Topic: Housing

New U.S. single-family home sales rose more than expected in April and prices pushed higher, further evidence the housing market was turning the corner.

Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week, fueled by demand for refinancings as mortgage rates hit fresh record lows, an industry group said on Wednesday.

U.S. home resales rose in April to their highest annual rate in nearly two years and a falloff in foreclosures pushed prices higher, hopeful signs about the pace of a housing recovery.

Months after the first invitations were mailed, only a small percentage of eligible borrowers have accepted a chance to have their foreclosure cases checked for errors and maybe win restitution. USA Today reports.

Lowe's, the world's second-largest home improvement chain, cut its fiscal-year earnings outlook on Monday and said demand had slowed toward the end of the traditionally strong first quarter, sending its shares down more than 3 percent.

London prices have risen 45 per cent over the past three years, compared to only 15 per cent in Geneva, 17 per cent in Paris and 10 per cent in New York, making London ever more expensive (and desirable) than its western peers.

Average U.S. rates for 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages fell to record lows for the third straight week. The steady decline has made home-buying and refinancing more affordable than ever for those who can qualify. The Christian Science Monitor reports.

China's home prices recorded their seventh consecutive monthly fall in April, with one expert expecting up to 15 percent more downside in the near-term, putting property stocks under pressure.

Chinese home prices fell for a second month in April from a year earlier, a trend likely to continue if the government maintains efforts to pull them back to what it calls "reasonable levels" to ease social discontent. 

Leading indicators, a gauge of future U.S. economic activity, fell in April for the first time in seven months, according to an industry survey on Thursday that indicated a struggling economic recovery.

The investigation into the  $300 million art heist from a Boston museum in 1990 has heated up after authorities searched the house of a mob suspect. The Gardner Museum is offering a $5 million reward.

Housing starts rose more than expected in April, according to a report that offered signs of a nascent housing recovery, even though permits for future building fell.

Applications for U.S. home mortgages surged last week, driven by increased demand for refinancing as interest rates hit fresh lows, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Suspected drug gang killers dumped 49 headless bodies on a highway near Mexico's northern city of Monterrey in one of the country's worst atrocities in recent years..

The government-controlled mortgage company has announced  that Donald Layton, former chief executive of brokerage firm ETrade Financial, will take over the top job on May 21.