Interest rates on U.S. 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped by 0.42 percentage point in the past week, the biggest seven-day drop in more than 28 years, Freddie Mac says. The fixed rate is now at its lowest in five months.
The fall was driven by the U.S. government’s bailout of the mortgage lender and its larger counterpart, [...]

The federal government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sent mortgage rates tumbling in California, raising hopes that the state’s severely ailing housing market will get a boost.
After the federal action Sunday, consumers with outstanding credit Monday were offered rates as low as 5.375 percent on 30-year fixed mortgages, said Cathy Warshawsky, president of [...]

As home prices continue to decline and loan defaults mount, U.S. regulators are bracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the next year.
But after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed late Friday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions: Just how many banks might falter? And, more urgently, which one could [...]

WASHINGTON — Home mortgage rates moved lower this week after indications that consumer spending could slow, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.35% in the week ended Sept. 4, down from 6.40% last week and 6.46% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.90% this week, [...]

NEW YORK — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are demanding higher returns from lenders in exchange for buying loans that help finance rental-apartment buildings, as the two mortgage-finance giants expand in the sector.
The rate increases, the most recent of which came in the past week, are attributable to generally higher borrowing costs and efforts by [...]

WASHINGTON — Rates on fixed-rate home mortgages fell this week, following reports of weakness in the economy, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said Thursday. But rates on adjustable-rate mortgages rose slightly.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.40% for the week ended Aug. 28, down from 6.47% last week.
The mortgage averaged 6.67% a year ago. And 15-year fixed-rate [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Economic growth rebounded at better-than-expected 3.3% annual rate in the April-June quarter, the government said Thursday.
The Commerce Department says the economy shifted to a higher gear, growing at its fastest pace in nearly a year, as foreign buyers snapped up U.S. exports and tax rebates spurred shoppers at home.
The revised reading was [...]

Federal Reserve policy makers agreed at their meeting three weeks ago that their next change in interest rates will be to raise them, while reaching no conclusion on the timing of such a decision, according to minutes of the gathering released in Washington today.
“Although members generally anticipated that the next policy move would likely be [...]

Long before the mortgage crisis began rocking Main Street and Wall Street, a top FBI official made a chilling, if little-noticed, prediction: The booming mortgage business, fueled by low interest rates and soaring home values, was starting to attract shady operators and billions in losses were possible.
“It has the potential to be an epidemic,” Chris [...]

Freddie Mac executives are sounding out private-equity firms and other investors about the possibility of buying new common or preferred shares in the mortgage company.
But that effort is running up against what may be an insurmountable hurdle: Many investors fear any money they invest now in Freddie or its main rival, Fannie Mae, will be [...]