Lexington Realty Trust and Means Knaus Partners, L.P., have teamed up to form Lexington MKP Management, L.P., which will perform property management and construction management services and oversee leasing and development for certain Lexington properties across the nation.

Seventy-seven percent of real estate professionals think home prices will either stay the same or decrease in the next six months, according to the results of a nationwide survey released by California-based HomeGain Tuesday. Agents and brokers queried expressed concern that home prices could be adversely affected by rising interest rates, expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, persistent unemployment, continued foreclosures, and the release of shadow inventory held by banks.

Although higher than year-ago levels, existing-home sales declined slightly from January to February of this year, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Tuesday. Sales of previously owned homes slipped 0.6 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.02 million units in February. It marked the third consecutive month of sales declines. IHS Global Insight called February's numbers ""further payback for the first-time homebuyers' tax credit that [originally] expired on November 30.""

The Title/Appraisal Vender Management Association (TAVMA), the trade association that represents the nation's largest appraisal management companies (AMCs), released a statement Monday disputing the findings of a recently-released analysis of appraisal fees.

Kevin Breeland, general manager of Residential Mortgage of South Carolina, LLP, has been elected as the 2010 chairman of the Real Estate Services Providers Council, Inc. (RESPRO), a national, nonprofit trade association of real estate broker-owners, real estate franchisers, mortgage lenders, title insurers and agencies, home builders, and settlement service providers.

Chase announced Monday that it will provide additional help to struggling homeowners by joining the second-lien program under the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Known as 2MP, the second-lien modification program is designed to work in tandem with HAMP to lower homeowners' payments on both their first and second mortgages. Qualified homeowners may see the interest rate on their second lien reduced to as low as 1 percent for five years.

In an announcement Friday, Morningstar, Inc., a Chicago-based provider of independent investment research, said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Realpoint, LLC, a nationally-recognized statistical ratings organization that specializes in structured finance.

The homebuyer tax credit and buyers' market conditions continue to move the Illinois housing market toward stability. According to a report released Monday by the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR), February marked the sixth consecutive month of growth in year-over-year home sales in the state.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. And that's exactly what some savvy real estate investors are doing. Declining values, debt maturity, tight credit access, and stalled construction may continue to plague commercial real estate for the remainder of 2010, but optimistic investors are seeing opportunity in this difficult market via the purchase of distressed assets, according to Deloitte's Perspectives on Real Estate: Uncovering Opportunity in a Distressed Market, released Monday.

Gustav G. ""Gus"" Remppies has been appointed as the new president of Santa Ana, California-based Grubb & Ellis Apartment REIT, Inc. He assumes the position from Stanley J. ""Jay"" Olander, who has served as president since April 2007 and will continue to serve as CEO and chairman of the board.