Yahoo! News: Business - Real Estate
Bernanke urges action to halt foreclosures
(Reuters)
4 Dec 2008
Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday urged more aggressive action to halt home foreclosures, and said write-downs of principal may need to be part those efforts.
FDIC's Bair warns investors fighting loan changes
(AP)
4 Dec 2008
AP - Investors in mortgage securities who are challenging home loan modification programs aimed at avoiding foreclosures could provoke a "backlash" from Congress, the head of the FDIC said Thursday.
Bernanke: more action needed to cut foreclosures
(AP)
4 Dec 2008
AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called on the government Thursday to ramp up efforts to stem soaring home foreclosures, which are feeding into the country's deep economic troubles.
Mortgage rates drop to lowest level since January
(AP)
4 Dec 2008
AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages plunged this week to the lowest level since January after the government launched a sweeping new effort to aid the U.S. housing market.
Seabreeze's Kass favors U.S. stocks over Treasuries
(Reuters)
4 Dec 2008
Reuters - Hedge-fund manager Doug Kass, who successfully shorted U.S. equities this year including shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , is now buying U.S. stocks on the belief that they have hit bottom.
Toll loss narrows, shares rise sharply
(Reuters)
4 Dec 2008
Reuters - Toll Brothers Inc , the largest U.S. luxury home builder, said its quarterly loss narrowed slightly as it wrote down less inventory, and its shares rose sharply as homebuilders extended a rally spurred by improved mortgage rates.
Treasury weighs plan to rescue housing sector: report
(AFP)
4 Dec 2008
AFP - The US Treasury Department is considering a plan designed to push down interest rates for home loans in a bid to revive the country's troubled housing sector, newspapers reported Thursday.
Toll Brothers 4Q loss narrows, no 2009 forecast
(AP)
4 Dec 2008
AP - Toll Brothers Inc. said Thursday its fiscal fourth-quarter loss narrowed slightly as it took fewer write-downs on land values, but warned that fiscal 2009 revenue will fall significantly below 2008 levels.
Home Foreclosures Continue, Despite Bank's 'Freeze'
(BusinessWeek Online)
4 Dec 2008
BusinessWeek Online - Some homeowners say they are still receiving foreclosure notices, even from banks that have said they would halt the process until the New Year.
UK house prices fall at fastest rate in 16 years
(AP)
4 Dec 2008
AP - House prices in Britain fell at their fastest rate in 16 years during November, the country's biggest mortgage lender said Thursday, reinforcing market expectations that the Bank of England will later cut interest rates by at least another percentage point.
Paulson Considers New Plan to Resuscitate U.S. Housing Market
(Bloomberg)
3 Dec 2008
Bloomberg - Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is
considering a new plan to reduce mortgage rates in another bid
to revive the U.S. housing market, a government official said.
U.S. working on affordable mortgage plan: sources
(Reuters)
3 Dec 2008
Reuters - The Treasury Department is developing a plan to try to reduce mortgage rates on home loans to 4.5 percent on typical mortgages by expanding its purchases of mortgage backed securities, sources familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.
Financial industry pushes for lower mortgage rates
(AP)
3 Dec 2008
AP - Financial industry lobbyists are urging the Treasury Department to take steps to lower mortgage rates and help stabilize the battered U.S. housing market.
SEC adopts new rules for credit-rating agencies
(AP)
3 Dec 2008
AP - Federal regulators on Wednesday adopted new rules designed to stem conflicts of interest and provide more transparency for Wall Street's credit-rating industry, widely faulted for its role in the subprime mortgage debacle and ensuing credit crisis.
Obama: Financial bailout must help homeowners, too
(AP)
3 Dec 2008
AP - President-elect Barack Obama signaled a clear desire Wednesday to use a significant portion of $700 billion in financial bailout funds to stanch foreclosures by helping struggling homeowners with their mortgages. "The deteriorating assets in the financial markets are rooted in the deterioration of people being able to pay their mortgages and stay in their homes," he said.
Woman's skeleton found in foreclosed L.A. home
(Reuters)
3 Dec 2008
Reuters - Police investigating a foreclosed Los Angeles house found the skeleton of an elderly woman, apparently dead for two years, who had lived there with her 48-year-old son.
Obama says reviewing TARP, eyeing homeowner relief
(Reuters)
3 Dec 2008
Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama said on Wednesday he is reviewing whether taxpayers are getting maximum bang for the buck from a $700 billion government financial rescue package and indicated particular interest in helping prevent mortgage foreclosures.
Russia to buy out mortgages from banks
(AP)
3 Dec 2008
AP - Russia's government pledged a mortgage buyout Wednesday and announced more aid for major airlines and other companies beyond an existing $200 billion financial rescue package, Russian news agencies reported.
Mortgage applications post largest gain ever
(Reuters)
3 Dec 2008
Reuters - Mortgage applications surged by the largest amount on record last week as a new Federal Reserve program pushed interest rates down to their lowest level in more than 3 years, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
Mortgage application, refinance volume surge
(AP)
3 Dec 2008
AP - Mortgage application volume more than doubled during the shortened Thanksgiving week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly application survey.
