Housing Market, Real Estate | featured news

Officials in 49 states have launched a joint investigation into allegations that mortgage companies mishandled documents and broke laws in foreclosing on hundreds of thousands of homeowners.

The White House Tuesday rejected calls for a broad moratorium on home foreclosures, saying it feared such a step could harm the U.S. housing market and hinder a housing recovery.

Congressional lawmakers scramble to come up with quick fix to the foreclosure fiasco that has threatened the economic recovery and thrown a monkey wrench into their re-election campaigns.Up to 40 States Plan Foreclosure Data Inquiry

The attorneys general of up to 40 states plan to announce soon a joint investigation into banks' use of flawed foreclosure paperwork.

Bank of America Corp is halting foreclosures and sales of foreclosed properties in all 50 states pending a review of its internal processes, the bank said on Friday.

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President Barack Obama will not sign legislation that could have made it more difficult for homeowners to challenge unjustified foreclosure actions, the White House said on Thursday.

The number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose in August for the second straight month but remained far below last year's pace.

Bank of America, the country's largest mortgage lender by assets, said on Friday that it was reviewing documents in all of its pending foreclosure cases to evaluate if there were errors made.

For the lucky few who are buying homes, this may be good news: The data show people selling homes are increasingly abandoning their original asking prices.

Sales of U.S. homes rose 7.6% in August -- recovering from their steep descent in July, when the end of a popular government stimulus program drove sales to their lowest levels in more than a decade.