REAL ESTATE

Single-family home prices dipped in July, hovering above multi-year lows absent the homebuyer tax credit that ended in April, according a Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price report on Tuesday.

Despite severe restrictions on tobacco advertising, youths are still too often exposed to media depicting smoking and drinking in a favorable light, according to one group of doctors.

New orders for a wide range of long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose in August and business spending plans rebounded strongly, the latest sign a sharp summer slowdown in the economy was abating.

New U.S. single-family home sales were flat in August, but the supply of houses on the market tumbled to the lowest level in 42 years, government data showed on Friday.

Delinquencies on U.S. home mortgages fell slightly in the three months through June, though the number of homeowners who lost their homes rose sharply from the first quarter

Freddie Mac said on Friday that its mortgage portfolio shrank in August as did its total debt outstanding, while delinquency rates on loans it guarantees were mixed.

Elizabeth Warren, the Obama administration's new consumer financial protection czar, said on Thursday that banks are showing early receptiveness to her plans for simplifying their disclosures to consumers.

More than half of the 1.3 million homeowners initially helped by the Obama administration's marquee foreclosure prevention program have since dropped out.

U.S. officials are not discussing renewal of a popular homebuyer tax credit that expired in April, President Barack Obama's top housing adviser said on Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and special advisor Elizabeth Warren said they intend to make mortgage language simpler so consumers can make better choices as they opened a forum on the topic on Tuesday.

Groundbreaking for new U.S. homes jumped in August to a four-month high, a tentative sign of stability in the housing market after steep declines brought by the end of a homebuyer tax credit.

Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell for the first time in three weeks, real estate website Zillow.com said on Tuesday.

Bank of America Corp said on Tuesday the pace of its mortgage modifications under the government's primary aid program to forestall foreclosures continued to slow in August.

GMAC Mortgage, a unit of Ally Financial Inc, has asked some outside vendors to suspend some evictions, a spokeswoman said.

Will the sharp price jumps in the Malaysian local housing market lead to an asset bubble? A recent Star Bizweek report analyzes just how real the threat is.

As homeowners and real estate agents continue to whine about how long a short sale process takes, US Congressmen are planning to move a bill that would require lenders to respond within 45 days

Lawmakers in Singapore passed a Bill to create a new statutory board that will regulate the real estate agency business in the country.

David Robinson, an NBA Hall of Fame star, is venturing further into the real estate investment world.

Lennar Corp, the third-biggest homebuilder in the United States, reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and a decline in orders that was less severe than Wall Street had feared.

China's housing ministry has ordered construction to begin for all affordable housing projects before the end of September, the China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday.

US fund manager Franklin Templeton plans to invest heavily across the Asia-Pacific region aims to launch a new Asian property fund of funds. It also intends raising about $300 million from institutional investors in Europe and Australia, a Reuters report said.

NYC's biggest 'affordable' housing project in 35 years attracts numerous real estate powerhouses, who will participate in the first phase of the bidding process, a recent Reuters report said.

Australian real estate analysts said increasing home loan applications are suggestive of a positive outlook for the residential property market.

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp's (GIC) real-estate arm warns India will be flooded with luxury hotels and malls. However, it remained optimistic about the country's longer-term prospects.

Not now, say experts. Because there are more unsold homes in the market because of what the banks and speculators have done.

Jefferson County in Louisville, Kentucky has always prided to be the home for million dollar houses in the U.S.

New Orleans, which was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, has lost more than 75,000 homes, nearly 13% of the total housing units in the district. At the same time, the monthly cost of housing rose 33% to $882 due to shortage of these houses making it expensive to live.

Some elderly borrowers may benefit from a Federal government decision to reduce upfront costs of reverse mortgages in the US.

In the Big island of Hawaii, more people are buying Condominium and single family homes compared to last year, as home prices are still going cheap.