Housing Market | featured news

Talks between states and top banks over mortgage abuses are nearing agreement on a major sticking point that has bogged down settlement negotiations for more than a year.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage this week fell below 4 percent for the first time ever, to 3.94 percent....

JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp were hit with new lawsuits by investors seeking to recover losses on $4.5 billion of soured mortgage debt, expanding the litigation targeting the two largest U.S. banks.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that long-term unemployment is a “national crisis” and suggested that Congress should take further action to combat it. He also said lawmakers should provide more help to the battered housing industry.

New single-family home sales in the United States fell in August to a 6-month low but the supply of homes available on the market dropped to a record low.

Drink for free at the local watering hole and make it home in seconds. That’s what one Glenview homeowner is offering as a way to set apart her 3-bedroom townhouse in a down real estate market.

A two-year-old program fell short of expectations, and now the Obama administration is seeking to broaden access to it.

The struggling U.S. housing market is expected to fall a little further as it searches for a bottom, but home prices are seen ticking up modestly in 2012, according to a Reuters poll released on Friday.

Big U.S. banks in talks with state prosecutors to settle claims of improper mortgage practices have been offered a deal that may limit their legal liabilities in return for a multibillion-dollar payment, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The U.S. regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accuses the banks of negligence in misrepresenting the risks embedded in the securities sold to the home-finance giants.