Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. CNN Money, “The new year picked up where 2007 left off, as sales of existing homes fell in January to the lowest level in nearly a decade, according to the National Association of Realtors. The reading was the lowest since the group began reporting annual sales pace in 1999, down 23.4% from a year earlier. The median price of a home sold during the month fell 4.6% to $201,100 from $210,900 a year earlier. Before the start of the current housing slump, it had been 11 years since prices fell compared to a year earlier.”

“The median price of a single-family home dropped to the lowest point since February 2005, falling 5.1% to $198,700.”

The Wall Street Journal. “Inventories of homes increased 5.5% at the end of January to 4.19 million available for sale, which represented a 10.3-month supply at the current sales pace. There was a 9.7-month supply at the end of December, revised from a previously estimated 9.6 months.”

“‘Inventories are high, so it’s not surprising prices are declining,” NAR economist Lawrence Yun said.”

From MarketWatch. “UBS may be facing legal action from a German firm that bought into a $500 million portfolio of collateralized debt obligations that the Swiss investment-banking giant structured and sold. HSH Nordbank said in a statement on Sunday that …

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