MORTGAGE

January sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. declined 0.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 321,000, but December sales were revised upward, suggesting a nascent housing market recovery.

The Bank of America Thursday said that it would no longer provide new mortgages to Fannie Mae following the escalation of disagreement over who should be bearing the cost for defective mortgages.

At least one large financial institution has approached the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with an offer to buy out the remaining mortgage-backed toxic waste bonds it received from AIG as collateral for a $19.5 billion bailout in 2008, according to Bloomberg News, as banks are looking to profit from what many see as an incipient turnaround in the U.S. housing market.

U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates rose to 3.95 percent in the week ending Feb. 23 from a record low of 3.87 in the previous week, Freddie Mac said.

U.S. central bank officials have good reason to be skeptical about the strength of the economy: excessive optimism has caught them flat-footed before.

The Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA), overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, detailed a plan on Tuesday for the companies' uncertain futures, grappling with the challenges of political hostility, reluctant private investors and a fragile housing market.

Sales of existing U.S. homes rose 4.3 percent to 4.57 million in January, up from a revised 4.38 million in December, according to the National Assocation of Realtors, marking further improvement in the housing market as interest rates remained low and the job market saw gains.

I hear it every day—President Barack Obama is going to win; Republicans don’t have a chance; none of the GOP candidates are electable. This is the chorus of the mainstream media.

Existing home sales are expected to rise in January as the broader economy improves, according to analysts and industry experts.

A report this week showing rampant foreclosure abuse in San Francisco reflects similar levels of lender fraud and faulty documentation across the United States, say experts and officials who have done studies in other parts of the country.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a report Tuesday calling on Germany to raise its property taxes dramatically. The group has also called on Denmark, Norway, and the U.K. to do the same.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule to include consumer reporting agencies and debt collectors in its efforts to supervise nonbank financial companies. The rule's passage would put those sectors of the lending industry under the umbrella of federal oversight for the first time.

U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates remained at a record low of 3.87 percent for the third consecutive week ended Feb. 16, Freddie Mac said.

Real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller disagrees with NAR's prediction of low housing inventory resulting in rising (or at least stabilizing) prices, claiming that it merely reflects a slowdown in foreclosures that will be reversed with the robo-signing agreement.

Citigroup Inc has agreed to pay $158.3 million to settle U.S. civil claims that it defrauded the government into insuring thousands of risky home loans made by its CitiMortgage unit.

U.S. mortgage applications decreased by one percent in the week ending Feb. 10, compared to the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

One frequent criticism of the Occupy movement was its lack of coherence in formulating demands. Today, the 99 Percent Declaration puts an end to those assertions.

Q&A with author Mary A. Ellenton on her debut novel, “Flipping.”

Nearly half of cash-back cards, or 48 percent, paid 1 percent cash back from the first dollar of spending, up 44 percent last year, according to a credit card study conducted by Bankrate.com. Fourteen percent of cash-back cards paid more than 1 percent.

When they saw the house on El Dorado Drive in this Los Angeles suburb being painted a startling orange and green and giant billboards hung on the outside, Scott and Beth Hostetler's neighbors were initially angry and confused. Some even considered calling the police.

A number of top Federal Reserve officials likely saw a need for additional monetary easing at the central bank's meeting last month, although there are few signals the central bank will move soon.