Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for a fourth consecutive week as more evidence of an economic slowdown eased concerns among bond investors about inflation.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its weekly survey that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.78 percent this week, down from 5.80 percent last week

MSNBC has an interesting article on investing in Europe and Asia, personally I think its high risk, retirement funds are putting money into housing in 3rd world country’s, there has got to be something wrong here…
With U.S. home sales still surging to record highs, some investors are beginning to ask if the easy money has […]

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is questioning some of the nation’s biggest banks in an investigation of potential discriminatory practices in setting mortgage rates and fees.
“We are looking at the HMDA (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act) data and other information that would help us understand how the loans are being priced and whether or not […]

Mortgage News Daily:
Mortgages rates dropped last week in all categories. This is the third straight week that Freddie Mac has recorded a decline; the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) did, however, report a slight upward blip at one point during that period.
And, the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development issued their monthly report […]

AP> To slow the rapidly growing Medicaid program, some lawmakers would like to make it harder for the elderly to shelter their assets as a way to have the government cover more of their nursing home expenses.
GOP members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked state Medicaid directors on Wednesday what they have done […]

AP reports that the accounting problems that have rocked Fannie Mae may run even deeper, the federal regulator overseeing the mortgage giant suggested Tuesday.
Uncertainty created by the accounting scandal at the biggest U.S. buyer of home mortgages has the potential of spilling into the housing industry and making mortgages less available for homebuyers, Armando Falcon […]

Phoenix Savings Bank said it plans to change its name and make its first expansion out of the Seattle area, with a mortgage lending office in the Lake Tahoe market in Nevada.
The new name is Pacific Crest Savings Bank, which will be used on its three branches in Northgate, Lynnwood and Bellevue, as well as […]

Jay Hancock at the Baltimore Sun takes an interesting look at the housing bubble.

Speculators snapping up homes they won’t live in and may not be able to rent have given the market a new tier of foam and raised chances it will all end badly

AP reports that there’s a new group of buyers in the U.S. real estate market: foreigners.
A weak dollar and relatively low mortgage rates have turned houses and other real property into the investment of choice for a growing number of people from other countries. Some see real estate as a better way to earn money […]

Interesting article over at Boston.com on the current state of play in reverse mortgages:
The number of seniors nationwide who took reverse mortgages in 2004 doubled from the previous year to more than 40,000, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which insures the loans. California, with nearly a third of the mortgages, […]