In a sign of worsening lending conditions, a British bank announced today it had stopped granting mortgages for UAE apartments and is now requiring a 50 per cent down payment for villas, a spokesman said.
“Due to exceptional global market conditions, Lloyds TSB Middle East has altered some aspects of its mortgage product offering,” the spokesman [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) Nov. 7, 2008 Mortgage rates dropped this week, providing a dose of welcome news to prospective homebuyers.
Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.20 percent for the week ending Nov. 6. That was down sharply from 6.46 percent last week.
The retreat in mortgages rates [...]

There is bipartisan agreement today that stemming home foreclosures and restructuring troubled mortgages would slow the downward spiral harming financial institutions and the real American economy. The federal government possesses a range of tools to take action, but what’s missing is a way to persuade the mortgage servicers who control most of these loans on [...]

The New York City housing market is more active than others around the country, but that’s working out better for whites and Asians than it is for blacks and Latinos. That’s according to an analysis of recent financial data gathered by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Director Vicki Been says from [...]

U.S. fixed-rate mortgages declined in the latest week, according to Freddie Mac’s survey released Thursday. The national average interest rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 6.04% in the week ending Thursday, down from last week’s 6.46% and the year-ago 6.33%. The 15-year fixed-rate loan averaged 5.72%, down from the week-ago 6.14% and the [...]

During October, amid the hubbub surrounding the U.S. government’s financial rescue plan, the government put into effect an element of economic rescue designed to help homeowners struggling with their mortgages. The intent of the “Hope for Homeowners” plan is to help homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes, while also working to stabilize [...]

U.S. reverse mortgage loan creation rose 4.2 percent to a record level in fiscal 2008 and growth is expected to accelerate next year due to an impending increase in the federally insured loan limit, a trade group said on Tuesday.
Growth slowed this year as home prices sank, eroding home equity.
In a reverse mortgage, home owners [...]

Like Wall Street, the real estate industry is feeling the painful effects of loose lending practices and bad mortgage loans. Now, more than ever, prospective home buyers and sellers should be aware of what’s happening with the housing market — and where it’s headed — in order to make smart decisions. HGTV shares these top [...]

Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, seized by the federal government last month, are rolling back fees imposed as they struggled to shore up their finances over the past year.
Freddie Mac said Friday it would not impose a fee increase scheduled to go into effect next month. The announcement followed a similar reversal [...]

The government’s $700-billion plan to bail out the banking system may calm panicked financial markets, but its real value may be in buying time to address the root problem: the continuing slide in housing values.
The Treasury Department’s rescue plan is far from a done deal, with Democrats saying Sunday that they would push for more [...]