Real Estate News

Reuters - Top economists at the Allied Social Sciences Association's annual meeting have been searching -- in some cases, in vain -- for signs of life in the U.S. housing market, a key element for busting the country out of a deep economic downturn.

AFP - US auto sales crashed again in December as the industry posted its worst year since 1992 and the Detroit Three saw their annual share of their home market slip beneath 50 percent for the first time, industry data showed Monday.

AFP - The Federal Reserve said Monday it began buying troubled mortgage securities through investment managers, kicking off a program expected to spend up to 500 billion dollars to ease a credit crisis.

AP - The balance of power between landlords and tenants will shift dramatically in 2009.

Reuters - The assets of failed U.S. mortgage lender IndyMac are being bought by a group of private equity and hedge fund firms, including Dune Capital Management and J.C. Flowers & Co, which are putting up $1.3 billion in cash.

Reuters - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, in a statement on its Website, says it signed a letter of intent to sell Indymac Federal bank operations to thrift holding company controlled by IMB Management Holdings LP.

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low for the third straight week and borrowers took advantage of the drop, sending new applications soaring.

AP - Becoming a mortgage broker in Indiana used to be easy. Too easy.

Reuters - U.S. weekly jobless claims plummeted last week but the improvement was probably a seasonal quirk rather than a turning point for the recession-ravaged labor market.