States with the most homes underwater

No state has been hit harder by the housing downturn than Nevada. Between the end of 2006 and the end of 2011, home values have tanked nearly 60 percent, higher than any other state by 7.2 percentage points.

By Samuel Weigley & Michael Sauter, 24/7 Wall St.

      The housing market is projected to improve in the coming years -- albeit slowly. While we are a long way to full recovery, the signs are there. Indeed, according to a CoreLogic report released this month, the number of underwater mortgages has declined from 12.1 million, or 25.2 percent of all mortgages, at the end of 2011 to 11.4 million, or 23.7 percent of all mortgages, at the end of the first quarter of 2012.

Bahria Town’s Plea Reject For The Fourth Time

Lahore High Court has rejected Bahria Town’s plea against anti corruption court trail for the fourth time. Malik Riaz, the property tycoon and his son are facing land fraud case in anti corruption court. Bahria Town’s lawyer, Abdul Basit tried to convince the court on Tuesday 24th July, 2012 that Bahria Town’s land fraud case was transferred by anti corruption court to NAB on the orders of chairman NAB in November 2012.  According to Basit, the NAB’s order was challenged by the anti corruption establishment in Lahore High Court, which is not lawful as NAB is a federal body and anti corruption establishment is operated on a provincial level. Basit believes that dispute between the federal and provincial anti corruption bodies are to be addressed by the Supreme Court not the provincial Lahore High Court.  However, Sadaqat Ali Khan, the prosecutor general Punjab representing anti corruption establishment, said that Malik Riaz and his son are escapees and therefore they cannot approach the court. Khan further added that Bahria Town lawyers have filed same petitions under different sections of Civil Procedure Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Constitution of Pakistan.  Khan clarified that chairman NAB issued the transfer order of fraud case after the Supreme Court of Pakistan directed Malik Riaz to appear before the court. He believes that Malik Riaz wants the land fraud case to be transferred to NAB because his nexus with higher officials in NAB will get him acquitted.  After listening to the arguments of both sides, the Rawalpindi Bench of LHC rejected Bahria Town’s plea to forward the land fraud case to NAB for the fourth time.

Planning & Development Department Is Directed To Recheck The Development Schemes

he Peshawar High Court has directed Planning & Development Department to reassess the development schemes and address the grievances of the concerned MPA.  In the hearing of a petition filed by an MPA from Tank, Ghulam Qadir Khan, against the property schemes approved under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) on the recommendation of a losing candidate, Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser has disposed of the writ.  The two-member bench directed P&D to compare both schemes approved by the government and the schemes proposed by the petitioner and approve the one that is in the best public interest.  According to The Chief Justice, the court has noticed that most of the parliamentarians have been mostly focusing on developmental schemes and forget to focus on enhancing their capabilities to legislate. If P&D will fail to redress the grievances of the petitioner, he can come back to the high court.  Advocate Sardar Ali Raza represented the petitioner and said that petitioner got elected as MPA from PK-69, Tank and the chairman of the district development advisory committee. Provincial Government had allocated Rs 20 million for starting developments programmes in several districts including Tank. Instead of obliging the schemes proposed by the petitioner, the government has approved schemes proposed by Mr. Kundi.  He further added that it is injustice that government has launched schemes recommended by a losing candidate and elected representative is ignored.  Naveed Akhtar, an additional advocate general, claimed that petitioner has not submitted any real estate scheme to the government and when he did not timely submit his schemes, he cannot be accommodated at