Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, reeling from the deterioration in the housing market, will likely post steep losses for the first quarter, but the two largest home funding companies are expected to escape previous record losses.

Big Wall Street investment companies are pulling back on their borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program.

Thinking of buying a house? Mortgage rates may not go much lower than they are right now and are likely to start rising. And if you're looking to refinance your current mortgage, do it soon.

Congress' much heralded Febuary effort to make it easier to get jumbo mortgages — loans over $417,000 — has yielded frustration and disillusionment.

Applications for U.S. home mortgages last week slumped to their lowest since December in another sign the housing market is far from recovery, according to data reported by an industry group Wednesday.

Federal Deposit Insurance Chairman Sheila Bair is finalizing a legislative proposal that will let the Treasury Department issue direct loans for nearly 1 million homeowners, in a move to prop up the housing market, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

Prices of existing US single-family homes extended their slump in February, with 17 of the 20 measured regions posting record annual declines.

A recent "euphoric" rebound in stocks and non-government bonds may be premature as deeper home price declines threaten the economy and financial markets, said the manager of the world's biggest bond fund.

Countrywide Financial and GMAC, which run the largest independent U.S. mortgage lenders, on Tuesday posted big first-quarter losses, hurt by credit problems as the nation's housing slump deepens.

U.S. home foreclosure filings jumped 23 percent in the first quarter from the prior quarter, and more than doubled from a year earlier, as more overextended borrowers failed to make timely payments, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said Tuesday.

The man credited with developing the financing of the modern U.S. mortgage industry says home values have fallen more than their listed prices suggest but they could hold steady  with the help of a bill in Congress.

The share of U.S. homes owned but empty edged up in the first quarter to a record high 2.9 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau said Monday in a report adding more evidence of a deepening housing slump.

Home foreclosures are now hitting the nations wealthiest communities.

New York state's top insurance regulator said on Thursday that bond insurer Ambac Financial Group may need more capital.

Sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16 1/2 years as housing slumped further at the start of the spring season.