ELYAC Realty- Filings Increased a Record 81 Percent in 2008

Filings Increased a Record 81 Percent in 2008

Foreclosure filings continued to soar through the end of the year – and there’s no relief in sight for 2009.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — U.S. foreclosure filings spiked by more than 81% in 2008, a record, according to a report released Thursday, and they’re up 225% compared with 2006.

A total of 861,664 families lost their homes to last year, according to RealtyTrac, which released its year-end report Thursday. There were more than 3.1 million foreclosure filings issued during 2008, which means that one of every 54 households received a notice last year.

“Clearly the foreclosure prevention programs implemented to date have not had any real success in slowing down this foreclosure tsunami,” said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac in a statement.

And despite those efforts on the part of both the government and the banking industry to quell the housing crisis, defaults continued to climb as 2008 came to an end. Foreclosure filings were up 17% in December over November, and rose 41% compared with December of 2007.

“The big jump in December foreclosure activity was somewhat surprising given the moratoria enacted by both Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) and Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500), along with programs from some of the major lenders and loan servicers aimed at delaying foreclosure actions against distressed homeowners,” said Saccacio.

Both of the government-sponsored mortgage giants suspended foreclosures starting November 26, 2008 through January 31, 2009.

The devastating numbers are unlikely to improve soon.

“I don’t see how we can avoid three million foreclosures again in 2009,” said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac spokesman. His company now has nearly a million sales listings for bank-owned homes.

Huge foreclosure inventory

And what’s worse, Sharga thinks that as many as 70% of the bank-owned homes listed on RealtyTrac’s site have not yet been posted on multiple listings services (MLS), the industry databases of homes for sale. Those homes are less likely to be sold because most real estate agents won’t know they’re available.

“Either banks are overwhelmed and can’t get the houses on the MLS quickly, or they’re deliberately slowing down so they don’t have to take markdowns to actual home values on their books,” Sharga said. Either way, it has the effect of underestimating the foreclosure inventory problem.

Banks also seem to be slowing the foreclosure process, according to Sharga. They are not sending out foreclosure filings as quickly when homeowners fall behind on payments.

Part of that is because some new state regulations require banks to notify delinquent borrowers of their intent to file notices of default, and to offer help to borrowers who want to get their finances back on track. Banks simply lack the manpower to track down so many delinquent homeowners with the required notifications. This creates a delay between the time that borrowers first miss payments and when they go into foreclosure.

After one such rule took effect in California this past summer, notices of default fell by half, to 21,665 from 44,278. But they jumped back to more than 44,000 again in December, probably because banks caught up on many of the postponed notices.

“The recent California law, much like its predecessors in Massachusetts and Maryland, appears to have done little more than delay the inevitable foreclosure proceedings for thousands of homeowners,” said Saccacio.

Falling home prices

Foreclosures are closely tied to home prices – they tend to rise as prices fall. And nationally, home prices have fallen more than 21% from their peak, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price index. In many areas, the decline has been much worse.

In Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami prices are down 30% or more. They’ve fallen more than 40% in Phoenix and nearly that much in Las Vegas.

Declining prices put many homeowners “underwater” on their mortgages, owing more than their homes are worth, which makes them more likely to default.

And adding a flood of bank-owned homes to already slow markets further outstrips demand and dampens prices, creating a spiral of lower prices and higher foreclosures.

As a result, more homeowners who fall behind on their mortgage payments end up losing their homes, according to Jay Brinkman, the chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In California and Florida 80% of the homeowners who miss a payment end up in foreclosure, according to the MBA. That’s a much, higher percentage than in the past.

“The number of mortgages 30 days past due are still below what they were during the 2001 recession,” said Brinkman. But the proportion of those loans that went into foreclosure was much lower, he added – about 10%.

“Delinquency itself has become a much clearer predictor of foreclosure,” said Sharga.

If home prices keep plunging, the foreclosure scourge will likely continue.

And S&P’s chief economist, David Wyss, expects home prices to continue to decline, bottoming in early 2010 roughly 33% below their 2006 peak.

Worst hit areas

The three states hit hardest by foreclosure in 2008 were Nevada, Florida and Arizona. In Nevada, 7% of homes received a foreclosure filing – such as a notice of default, auction sale notice or foreclosure sale – during the year, up 126% from 2007.

Florida filings soared 133%, hitting more than 4.5% of all households, while Arizona filings jumped 203%, also to about 4.5%. California had the highest total number of filings for any state, 523,624, more than double 2007 levels.

Stockton, Calif. had the highest rate of foreclosures of any metropolitan area, at 9.5%. Las Vegas was second with 8.9% and Riverside/San Bernardino Calif. was third with 8%.

Of the top 20 cities for foreclosures, most are in the Sun Belt, with the exception of Detroit at number 10, Memphis, which ranked 18th and Denver which was 19th.

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Job losses hit 2.6 million as layoff pain deepens

Job losses hit 2.6 million; unemployment surges to 7.2 percent, heads for 10 percent or higher

• Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
• Friday January 9, 2009, 6:43 pm EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — A staggering 2.6 million jobs disappeared in 2008, the most since World War II, and the pain is only getting worse with 11 million Americans out of work and searching. Unemployment hit a 16-year high of 7.2 percent in December and could be headed for 10 percent or even higher by year’s end.

Friday’s government figures were “a stark reminder,” said President-elect Barack Obama, that bold and immediate government action is needed to revive a national economy that’s deep in recession and still sinking.

More than a half million jobs melted away as winter took hold in December — 524,000 in all, the government estimated — and the true carnage will almost certainly turn out to be even worse when the figures are nailed down more clearly a month from now.

“Behind the statistics that we see flashing on the screens are real lives, real suffering, real fears,” said Obama, already moving full-speed with Congress to put together an emergency revival plan a week and a half before taking office.

It’s real, indeed, for 38-year-old Rachel Davis of St. Louis.

“If you get laid off right now, God help your soul,” she said. “You better hope you’ve got savings or someone backing you.” In fact, she was laid off three months ago after working as a dental technician for 20 years. While Congress and the new president struggle to find answers, she says, “I have no faith in this system” and plans to move out of the country in hopes of finding better luck.

The severe recession, which just entered its second year, is already the longest in a quarter-century and is likely to stretch well into this year. The fact that the country is battling a housing collapse, a lockup in lending and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s makes the downturn especially dangerous.

All the problems have forced consumers and companies alike to retrench, feeding into a vicious cycle that Washington policymakers are finding difficult to break.

Investors, too. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 143 points Friday to end the week down nearly 5 percent, the worst week since November.

The Labor Department’s unemployment report showed widespread damage across U.S. industries and workers — hitting blue-collar and white-collar workers, people without high school diplomas and those with college degrees.

“One word comes to mind — dreadful,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.

And, there’s no relief in sight. The new year got off to a rough start with a flurry of big corporate layoffs, and there were more on Friday. Airplane maker Boeing Co. said it plans to cut about 4,500 jobs this year, and uniform maker G&K Services Inc. is eliminating 460 jobs.

Employers also are cutting workers’ hours and forcing some to go part-time. The average work week in December fell to 33.3 hours, the lowest in records dating to 1964 — and a sign of more job reductions in the months ahead since businesses tend to cut hours before eliminating positions entirely.

“There is no indication that the job situation would stabilize anytime soon,” said Sung Won Sohn, economist at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University. “This could turn out to be one of the worst economic setbacks since the Great Depression.”

Economists predict a net total of 1.5 million to 2 million or more jobs will vanish in 2009, and the unemployment rate could hit 9 or 10 percent, underscoring the challenges Obama will face and the tough road ahead for job seekers.

All told, 11.1 million people were unemployed in December. An additional 8 million people were working part time — a category that includes those who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or those who were unable to find full-time work. That was up sharply from 7.3 million in November.

If those part-time employees, discouraged workers and others are factored in, the unemployment rate would have been much higher — 13.5 percent in December. That was the highest for that broader category in records going back to 1994.

Worried about the sinking economy and their own financial fortunes, companies are trimming payrolls as a way to cut costs. Government revisions showed losses in both October and November to be much deeper than previously reported.

“Clearly, the situation is dire, it is deteriorating, and it demands urgent action,” Obama said Friday. “For the sake of our economy and our people, this is the moment to act, and to act without delay.”

Obama, who takes over Jan. 20, is promoting a huge package of tax cuts and government spending that could total nearly $800 trillion over two years. With add-ons by lawmakers, the package could swell to $850 billion or higher.

The unemployment rate zoomed from 6.8 percent in November, to 7.2 percent last month, the highest since January 1993.

The rate for blacks climbed to 11.9 percent, the highest since the spring of 1994. The rate for Hispanics rose to 9.2 percent, the highest since May 1996. The rate for teenagers rose to 20.8 percent, the highest since September 1992.

Last year was the first that payrolls had fallen for a full year since 2002, and the loss was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs disappeared. Though the number of payroll jobs in the U.S. has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still brutal.

The nation’s jobless rate averaged 5.8 percent for the year — up sharply from 4.6 percent in 2007 and the highest since 2003.

During President George W. Bush’s nearly eight years in office, a net total of 3 million jobs were created. In President Clinton’s two terms, roughly 21 million jobs were generated.

Employment last month shrank in virtually every part of the economy — construction companies, factories, mortgage brokers, banks, real-estate firms, accountants and bookkeepers, computer designers, architects and engineers, retailers, food services, temporary help firms, transportation, publishing and waste management. The few fields spared included education, health care and government.

The lost-job total for December probably understated the reality since some companies probably held off on layoffs around the holidays, economists said. Moreover, the government collects the payroll information around mid-month. So the full extent of the layoffs probably wasn’t captured, making it even more likely there will be big reductions in January and that December’s cuts will be revised upward.

Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains. Average hourly earnings rose to $18.36 in December, a 3.7 percent increase over the year. But high prices for energy and food through much of 2008 made people feel that their paychecks weren’t stretching that far.

Corporate layoffs continue to pile up. Earlier this week, drugstore operator Walgreen Co., managed care provider Cigna Corp., aluminum producer Alcoa Inc., data-storage company EMC Corp., Intermec Inc., which makes electronic devices for tracking inventory, and computer products maker Logitech International announced major layoffs to cope with the recession.

AP Business Writer Christopher Leonard in St. Louis contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

ELYAC Realty- Mortgage rates tumble to record low

Mortgage rates tumble to record low

Average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages drops to 5.1 percent

The Associated Press

updated 10:10 a.m. PT, Wed., Dec. 31, 2008

Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low for the third straight week and borrowers took advantage of the drop, sending new applications soaring.

With the Federal Reserve on the verge of pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the devastated U.S. housing market, mortgage rates have plunged to the lowest level since Freddie Mac started tracking the data in April 1971.

Low rates are a great opportunity for borrowers with solid credit and plenty of equity in their homes. But those in danger of foreclosure are still sidelined, and defaults are expected to keep rising in the coming months.

Freddie Mac reported Wednesday that average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 5.1 percent this week, down from the previous record of 5.14 percent set last week. It was the ninth straight weekly drop. The survey was released a day early due to the New Year’s holiday.

Mortgage rates have plunged by about 1.3 percentage points since late October, Freddie Mac said. For a borrower taking out a $200,000 loan, that means a savings of more than $170 in monthly payments, according to Frank Nothaft, the mortgage finance company’s chief economist.

Meanwhile, mortgage applications last week remained at the highest level in more than five years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The trade group’s weekly application index was essentially unchanged for the week ending Dec. 26. Applications surged earlier this month to the highest level since July 2003, when refinancing activity boomed at the peak of the housing market.

More than 80 percent of applications came from borrowers looking to refinance at more affordable rates, the trade group said.

Interest rates have plunged since the Federal Reserve pledged last month to buy up mortgage-backed securities in an effort to bolster the long-suffering housing market. The Fed, starting early next month, will buy up to $500 billion in securities guaranteed by the government-controlled home loan giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, a federal agency.

“It’s a huge number,” said Derek Chen, an analyst at Barclays Capital, who noted that mortgage rates are still high when compared with yields on long-term Treasury debt.

With the Fed and Treasury Department buying up a significant portion of the new mortgage securities issued by Fannie and Freddie next year, that gap, or spread, could narrow.

If that happens, mortgage rates could fall further, possibly as low as 4.5 percent, Chen said.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 4.83 percent, the lowest point since March 2004. That rate was 4.91 percent last week, Freddie Mac said.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.57 percent, compared with 5.49 percent last week. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 4.85 percent, from 4.95 percent last week.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year, 15-year mortgages and five-year adjustable rate mortgages averaged 0.7 point last week, compared with 0.5 point for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages.

Meanwhile, home prices dropped by the sharpest annual rate on record in October and there are no signs the housing pain is over.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index, released Tuesday, fell by a record 18 percent from October last year, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index tumbled 19.1 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history. Prices are at levels not seen since March 2004.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7148582/

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ELYAC Realty- Automakers Fear a New Normal of Low Sales

By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY

DETROIT — The historic collapse of the new-car market dragged on in December, raising questions of whether the auto industry will ever again have sales levels that it took for granted just a few years ago.

The across-the-board decline of 35 percent, reported by auto companies on Monday, is certain to put more pressure on the fragile finances of several manufacturers, particularly General Motors and Chrysler.

G.M. and Chrysler received emergency federal loans last week to stave off bankruptcy while they accelerated their reorganization efforts.

But unless consumers change course and return to vehicle showrooms, the entire industry will be forced to make sweeping adjustments to cope with declining demand.

After several years of sales topping 16 million vehicles, the United States market plummeted to 13.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2008. Analysts expect another sizable decrease this year and do not predict a year with 15 million in sales until 2012 or later.

“After an era of excess indulgence, we’re now entering a prolonged period of conservation,” said John A. Casesa of the consulting firm Casesa Shapiro Group. “Trading in a car every three years is a luxury that the average American can no longer afford.”

The dismal sales reports for December punctuated the worst year for vehicles sales since 1992. Sales dropped 31 percent at G.M., 32 percent at the Ford Motor Company and a stunning 53 percent at Chrysler, a unit of the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

Foreign automakers hardly fared better, with sales plunging 37 percent at Toyota, 36 percent at BMW and 35 percent at Honda.

For the year, industrywide sales declined by 18 percent — the worst year-to-year drop-off since the early 1970s.

The impact of the shrinking market could be felt for years to come, as automakers will continue to cut production and employment, and reduce the number of new vehicles they bring to the market.

“With these declines in revenues, you will see research and development budgets cut,” said Jesse Toprak, chief auto analyst for Edmunds.com, a Web site that offers car-buying advice. “We are going to have fewer new vehicles and less variety for at least the next couple of years.”

Mr. Toprak is forecasting sales of 12.4 million vehicles this year and 13.5 million in 2010. He said the chances of the industry reaching annual sales of 16 million were slim for the foreseeable future.

“The question is, What will be the natural level of demand in the U.S. market when the economy recovers?” he said. “Based on our best guess, it is probably in the range of 14.5 million to 15 million.”

Auto executives said on Monday that the industry had little chance of improving in the first half of 2009 because of a continued lack of available credit for prospective car buyers and a profound lack of confidence in an overall economic recovery.

“The first quarter is going to be bad no matter how you look at it,” said Emily Kolinski Morris, a senior Ford economist. “Once we get into the second quarter, we’ll have a better idea.”

G.M.’s chief market analyst, Michael C. DiGiovanni, said the automaker was predicting industry sales of 10.5 million to 12 million vehicles for the year.

While the Bush administration approved up to $17.4 billion in loans to G.M. and Chrysler, analysts say they expect the Detroit auto companies to need longer-term assistance from the incoming president, Barack Obama.

“The internal problems of the Big Three are so great, there is no way they can survive without government help for several years,” Mr. Casesa said.

Both G.M. and Chrysler have to submit reorganization plans to the Treasury Department by mid-February as a condition of their loans.

“We have prepared our restructuring plan at a worst-case scenario,” said James E. Press, a Chrysler vice chairman. “We’re hoping for the best, but we’re prepared for the worst case.”

Mr. Press said Chrysler was operating as if the severe fall in demand in recent months was the “new reality” for an industry that had grown accustomed to nearly unfettered growth since the mid-1990s.

The industry thrived on cheap credit that allowed automakers to offer low-interest loans and rock-bottom lease payments to encourage consumers to regularly trade in and upgrade their vehicles.

As a result, American consumers went on a sustained buying spree for new cars, trucks and S.U.V.’s.

In 1970, less than 6 percent of American households owned three or more vehicles, according to the Department of Transportation. By 2000, that percentage had jumped to 18.

More than 244 million vehicles were in operation in 2006, far outnumbering the 202 million licensed drivers in the country, according to the most recent federal statistics.

Auto companies fed the growing appetite for vehicles by broadening their lineups with new products, like car-based crossover vehicles, inexpensive sports cars and a wide array of luxury models.

Companies were forced to redesign their cars more frequently to keep up in the race to put ever-fresher products in dealerships.

“In 1988, the average age of a car in a U.S. showroom was 4.1 years,” said Mr. Casesa, referring to the time that lapsed in model redesigns. “Today it is 2.9 years, which is a tremendous difference.”

With annual sales of 16 million as the norm, the industry expanded its infrastructure to meet demand.

Even though the Detroit automakers have been shutting excess factory capacity and shedding jobs to cut costs, their foreign rivals have been adding new plants in the United States to make up the difference.

Now, with sales plunging to levels not seen since the early 1990s, the industry will be forced to cut back significantly on product development.

Analysts also predict that the era of expansion of foreign companies in the United States is probably over, as well.

“So many foreign transplants came so quickly because they had visions of grandeur in their eyes,” David E. Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “Now they’re saying, ‘Oh my, what have we done?’ ”

Besides the drop in demand caused by the tight credit and a weak economy, the quality of vehicles themselves has improved to the point where consumers do not need to replace them as often.

Twenty years ago, the median age of cars and trucks in use in the United States was about six years. Now the typical vehicle on the road is nine years old, according to federal statistics.

“You may not want to drive your car for 10 years, but you can if you need to,” Mr. Cole said.

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ELYAC Realty- Obama Pushes for Stimulus on Capitol Hill

By JEFF ZELENY and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

WASHINGTON — Two weeks before assuming power, President-elect Barack Obama took his economic recovery package to Capitol Hill on Monday and worked to build a bipartisan coalition to endorse his plan of tax cuts and new spending with an urgent appeal “to break the momentum of this recession.”

Mr. Obama, on his first full day in Washington since the election, held a series of face-to-face meetings with Democrats and Republicans as he began spending his political capital. He spoke of the nation’s economic condition in dark terms and urged Congress to pass the legislation within a month.

“Right now, the most important task for us is to stabilize the patient,” Mr. Obama said. “The economy is badly damaged — it is very sick. So we have to take whatever steps are required to make sure that it is stabilized.”

The meetings were a mix of symbolism and substance between the man who will be sworn in as the 44th president and the Congressional leaders who hold the fate of his agenda in their hands. The sessions, aides said, were particularly aimed at encouraging Republicans to buy into the plan and help ease resistance over a $775 billion price tag.

Mr. Obama pledged to help advance the legislation in any way he could, participants said, including inviting skeptical members of Congress to meet with him at his transition headquarters or at his temporary residence, the Hay-Adams Hotel.

“This is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem at this stage,” Mr. Obama said Monday afternoon. “It is an American problem, and we’re going to all have to chip in and do what the American people expect.”

After meeting for about an hour in the Lyndon B. Johnson Room near the Senate chamber, Congressional leaders said they expected a bipartisan effort to approve the economic stimulus package by early February. Lawmakers said they were waiting for Mr. Obama to present a written proposal — perhaps even draft legislation — within days. Various House and Senate committees would fill out the details.

For Mr. Obama, it was his first return to the Capitol since he was elected on Nov. 4, and another reminder of how rapid his ascent has been. Four years after he took his first steps into the building, arriving as a freshman senator from Illinois, he swept in Monday under the cover of considerable security, with some roads barricaded outside the building and corridors inside closed off to accommodate his movements. At one point, large groups of tourists were forced to linger in the Rotunda to wait for Mr. Obama to leave his morning meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The president-elect returned to the Capitol in the afternoon for a meeting with Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader. He then proceeded past a huge crowd of photographers to the meeting with House and Senate leaders from both parties.

Mr. Obama listened as Republicans raised concerns about waste and transparency in the economic stimulus plan. He agreed with a suggestion raised by Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, about putting the entire contents of the legislation online in a user-friendly way to see how the money is being spent.

But participants in the private meetings said there did not seem to be agreement on the scale of the package. Mr. Reid said many economists have urged a bill of $800 billion to $1.2 trillion, while Mr. Obama’s advisers estimated legislation at no more than $775 billion.

The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, said he was concerned about the overall size of the stimulus package. He said the American public was rightly agitated by the lack of accountability in the bailout bills that were abruptly approved last fall.

“While we want to get the economy moving again,” Mr. Boehner said, “the overall size and how we craft this is going to be very important.”

Still, Republicans praised Mr. Obama’s willingness to hear their ideas, which is something they have often felt did not take place under President Bush. They urged Mr. Obama to use the stimulus bill to provide a substantial tax cut to middle-class families and small businesses, but also pressed him to ensure that the legislative process would be fair to the diminished Republican minorities in both chambers.

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, also said he encouraged Mr. Obama to consider providing aid to states in the form of loans that would have to be repaid, as a means of preventing wasteful spending.

“I thought the atmosphere for bipartisan cooperation was sincere on all sides,” Mr. McConnell said after the meeting. He added, “The best way to stimulate the economy obviously is to put money directly in the pockets of taxpayers.”

The legislation, which Mr. Obama and his economic advisers discussed Monday, includes about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses. A part of the plan that was a centerpiece of the presidential campaign would provide credits of up to $500 for most workers at an overall price of $150 billion. The plan also includes more than $100 billion in tax incentives for business to create jobs and invest in factories and equipment.

The series of meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill highlighted the fact that the new president is coming from their own ranks, for the first time since John F. Kennedy.

Mr. Reid, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said lawmakers were committed to adopting the economic plan as quickly as possible. But Congressional Democrats and the Obama transition team have pushed back their timetable, which originally called for the legislation to be ready for Mr. Obama to sign on the day of his inauguration. Instead, they said their goal was to have the bill completed no later than the Presidents’ Day holiday in mid-February.

Ms. Pelosi, who met with Mr. Obama twice on Monday, said that the stimulus bill would be taken up first in the House and that there was agreement to move swiftly.

“I won’t make any announcement about how soon, but we all know what our tasks are,” Ms. Pelosi said. “We know what the time constraints are. They are dictated by the sense of urgency that the American people have about their economic well-being.”

As the stimulus plan began to take shape, the search intensified for a new commerce secretary, one day after Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico withdrew from consideration for the position.

Democratic officials familiar with the search said prospective candidates include William Daley, who served as commerce secretary in the Clinton administration, and Laura Tyson, who has advised Mr. Obama on the economy and served as chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Mr. Clinton.

Mr. Obama, aides said, would like to make an announcement before week’s end.

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