Housing Market | featured news

In Vietnam’s major cities, a once-booming property market has come crashing down, adding to an economic slowdown that is being compared to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

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. consumer sentiment improved in early August to the highest in three months as sales at retailers and low mortgage rates spurred Americans to boost their buying plans, a survey showed on Friday.

With millions of homeowners still underwater, some local governments are considering a novel solution: condemning their mortgages through the power of eminent domain. “Federal programs have not been very successful at all, and the private programs have been of limited help,” said Gregory Devereaux, administrator for San Bernardino County, explaining the government's decision to consider eminent domain, a plan the mortgage industry considers the equivalent of the nuclear option. The hard-hit county's board of supervisors is expected to meet Thursday to consider proposals to help homeowners, including the possible use of eminent domain.

The U.S. Justice Department said it will not pursue criminal charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc or its employees related to accusations that the firm bet against the same subprime mortgage securities it was selling to clients.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage-finance giants, this week reported some of their best quarterly results since the real estate collapse. On Wednesday, Fannie Mae posted second-quarter net income of $5.1 billion. That is up from $2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year and an improvement from a net loss of $2.9 billion in the second quarter of last year. Fannie requested no additional money from the Treasury and said it would pay a $2.9 billion dividend to taxpayers.

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.

Reassessment of their $12-million home, one of many reductions in San Diego County, has saved $109,000 over four years... Mitt and Ann Romney were easily able to afford a $12-million La Jolla home. But that didn't insulate them from the winds buffeting the real estate market in the months following their purchase in 2008. After paying cash for the Mediterranean-style house with 61 feet of beach frontage, they asked San Diego County for dramatic property tax relief.

Single-family home prices rose for the fourth month in a row in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, suggesting the recovery in the housing market continued to gain traction, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly fell in June as fewer properties came on the market, an industry group said on Thursday, pointing to weak home resales in July.