Mortgage Lenders Network USA Inc. — which employs 1,800 people nationwide originating and servicing Alt-A and nonconforming mortgage loans — says it has stopped funding loans and accepting applications for new loans.

The Associated Press reports that telephone recordings at several MLN wholesale lending offices also say the lender is “exploring strategic alternatives” for its wholesale business lines. AP and Inman News were unable to reach company officials for further comment.

In a Dec. 8 statement, MLN President and Chief Executive Officer Mitch Heffernan sought to dispel rumors that the company was facing financial difficulties.

Wishful thinking will not sell your house

Three months was more than enough time last year for home listings in many areas to sell and even close. But now listings are expiring unsold, often leaving sellers wondering what to do next.

It’s possible that the term of the listing agreement — often 90 days — was unrealistic given current market conditions in the area. Sellers of expired or soon-to-be-expired listings should ask their agent to provide a printout from the multiple listing service showing all the sales in the area of somewhat comparable properties. Make sure the data includes the number of days the listing was on the market from list date to pending date and from listing to closing. A listing is pending when the sellers have accepted a purchase offer.

Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that housing-related industries — construction, furniture manufacturing and sales, real estate agents, mortgage brokers — will see more than 1 million jobs evaporate over the next two years because of the housing slowdown after five boom years for sales.

The slowdown that hit the U.S. economy will persist into 2007 as the once red-hot housing market continues to suffer through a serious correction, analysts say. As the new year begins, many private analysts are forecasting the economy will perform at the slowest pace in five years, a full percentage-point lower than growth in 2006.

Industrial real estate, once the overlooked stepsister to the powerhouse office and retail sectors, has come into its own.

Vacancy rates run at less than 7 per cent in all major centres save for Halifax and Montreal. Investor interest drove sales up 73 per cent to $7.1-billion last year and capitalization rates for the few properties that actually make it to market sit at anywhere from 5.7 to 7 per cent.

“What can I tell you? It has been a very good year and next year [in 2007] we expect much of the same,” says John Haire, vice-president and national director of industrial sales at Cushman & Wakefield LePage Inc. in Toronto.

Reduced federal funding has left states and cities scrambling for ways to fund infrastructure improvements — from deteriorating bridges and highways to the growing demand for mass transit — necessary to handle population growth.

The flooding catastrophe caused by the failed levees in New Orleans is a prime example of the danger of disinvestment in infrastructure, says Tom Murphy, Urban Land Institute senior resident fellow. But examples of neglect can be found in cities nationwide, he adds.

The most recent assessment from the American Society of Civil Engineers assigned a cumulative grade of D for the nation’s infrastructure.