REAL ESTATE

Sellers cut prices on nearly one quarter of U.S. homes listed in June, an increase from May, showing buyers still call the shots in the U.S. housing market, real estate website Trulia.com said on Wednesday.

Republicans should not use problems at mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as an excuse to vote against sweeping changes to the rules of Wall Street, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Sunday.

The federal regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Monday said it is seeking to determine if issuers of private mortgage bonds are liable for losses suffered by the two housing finance giants.

U.S. 30-year mortgage rates dropped to a new record low in the past week, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac FMCC.OB, as concerns mounted about the economic recovery.

Chris Reid was pumped. After suffering through a few years of tight credit and the U.S. housing meltdown, the Pensacola-based realtor was ready to sell some beach-front property. Summer was coming and that is the region's busiest season.

The Manhattan apartment rental market strengthened in the second quarter as landlords drew confidence from a more robust sale market, but it is still softer than it had been in the past decade.

High unemployment and a moribund housing market are constraining the U.S. economic recovery, while the public debt looms large on the horizon and needs to be addressed, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

The U.S. apartment vacancy rate in the second quarter fell for the first time in nearly three years, a research report released on Thursday found.

Wells Fargo & Co, the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said on Wednesday it is closing more than 600 Wells Fargo Financial offices and will no longer originate non-prime mortgages.

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President Barack Obama on Friday signed a law giving consumers already in the process of buying a home three extra months to close the deal and still get a popular tax credit from the government.

Contracts for pending sales of previously owned homes plunged a record 30 percent in May, far more than expected, after a popular tax credit expired at the end of the prior month, a survey from the National Association of Realtors showed on Thursday.

Mortgage rates slid to fresh record lows in the latest week amid tepid economic growth and tame inflation, home funding company Freddie Mac said on Thursday.

Nearly one out of every three U.S. home sales in the first quarter was a foreclosure property as steep price discounts boosted demand for distressed real estate, RealtyTrac said in a new report on Wednesday.

Refinancing drove total U.S. mortgage applications to an eight-month peak, as loan rates fell to or near record lows, but demand to buy homes sank toward 13-year lows last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

Single-family home prices unexpectedly climbed in April from March, driven by a final sales push before tax credits expired, but signs of a sustained recovery have yet to emerge, Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price indexes showed on Tuesday.

Turns out the rich may not be so different from you and me: They, too, are falling behind on their mortgages.

Freddie Mac, the second largest purchaser of residential mortgages, said it shrank its investment portfolio in May, while the delinquency rates on loans it guarantees were mixed at elevated levels.

Mortgage rates dropped in the past week, with 30-year fixed-rate loans tumbling to their lowest level in 39 years, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.

The U.S. first-time homebuyer credit, aimed at boosting demand amid the recession, is still beset by significant scamming, though authorities made some progress rooting out fraud, a federal watchdog said.

Some of the states hit hardest by the slump in housing prices will be able to tap into a special $1.5-billion fund on Wednesday that is intended to head off some foreclosures.

Mortgage applications fell from a six-month peak last week as the lowest interest rates in over a year failed to foster demand for refinancing or home purchase loans.

Some low-risk home loans that meet certain underwriting guidelines will no longer be eligible for an exemption from a broader rule requiring so-called skin-in-the-game if House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank gets his way as lawmakers put the final touches on new rules for Wall Street.

A debt package tied to a New York office tower will be the first of its kind to tap property securitization and public finance markets together, sources close to the deal said on Monday.

For avid gardeners, the ultimate luxury is a designated garden shed for corralling tools and accessories; preferably with a utility sink for tidying up. Here's a roundup of a few outbuildings spotted in the portfolios of architects we admire.

U.S. authorities have charged 1,215 people in hundreds of mortgage fraud cases that resulted in estimated losses of $2.3 billion, top Obama administration officials said on Thursday, unveiling a crackdown after the housing market collapse.

A broad rewrite of financial rules will make it tougher to get a mortgage, but Congress may not be going far enough to crack down on the easy home loans at the heart of the financial meltdown.

Mortgage rates held steady at or near record lows in the latest week, home funding company Freddie Mac said on Thursday, with new housing data indicating market momentum is muted.

Housing starts fell to a five-month low in May but industrial output rose, evidence of an uneven recovery that has kept inflation at a minimum.