HousingCrisis

Just when it looked like housing prices were bottoming out and now was the time to snap up the best bargains comes news that may make you want to wait. The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices show that real estate prices are continuing to descend.

Economists discussing the sluggish state of the economy at a media breakfast held by the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants this week, offered up a variety of explanations for the lasting economic malaise, ranging from the housing crisis fallout to structural unemployment.

Poverty has been rising even faster in the suburbs than it has in cities -- about five times faster, according to the Brookings Institute. To help understand this phenomenon, 24/7 Wall St. has analyzed the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest rates of poverty in their suburbs.

With the Standard & Poor's downgrades, the declining stock market, the flat employment figures and Europe's fiscal woes, you might not expect much optimism in the housing market just now. But a few major metropolitan areas should see price increases in the next year, according to a new report.

The nation's biggest bailed-out banks have unintentionally entered a new line of work: slumlording. In some cases, major banks have created whole neighborhoods of abandoned and deteriorating foreclosure properties -- and a blight on local municipalities.

The housing crisis continues unabated, and millions of unemployed Americans remain at risk of ending up homeless. But additional government help is arriving from the Obama administration, and nonprofit agencies are making a difference in the efforts of some families to get help from their lenders.

Nearly 90% of Americans still see owning a home as a key part of the American Dream, but 39% see us in a permanent economic downturn. Meanwhile, Obama has set his sights on closing tax loopholes for businesses and the rich, but the Fed just cut banks a break in new rules on debit card swipe fees.

Home sales have started to rebound, with half the nation's markets experiencing price gains in the last quarter of 2010. They weren't great gains, but they were progress. Here's what the latest moves mean for buyers, for sellers and for the U.S. economy.

Thanks to the housing crisis, many students are able take advantage of living in condos, apartments and rented homes instead of dorms. It's a great way to save some cash, live with friends, and enjoy locations students otherwise couldn't afford. The housing crisis has changed the way that students...

In a major revamp, the White House is redoubling the government's efforts to help eligible homeowners stave off foreclosure. It includes more incentives to banks and could assist up to 4 million homeowners through 2012.