Mortgage, Real Estate | featured news

Citigroup Inc said quarterly profit plunged on a $4.7 billion write-down of its stake in a brokerage operated by Morgan Stanley, but mortgage lending increased and capital markets results rebounded.

With the Federal Reserve buying billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities, you might think that mortgage rates are poised to fall even lower than the current rock-bottom levels. Maybe you should wait on that refinancing, you wonder, or delay purchasing a house until the market is even more favorable.

Two of the nation's largest banks released third-quarter results that suggest the U.S. housing market, a key factor in the nation's economic performance, is bouncing back as mortgage rates hit record lows and home refinancings surge.

Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week as interest rates dropped to record lows in the wake of the Federal Reserve's latest stimulus efforts, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Record-low interest rates are out of reach for many homeowners, and a big reason is that millions are underwater. Obama and others are trying to assist them. U.S. interest rates are at rock-bottom levels, but that's not helping most Americans with mortgages.

The Treasury said on Friday it is changing the way Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will repay taxpayers in a move the Obama administration said would accelerate the winding down of the government-owned mortgage financiers.

U.S. homeowners are getting better about keeping up with their mortgage payments, driving the percentage of borrowers who have fallen behind to a three-year low, according to a new report.

San Bernardino County, with some of the nation’s highest foreclosure rates, may use eminent domain to buy up mortgages and cut them to the current value of the homes.

Wells Fargo Bank will pay at least $175 million to settle accusations that it discriminated against African-American and Hispanic borrowers in violation of fair-lending laws, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

A Massachusetts man who pledged to make the last mortgage payment on his home with pennies has fulfilled that promise. After warning his bank, Thomas Daigle dropped off about 62,000 pennies weighing 800 pounds in two boxes for the final payment on the Milford home he and his wife, Sandra, bought in 1977.