housing market

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$50B Obama Plan Aims to Give Homeowners Options

Administration to enable cuts in monthly payments, refinancing

(Newser) - Today the Obama administration unveils its plan to help struggling homeowners with cuts in monthly payments, more possibilities for refinancing, and changed bankruptcy rules.  Its central plank is a $50 billion subsidy for mortgage companies to make home loans more affordable. As the Wall Street Journal reports, economists are...

Don't Be Afraid of the 'F' Word
 Don't Be Afraid of the 'F' Word 
OPINION
Jan 31, 2009 10:07 AM CST

Don't Be Afraid of the 'F' Word

(Newser) - Foreclosures have gotten a bad rap lately, with politicians desperate to prevent them. But foreclosures actually represent one of the best paths to recovery, writes real-estate consultant Ramsey Su in the Wall Street Journal. The people facing foreclosure would be much better served walking away from the negative-equity McMansions destroying...

McMansions, Like Everything Else, Are Shrinking

Average home size declines in what analysts call 'right-sizing'

(Newser) - Confirming what industry professionals have long suspected, builders and buyers alike are foregoing super-sized “McMansions” for smaller, more economical homes, the Wall Street Journal reports. The average home started in 2008’s third quarter was 2,438 square feet, down from 2,629 in the second quarter. The median...

Home Prices Plunge Record 15.3%, Boosting Sales

Median US price was $175,400 in December, off 15.3%

(Newser) - US home prices took an unprecedented dive in December, Bloomberg reports, with prices of existing units dropping 15.3% over the same month last year—the biggest drop on record, and probably the biggest since the Great Depression. Sales, however, unexpectedly ticked up 6.5% in December, the National Association...

US Biz Climate Worst in Nearly 3 Decades

Survey finds strapped firms are pessimistic about 2009

(Newser) - A deepening recession in the fourth quarter of 2008 has business conditions for US firms at their worst levels in 27 years, reports Reuters. A National Association of Business Economics survey also showed decreasing expectations for a turnaround in 2009, with most poll respondents expecting the recession to worsen and...

Home Depot Hacks 7K Jobs
 Home Depot Hacks 7K Jobs 
Jan 26, 2009 8:36 AM CST

Home Depot Hacks 7K Jobs

Home-improvement giant having rough time in slow housing market

(Newser) - Home Depot says it's cutting 7,000 jobs and closing its smaller Expo chain as the recession continues to batter the nation's housing market. The nation's largest home-improvement retailer says the cuts announced this morning will affect about 2% of its workforce. Its core Home Depot stores won't be affected.

Targeted in Bubble, Latinos Now Face Foreclosure Flood

Push to get subprime, other risky mortgages to Hispanic community backfires

(Newser) - The US housing crisis has hit particularly hard in the Latino community, the Wall Street Journal reports, which was targeted by both lawmakers and lenders—often with subprime and other risky mortgages—during the bubble. Hispanic homeownership swelled 47% between 2000-2007, and the foreclosure crisis has hit hard for many...

Just How Bad Was 2008?
 Just How Bad Was 2008? 
Dec 31, 2008 4:37 PM CST

Just How Bad Was 2008?

The worst anyone under 70 has seen, Bloomberg reports

(Newser) - If you're under the age of 70, 2008 was probably the worst year you've lived through, reports Bloomberg. Here's why:
  • In housing, which started the downturn, median resale prices saw a 13% decline, the largest since the 1930s.
  • Foreclosure rates reached 2.97%, and mortgage delinquency hit 6.99%, both
...

Long Way Down for NYC, Boston Home Prices

Cities can't buck market forces forever

(Newser) - New York, Boston, and Charlotte, NC, are at the center of the financial industry, but so far those cities haven’t seen home prices plummet the way they have in the rest of the country. New York’s single-family-home prices are down from their 2006 highs, roughly half the decline...

Housing Bust Makes Divorce Too Costly for Many Couples

Couples stick it out as tough market makes splitting too expensive

(Newser) - Breaking up is hard to do, but in a housing bust it can be well nigh impossible. With one in six homes worth less than the mortgage owed on it, couples on the skids are finding divorce plans scuttled by an inability to sell the marital home. And with job...

Home Prices Take Another Nose-Dive

Fall record 18% in year to October

(Newser) - Home prices in 20 US cities plunged 18% in October over the previous year, a record-breaking rate, Bloomberg reports. The S&P/Case-Shiller index, which has declined every month since January 2007, dropped 17.2% in September. "The bear market continues; home prices are back to their March 2004 levels,...

Capone's Home to Hit the Market

Owner may ask $450K for 6-bedroom split-level on Chicago's South Side

(Newser) - Al Capone’s Chicago home is expected to hit the market this spring, asking price $450,000, reports the Tribune. This piece of gangster history comes with a pretty clean record: Capone used the red-brick house, registered in his mother’s and wife’s names, as a safe haven. “...

Mortgage Applications Leap 48%

Low rates bring out the borrowers

(Newser) - Mortgage applications skyrocketed last week, shooting up 48% from the previous week, and 124.6% over the same week last year, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey. The borrowing blowout was prompted by falling mortgage rates, which left the 30-year fixed-rate at its lowest level since June 2003,...

Home Sales, Prices Plunge
 Home Sales, Prices Plunge 
Dec 23, 2008 10:52 AM CST

Home Sales, Prices Plunge

Everyone was really surprised

(Newser) - The housing market had another staggering setback in November, with sales of new and existing homes tumbling while prices took their biggest hit on record, the Wall Street Journal reports. Existing-home sales fell a worse-than-expected 8.6%, while the national median price fell 13.2% to $181,300, the steepest...

8 States Poised to Lose House Seats: Census

Sun Belt boom may be ending

(Newser) - After a generation, the Sun Belt’s population boom may be ending, new Census data suggest. Over the year ending July 1, more people left Florida than moved there for the first time in some 30 years; after 23 years in the top four fastest-growing states, Nevada fell to eighth...

Treasury May Lower Mortgage Rates to 4.5%

Rates could go as low as 4.5% to curb falling home prices

(Newser) - The Treasury may try to bring new mortgage rates down to 4.5%—a full percentage point lower than current rates—to revitalize the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the proposal, which is still in the early stages, the department would use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

Retirement Communities Seek Younger Residents

Housing bust leads to 'age desegregaton'

(Newser) - A rash of vacancies caused by the ugly housing market has prompted many retirement communities to consider lowering, or even eliminating, age restrictions, the Wall Street Journal reports. Many of the communities enjoy lower taxes, and child- and teen-free living appeals to some seniors. But what's being call "age...

Stocks Keep Good Vibes Going
 Stocks Keep Good Vibes Going 
MARKET Open
Nov 25, 2008 9:13 AM CST

Stocks Keep Good Vibes Going

Stocks climb as investors are cheered by Fed plan to help consumer credit

(Newser) - Stocks continued to rise at the open this morning, with the Dow climbing more than 100 points and the S&P gaining 1.5%, as investors cheered the Treasury and Fed’s new program to boost consumer credit, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Nasdaq, however, was off slightly. The...

Existing-Home Prices Take Record Dive

11.3% decline is biggest on record; sales down again in Oct. after Sept. uptick

(Newser) - After a brief, unexpected rise in September, sales of existing homes plunged again in October, with the median price taking its biggest drop on record, the Wall Street Journal reports. Home resales fell 3.1% to a 4.98 million annual rate, from September’s revised 5.14 million pace....

Elderly Trapped in Houses That Won't Sell

Lack of buyers forces frail elderly to postpone plans for assisted living

(Newser) - The collapse of the housing market has left many elderly people marooned in their own homes, the New York Times reports. Retirement communities require hefty down payments that many elderly were expecting to raise by selling their homes. With no buyers out there, frail people requiring daily care are stuck...

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