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White House Weighs Mortgage Giant Holdings (AP via Yahoo! News)   The Bush administration is proposing that Congress reduce the multibillion-dollar holdings of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a plan bitterly opposed by Democrats but gaining momentum on


Your Money Matters: Dealing with Rising Mortgage Interest Rates (Hope Star)  (ARA) - Many Americans are asking themselves what they should be doing in the wake of rising, and sometimes, fluctuating mortgage rates. It's an important question because for many Americans


(AFX UK Focus) 2007-05-21 10:06 GMT: UK April mortgage lending highest on record for month - CML (Interactive Investor)  LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The UK housing market was strong in April with gross mortgage lending registering a record performance for the month, despite a moderate fall from March's figure,


People in Business  Mark Knouff of Knouff Inc., has been named builder of the year by the Home Builders of Jackson County.read more...


Weathering the Dog Days of Home Sales    Home sellers, brace yourselves. The calendar is not on your side. Spring, the peak market for buying and selling homes, has come and gone, and a long, sultry summer


Acclaimed Auburndale Off-Site-Built Home Merges Cracker, Key West Styles  read more...

May 31st, 2007

Pulte to cut 16% of workforce

“Our current overhead levels are structured for a business that is larger than the market presently allows”

Jacksonville Business Journal – 2:01 PM EDT Wednesday, May 30, 2007 The slowdown in the housing market is taking another bite out of Pulte Homes Inc.’s local work force. via Jacksonville Business Journal



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May 31st, 2007

Hand-me-downs dress up nonprofits

“It filled a great need. We raise funds from the grass roots and closely watch what we spend”

There’s always a place to sit, no matter how many people crowd around Rose Tourje’s conference table. via Los Angeles Times



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May 31st, 2007

More on Existing Home Sales

NAR reported that existing home inventories are at record levels today. To put these numbers into perspective, here are the year-end inventory and months of sales numbers, since 1982 . via Calculated Risk



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May 31st, 2007

Capital city rental prices up 15pc

“At one end, high interest rates are deterring would be investors from entering the property market”

The cost of renting a house has soared in all capital cities, except Darwin. The Australian Property Monitors Group says rents for houses has risen by up to 15 per cent in the past year. via Australian Broadcasting Corporation



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May 31st, 2007

Home-Price Growth Slow in First Quarter

The rate of increase in U.S. home prices remained slow in the first quarter of the year, marking the slowest growth pace in a decade and extending a trend that began last yea.

Figures released Thursday by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the agency that oversees the big mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, provided the latest indication of a modulated slowdown in the once-sizzling housing market.

Average home prices edged up 0.5 percent in the January-March period, compared with 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2006, the report showed. House prices were 4.3 percent higher in the first quarter of this year than they were in the same quarter of 2006. Read more



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May 31st, 2007

Mortgage rates up on durables report (UPI)

Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage lender, reported mortgage rates mostly rose this week on news of increased durable goods orders.

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May 31st, 2007

Sector Snap: Mortgage Lenders (AP via Yahoo! Finance)

Shares of most mortgage lenders fell modestly Thursday after an industry group reported fewer people applied for home loans last week.

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May 31st, 2007

Mortgage rates up on non-housing growth (bizjournals.com via Yahoo! Finance)

Mortgage rates increased this week due to strong consumer and business spending, according to Freddie Mac.

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May 31st, 2007

Fears over helping hand for mortgage defaulters (FT.com via Yahoo! News)

A generation ago, a mortgage was still a simple contract negotiated face-to-face between a borrower and a local bank manager. But the business of home lending has changed dramatically.

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May 31st, 2007

Kenneth R. Harney Is an appraisal ‘live’? What is it worth to you?

WASHINGTON – A federal class-action suit is focusing fresh attention on an issue important to homeowners nationwide: Who – or what – tells you how much your property is worth? Is it a human being? A … via Chicago Tribune



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