listen to what conrad had to say. >> i was never told that they waived a point on my mortgage. in fact, mr. feinberg told the wilmington newspaper last year that he did not tell me. so why he has changed his story, i don't know. but he clearly has. he's contradicted himself. the simple truth is, he did not tell me. i have done nothing wrong. i will make my case to the ethics committee, and i am confident that there will be a good outcome. >> now, this all stems from a confidential interview with the senate ethics committee and robert feinberg, who was a former countrywide executive. according to "the washington post," they interviewed the executive, and he said he worked as a loan officer and what conrad and dodd are saying stan

diana olick is in washington with details. diana? >> reporter: bill, no question. this was a huge number today, beating the street's expectations by a lot. new home sales volume seem to be bumping along the bottom at least, but with a few cautions, of course. take a look at the numbers, if you will. sales rose 11% month to month to 384,000 units. keep in mind, though, that's very low volume. down from about a peak of 1.4 million at the height of the boon. median price down 12% from a year ago and that, of course, is driving sales. add to that a tax credit. but some stabilization of prices. the most important number is the inventory. down to an 8.8 month supply. and it's not just the increased sales pace driving that number but real actual inventory number down in units. builders, of course, reacting quite nicely to the news with big bumps for the big guys. still plaguing the builders are increasing foreclosures. >> in a lot of places, the appraisers have not been adjusting for the fact that it's a foreclosed home in the sale or short sale. and we have even had case

diana olick is here to tell us what's being done to try to stop the madness. diana?eporter: that's right. the warning signs were all there. the landscape was ripe, due to the crash of the mortgage market. it made the landscape ripe for all kinds of new mortgage fraud. now, the fbi is now reporting losses of $1.4 billion to financial institutions last year due to mortgage fraud with cases rising 36% to close to 64,000. fbi filings through march put fraud reports on track to top 70,000 this year. fraud hotspots range coast to coast, and the report blames falling home prices and rising foreclosures for fueling a climate fraught with opportunistic participants desperate to maintain or increase their standard of living. and today' boowers are an and today' boowers are an increasingly ey target. >> they're increasing because u have desperate homeowners. u have desperate homeowners. you have desperate homeowners who, where else ar they goi to ? to ? are they going to go -- you know, either their home or live under a bridge underpass, you know, with a family of four kids. >>

. >> i'm diana olick in washington. the 25 loan servicers were called to task at treasury this morning, ordered to improve loan modifications and increase capacity. but sources tell cnbc those servicers are telling treasury that job losses and responsibility to shareholders are keeping the loan mod numbers low. >> i'm mary thompson. on the menu, ge capital expected lawsuits in its portfolio to be similar to this year and next, while it expects provisions for the losses to speak sometime next year. the finance arm of cnbc's parent says the current environment remains challenging. >>> i'm jim goldman in the silicon valley bureau. it does work out to a 42% premium for the company's shares. it follows the sun-oracle deal, and amazon, zap owes. >> let's focus on the market right now. the dow losing steam after three straight up sessions. energy leading the declines. investors also getting ready for massive treasury auction in just an hour. we kick it off at the new york stock exchange. what's the problem today, bob? >> the p

you have an economic report out here as diana olick was mentioning on the housing front. existing home sales kicking up and inventories kicking down. so a significant move not only in the home building stocks, but in the market as a whole. here is the home builders, as i said, across the board. telecoms, one of the strongest groups today, really on the back of a stronger than expected report from at&t, the wirelesses sector there. very strong, record low. and finally, let me mechanics the transports here, because it's a significant story. up 94 points or so. u.p.s., rider and union pacific all higher today. either in line or exceeded expectations, even though there still is weakness across the board. and i think "power lunch" is going to speak to the ceo of rider coming up. so you want to pay attention to that. as i send it up to the nasdaq and brian shackman. >> we're at levels we have not seen since 1992. we're up 2% here. better than 3 to 1. i mean, i always like to go back. cosby show was still on the air, johnnie carson on the air. this is a winning streak that we ha

let's get out to diana olick with the latest. >> that's right. there are two parts to this report from the census. there is the vacancy rate and home loaner ship rate. first of all, the homeowner vacancy rate has dropped to 2.5%. that's good because it means there are fewer, vacant homes. the bigger issue is how much inventory are the banks, that is foreclosed properties that they've taken back, how much of that are they holding off the market? the new results of vacant rates were actually seeing the for sale bucket drop. that is the number of homes for sale and vacant has dropped. the number of homes listed as simply other has actually increased. that means as we were saying yesterday in the existing home sales numbers we aren't seeing the banks hold on to more properties, keep them off the market. they don't want to push tell v them on the market because they're afraid that will push prices down further. how much is the bank holding on to? in the sense of numbers we are seeing they are holding on to more and more properties, not putting them up

closing nation, and senior economics reporter, and, of course, our very own, very knowledgeable diana olick. thanks to all of you for joining us. steve, let me let you take first crack at this. what do you think? do we need this program anymore? >> well, i don't think we're out of the housing crisis at all. but i do think that this program has never really worked very well. not just because so few people have signed up for it, but if you look at the evidence of this kind of program in the past, what you tend to get is people have a loan modification, and then they pay their mortgage for six months or a year, and then they're just back into the same crisis they were before. and you don't see a long run reduction in the amount of foreclosures. >> diana, what is exactly the problem here? because i interviewed jamie dimon a short while ago, and he said they were going to do 600,000 modifications, and only 200,000 have been done so far anywhere. no one is close to the target. what's the problem? >> well, if you ask the banker, they'll say it took a while to ramp up the program, to get the inform

diana olick is in washington with that story. >> that is foreclosures. after a full day of meetings with hud and treasury officials, the 25 loan servicers signed onto the administration's housing rescue program promised to increase the rate at which they provide loan modifications. they're now at a rate about 20,000 per week and looking for a goal of half a million loan modification trial offers by november 1st. this all started with a letter to the servicers from the hud and treasury secretaries summoning them to washington and the letter says we believe there is a general need for servicers to devote substantially more resources to this program. we are asking that all servicers expand servicing capacity and improve the execution quality of loin modifications in order to help the sizable number of homeowners at risk of foreclosure and eligible for the program. servicers are aware the plan itself creates roadblocks. >> it's unfortunate still there are different rules, different forms and different processes even between fannie mae and freddie mac which a

. >> but -- diana olick would jump into the conversation right now and say, well, prices haven't bottomed, though.h. >> no, that takes a much longer period of time.. what you see is, it bottoms demand-first sales and then a starts bottom which is supply, and finally prices will equalize the two. >> you're exactly right. that's a really important point that sales have to bottom first. actually, in these big troubled states like california and nevada, florida, the sales are rising very nicely. so that's slightly positive. roger kay, back to you. in a stock market sense, the best part of the story has got to be the healing in the financial and credit markets, right? so they're leading us out. i mean, that's the most basic leading indicator, isn't it? >> right. and then tech could basically ride all of those things, because the fleet is getting old, in enterprises, and companies now need to refresh their clients, so they're going to start buying again if they have some money. and so if there is an upturn in financial, then that accrues also to tech. >> dean, i mean, if i believe that financia

diana olick is following that story right now in washington. she has more on that. diana. >> well, maria, existing home sales rose for the third month in a row, indicating a stabilization in sales if not prices. but it's somewhat disjointed take a look at np sales up 3.6% although much of that was driven in a surge in multifamily. single family up 2%. prices up 15.4%. but that's actually an improvement from where they were last month, down nearly 17% year over year. inventories are trickier. yes, down a bit, but that doesn't account for so-called shadow inventory. >> i believe there are many banks including fannie and freddie who are also holding on to some properties. they are releasing foreclosed property on a measured way so as to not flood the market, which they perceive perhaps that could lead to even more drastic price cuts. >> and gern, it's very disjointed. the supply of homes on the market listed at under a quarter of amillion is just a six-month supply. historically that's pretty good. and that supply is based on number of homes and sales pace. the supply o

here is cnbc's diana olick with an explainer for us. go ahead. >> a new fbi report shows financial institutions lost $1.4 billion to mortgage fraud last year. the report blames falling home prices and rising foreclosures for creating a climate crooks can't resist and today desperate borrowers are easy pickings. a few months ago president obama committed half a billion dollars to fight mortgage fraud, but the report said new programs to save the housing market actually provide new opportunities for scam artists. >> all right, thanks, diana. so, how is mortgage fraud impacting your backyard, guys, michael in atlanta? >> well, we don't have any ongoing public investigations i can tell you about. but i can tell you that we've got the same kind of situation that you've got elsewhere, only a little bit more so. something like 7.5% of all the loans, all the mortgage loans, in metro atlanta are 90 days delinquent or more, and we've got 2% of all the mortgage loans in foreclosure, so this thing is nowhere near over. >> john, what about fraud, ou

. >> cnbc's diana olick is at watergate. why not? who doesn't want this awesome hotel?reporter: awesome to a point. you have to understand why is might not be so awesome to some bidders. they held a $40 million on this historic property that monument realty brought for $45 million in 2004. they couldn't pay and couldn't rehabilitate the hotel which some estimate would cost $100 million. it was up for auction and despite worldwide interest not one bidder raised their hand so the bank got the property for $25 million which was the opening bid. they say they will market it and try to sell it but again given the commercial real estate landscape and the way commercial lending is going which is pretty much nonexistent nobody will be able to get the money to renovate this place and that's why no bidders. >> will they tear it down if nobody buys? >> reporter: they're not going to tear it down. they will market it and try to sell it. some investors will get together and get the money. it's a great property, on the banks of the potomac river. it is an historic property, next to 1

cnbc's diana olick has more on what those numbers and the rest of the data we've gotten this week is saying about the state of the housing market. diana, you have had a very busy week already. tomorrow's going to be no different. we get some foreclosure data, right? >> yeah. it's just a slew of data this week. and the mortgage applications number geez week to week. and i don't like to look at the week to week because it changes so much. it's a volatile number. the four-week moving average tells us a little bit more. and we are seeing that purchase applications have fallen .5% in the four-week moving average. now, this is a forward-looking indicator because it tells us what we're going to see in sales because these are the folks who are getting the mortgages as opposed to the backward-looking indicators that we saw yesterday with the case shiller price home report that went back to may. what's so interesting here is that purchases are just so reliant right now on price and price point is everything and that's why you have the mortgage applications moving when you see just a little tick

another important mustard seed today, and diana olick joins us with the details. hello, diandiana. >> hello, larry. this was a big number today, beating street expectations by a lot. new home sales volumes appear to be bottoming out a bit, but i want to look at the numbers. new home sales rose 11% month-to-month to 384,000 units. keep in mind, though, that that's a very low volume. down from a peak during the housing boom about 1.4 million. median price down 12% from a year ago and that is driving those sales. add to that the first time home buyer tax credit, an extra $8,000, so stabilization there. the most important number, though, to me is the inventor s inventories, down to an 8.8 month supply, and it's not just the increased sale pace driving the supply, but inventory is driving units. still plaguing the builders are increasing foreclosures, especially the fact that appraisers are using foreclosures as comps in home sales transactions. now, this is all very good news, no question. but the foreclosures are still a thorn in the side of this housing recovery, an

i'm diana olick in washington. some hope in housing.ew census report shows the number of vacant homes in the u.s. is actually falling. investors are getting in and gobbling up inventories. but there may be a hitch. i'll get to that in just just a moment. take a look first at the homeowner vacancy rate which fell to 2.5% of all housing units. that's the lowest it's been since 1996. we've seen buying in investment distressed properties but some of that vacant stock namely foreclosures may not show up in the census data. the report breaks down data by for rent, for sale and others which can be homes held off the market. the number of properties for rent rose 6%. the number for sales fell 9%. and the other basket fell 2%. >> those are houses that are clearing, that are coming out of the vacant for sale, but they're going right into the vacant for rent. so that's becoming competition for the home builders. that's the category the home builders have to watch now. >> puryear estimates the banks are holding on to about 700,000 r.e.o. properties

i'm diana olick. >>> equitities oking to m mak pu into the home stretch wiwith ococks makakin mododes m mov gher as we e eer the falalnd momo i imptant hour of ththe trading day right now. welcomeo o "t closing bell," erybody. i'm scscotwawaer here onhe floor of the new york stotock exchange. y there, michelle. >> hey,scott. i'm michelle casosoabrera, in for maria bartiromo at bcbc globalalheadquarters. inhehearkets right now s stoss are showing someme mest momenenu in the finalalouourhough we're off the best levevel o oththe d. financial stocksks hpipingo provididsosomeupport.. thatat'sftft the s&p 500 hit a two-month low yesterday. here are the majajor indices rit now. theowow jes industrial averagee in positive territory y by lilitt m mor than 1010 inin. 8,8,8. can we g get b bac to 88,2?? as for t t nasdaq, iisis highe by nely 11 points. 3 of a percenen 1757. anthe s s&p00 right now also inositive territory by f frr poinints a gain of halflf a percent.. 883. scott? >> all r rig, , chelle, let's get more on daday' aconon ourr team covering g ee markets thth nysyse,hehe sdsdaqthe ny

. >>> i'm diana olick in washington, home sales appear to be gaining momentum, can we say the same about prices? a new report tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. >>> viacom reported second quarter earnings before the bell. video game sales hurt the media giants profits and the pressure's on redstone, will the sales generate enough cash to cover his debt? >>> and don't forget about amgen better than expected earnings and revenue and guides higher for the rest of the year. stock is up in the extended hours. i'll see you tomorrow on "closing bell," "fast money's" up next. good night. >>> amgen's second quarter profits rise 40% on lower costs and the biotech company raises the full year profit outlook. after the bell, amgen says it will cooperate on a pending osteoporosis drug. rates may be rising in the not too distant future, he's not a voting member of the fed panel. cnbc.com news now, "fast money" with michelle cabrera starts right now. >>> the "fast money" in just ten minutes, folks. melissa lee is on assignment, and fresh off the trading floor, these are your expert "fast money" traders. stocks at 3

our diana olick is in washington with details on that. >> foreclosure rates are still high, in the usual suspect states, california, arizona, nevada, but surprising cities are seeing drops, and some big jumps up. take a look at a new report from realtytrack.com. it shows foreclosure leaders like stockton, california and ft. myers, florida posted declines in the first half of this year, while portland, oregon, minneapolis, st. paul and boise i'd idaho posted big gains. why? job losses. but this is providing opportunities. >> some are in bad shape, but some are in better shape which is what we have been looking for for an investment. >> and that's why lisa watkins joined others for a foreclosure bus tour. some like her are real estate investors. others are just looking for their first home. >> you're going to buy many times 10, 20, 30% below market, maybe even more. >> and in today's market, price is everything. take a look at this data we requested exclusively from the national association of realtors. home sales at the lowest price points posted huge gains in june, while anything above a

our diana olick tracks wnwn well, one othe most expensive markets in the country.y.s epepin manhattan afloat? >>>> trific building. small buildingng. ononlybout 90 units. >> it't' a a one-bedroom condo. after sitting onon the market f ninene monthsitit j jus sold. >> y youreren' looking u u he.. you aree looking out a at a downtown view with a ice of th hudson ririve >> i walk inerere and see a very small oxox. >> thihiss over 800square feete. >> at thee openinin li price o $1.375 million, it sat. >> but when h reduced the pririe to 99 wee got ovever 20 dsds on over 100 showiwinginin a one-we period. >>>> aop agent in manhattatan,se sees condoss as a better be alalthgh condo prices felell 21 in thehe sonon quarter of ts year from a a year a ago while didianprice of a a co-on sank. really still a supply a and demand issue. there isn't't enonoug supply to drag down priceses >> reporter:r: we l know reaea estatete ialal about lolocaon. ththisuilding is lococat smack in the middle ofmidtowown. not yourrendiest neighbhborodod but a couple o of block omom cecentl park, nea

. >> in the case of the case-shiller home price index, diana olick has been culling through those numbersu said, yes, there maybe positives but there were a couple of key questions that you had. >> absolutely, erin. continuing this trend in positive housing news this month. home price are down still but down less than in previous months. take a look, if you will, at s&p case-shiller home price index report and the top 20 markets in the nation. prices were down 17.1% year over year but that's an improvement over the 18 boyne 1% decline in april. now after 16 consecutive months of record annual declines that began in october of 2007, we have now seen four consecutive months of volatile decline, improvement in annual returns but still plaguing the prices are foreclosures. >> in some of the markets we've looked at, forecloe, absolutely, particularly the january, february, march, period, they were most of the sales. so that's where we saw some of the steep declines. i thinks most recent foreclosure numbers showed some abatement also, but it did depend regionally how much foreclosures played in

diana olick in washington. what's your take on the numb brer bers? >> that's a big jump.re seeing 384. remember on this data though from the u.s. department of commerce, there is a wide margin of error. we do see revisions a lot as we saw in the 346,000. that's an upward revision in last month's number from 342,000. what i like to look at though is that month of inventory number. i'm seeing 8.8 months of inventory down from 10.2. we've been see that come down. that's coming down because of the rise in the sales rate. not necessarily the actual number of sales -- actual number of homes on the market. 281,000 homes on the market, which is down from 292 last month. that's an excellent move in the inventory. what we're really seeing now is that the investors are getting into this market. we've heard it anecdoteally that they're getting back in there and taking advantage of the prices. that's down from $234,300 one year ago. builders are giving incentives. no wonder the builder confidence number shot up last week. again, a really good report. >> diana, let me put you on the sp

i'm diana olick. live at the association of realtors, existing home sales rose 3.6% in june to seasonally adjusted annual rate, down from a down regardly revised may reading. sales are now 0.2% below june 2008. inventories fell ever so slightly to 3.823 million units. that represents a 9.4-month supply. the supply of homes under $250,000 is now at a six-month supply. the supply of homes over $1 million at a 20-month supply. that shows you who is buying and who is selling. median existing home prices in june that is down 15.4% from june of 2008. breaking it down regionally. in the northeast, sales are up 2 1/2%. in the midwest, up 5.9%. in the west, up 6.4%. that surge due to very low prices out west. prices down 24.9% in the west. condos versus single family. condos saw a surge in sales in june up 4%. single family, up 2.4%. realtors say that the first-time home buyer taking advantage of that tax credit made up 29% of sales in june. distressed sales actually fell from previous months. now saying that