Even before the latest stock-market plunge, U.S. consumer confidence was already sliding downward, according to a Fannie Mae survey released Monday. Some 70% of respondents say the economy is heading in the wrong direction.
With proposals from both President Obama and GOP leaders to broaden the tax base, it seems likely that some cherished income tax deductions may be reduced or even eliminated, and one leading candidate for the chopping block is the deduction for mortgage interest.
A federal law that goes into effect Friday is about to change the way mortgage brokers earn their pay. Advocates say the rule prevents mark-ups on loans that pad brokers' incomes, but critics argue the law hurts consumers by funneling more customers to fewer lenders.
The latest reports on home sales and prices offer a complicated and conflicted picture. But when the data are taken together, one thing is clear: Weighing risk and reward, it's worth waiting a few months to see which way the real estate winds are really blowing.
U.S. mortgage rates have grown for five straight weeks, in the last week hitting their highest levels in seven months. Ten-year Treasury note yields have been climbing on inflation concerns, driving the higher rates.
Pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell 1.8% in September, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday. It was the statistic's first decline in three months, and one that suggests that the housing sector's recovery is likely to remain uneven through at least early 2011.
It's a summer for the record books in the U.S. housing sector -- and not in a good way. New-home sales unexpectedly plunged 12.4% in July to the lowest level since the Commerce Department began keeping records for the statistic in 1963.
Some of Friday's top online stories for investors, including why most double-dip predictions are probably wrong, how to play the GM IPO, and one gloom and doom bear's view.
Despite stimulus programs and all-time low mortgage rates, the real estate market in the U.S. continues to struggle with excess supply, depressed home prices and high rates of foreclosure. The key factor? Unemployment.
