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The Aspen Club and Spa’s debts to construction firms, lenders and other creditors, as well as the recent foreclosure action taken against it, will be consolidated into a single case overseen by a state district judge, the Aspen (Colo.) Times reported. Pitkin County (Colo.) District Judge Chris Seldin yesterday ordered that the outstanding cases, which had been on hold because of the club’s bankruptcy, be folded in with the foreclosure case. Judge Denise Lynch will preside over the case moving forward, Judge Seldin said. Attorneys for the majority of creditors attending the conference call agreed that consolidation would help simplify an indisputably complex matter where there are more than $25 million in mechanics’ liens the club still owes, as well as $42 million owed to one note holder, GPIF Aspen Club LLC, and $12 million to another, Revere High Yield Fund, among other creditors. Aspen Club declared Chapter 11 in May 2019, effectively staying a case carried against it by mechanics’ lien-holders with claims for labor and material related to the Aspen Club’s redevelopment project. Unable to get the Denver bankruptcy court’s approval for a $140 million exit loan, the Aspen Club gave up on the bankruptcy proceedings earlier this month, agreeing with its creditors to dismiss the case Sept. 1. On Sept. 2, GPIF took foreclosure action against the club in Pitkin County District Court. With Seldin’s ruling, the foreclosure case as well as previous litigation in district court against the club are now folded into once case.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run companies that stand behind about half of the $11 trillion U.S. mortgage market, pose a potential danger to the stability of the broader financial system, a Treasury-led panel said on Friday, Politico reported. The companies still do not have enough capital to protect themselves from the massive risk in their portfolios, the Financial Stability Oversight Council concluded following a long-awaited review of the secondary mortgage market, where investors purchase home loans. The council, which consists of all the government's top financial regulators, endorsed a proposal to raise capital requirements for Fannie and Freddie, saying it would go a long way toward mitigating the peril looming over the system. Fannie and Freddie have been at the center of a fierce debate between Republicans and Democrats ever since the government rescued the two companies from collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. Republicans have pushed to boost their capital to prepare them for privatization. But some Democrats and affordable housing advocates warn that the stricter capital requirements could drive up the cost of mortgages and limit Fannie and Freddie’s ability to serve low-income communities.

The New York Times reported that it obtained Donald Trump’s tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency in 2016 and in 2017, his first year in the White House. He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made. According to a review of the records by the Times, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million.

U.S. home sales surged to their highest level in nearly 14 years in August as the housing market continued to outperform the overall economy, but record high home prices could squeeze first-time buyers out of the market, Reuters reported. The report from the National Association of Realtors confirmed home sales had recovered after slumping when the economy almost ground to a halt as businesses were shuttered in mid-March in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Existing home sales increased 2.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6 million units last month, the highest level since December 2006. August’s increase in homes sales, which marked three straight months of gains, was in line with economists’ expectations. The median existing house price jumped 11.4 percent from a year ago to a record $310,600 in August. Sales last month were concentrated in the $250,000 to $1 million and over price range, with transactions below the $250,000 price band down sharply.