MORTGAGE

Applications for home mortgages surged more than 20 percent last week, fueled by a wave of refinancing demand as interest rates dropped, an industry group said on Wednesday.

O. J. Simpson, the former football star who gained notoriety during a 1995 murder trial, is facing foreclosure on his Florida home.

The National Federation of Independent Business is challenging President Barack Obama's controversial recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.

China's fledgling real estate investment fund market could see a surge of activity in 2012 as property developers launch their own vehicles in a desperate bid to bridge an estimated $111 billion financing gap in the year ahead.

Phil Angelides, formerly the chairman of a federal commission who led investigations into why the financial markets collapsed, is heading an investment group that hopes to do a good thing for America while turning a profit from the wreckage of the housing market.

A group that represents CEOs of major U.S. corporations, including Citigroup, defended the SEC's settlement with the financial giant that allowed the company to avoid admitting any liability or wrongdoing in a securities fraud case.

Italy's three-year debt costs fell below 5 percent but its first bond sale of the year failed to match the success of a Spanish auction the previous day, reflecting the heavy refinancing load Rome faces over the next three months.

Italy's three-year debt costs fell below 5 percent at the first bond auction of the year spurring hopes the troubled borrower would be able to make it through a refinancing hump in the first months of the year.

U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates fell to a new record low of 3.89 percent in the week ending Jan. 12, according to Freddie Mac.

The number of U.S. homes that received a foreclosure filing fell to a four-year low in 2011 as a slowdown in processing hit the market, RealtyTrac said in a report on Thursday.

MetLife Inc. has purchased EnV, a 249-unit luxury rental tower in Chicago, the insurance company announced on Wednesday.

U.S. mortgage applications increased 4.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending Jan. 6, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose in the first week of the year as demand for both purchases and refinancing perked up, an industry group said on Wednesday.

MetLife will shut down its mortgage operations, the largest U.S. life insurer said on Tuesday, giving up on the unit three months after it said it would seek a buyer.

How do you disguise yourself when you're a bodybuilder boss, with your picture in every hotel of your far-flung company? Answer: A long-haired wig and contacts; guess your employees aren't paying that much attention to the boss's picture.

MetLife Inc. (MET), the largest U.S. life insurer, said Tuesday that it's shutting down the business of originating residential mortgages, three months after the company said it would seek a buyer for the unit. Goldman Sachs upgraded MetLife to "buy" as the company scales back to meet targets for shareholder returns.

Michael Williams, CEO of mortgage giant Fannie Mae, is resigning, the company announced on Tuesday.

Canadian housing starts climbed more than expected in December, fueled by low mortgage rates and a boom in condo construction, even as analysts predicted the once-hot sector would cool further in 2012.

The federal government will soon begin selling government-owned foreclosed properties in bulk to investors as rentals, in a new effort to dispose of its growing portfolio of distressed properties.

Jacob Lew, a former Citigroup executive, reportedly received a $900,000 bonus from the company after it took $45 billion in taxpayer bailout funds in 2008.

The labels being attached to Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney seem to be straight out of the Democrats' playbook.