Business: Real Estate

WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes tumbled more sharply than expected in June, pushing activity down to the lowest level in more than a decade.

PARIS (AFP) - French construction group Saint-Gobain said Thursday it would cut 4,000 jobs this year, mostly in Britain, Spain and the United States, as part of a cost-cutting drive in the face of a sharp downturn in the housing market.

WASHINGTON - Mortgage rates shot up this week with 30-year mortgages climbing to the highest level in nearly a year, reflecting concerns in financial markets about the troubles at corporate giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday welcomed the US government's plans to aid mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and ease the housing crisis.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The best way to help the ailing housing market recover from the $1 trillion of losses it faces will be to cut the cost of mortgages via the housing bill and rescue package for mortgage finance giants, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jobless claims jumped last week and the pace of existing home sales tumbled to a 10-year low as slowing growth hit hiring and a glut of unsold homes weighed on the real estate market, data on Thursday showed.

The House dealt Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a "Get Out of Jail Free" card on July 23, passing a bill that authorizes the Treasury Dept. to extend the mortgage-finance giants a lifeline without any of the conditions that the companies' critics had demanded. The bill now heads to the Senate, where passage is expected within days. President Bush earlier dropped his threat to veto the legislation, so it should be signed into law soon.

WASHINGTON - Cash-strapped homebuyers and borrowers facing foreclosure will get some relief from a housing bill passed by the House on Wednesday but the bill won't solve the deep-rooted ills of the U.S. housing market.

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate plans to consider the housing legislation designed to shore up confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and stem record mortgage foreclosures after the House of Representatives approved it yesterday.

TAUNTON, Mass. - A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house that day, she would be dead.

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - San Diego's city attorney said on Wednesday he filed a lawsuit against Bank of America Corp and its Countrywide unit to prevent the mortgage lenders from foreclosing on homes in the city, which he aims to make a "foreclosure sanctuary."

The Mortgage Bankers Assoc.'s mortgage applications index fell 6.2% in the week ended July 18 to 489.6 as 30-year mortgage rates rose 0.37 point 15 6.59%, the highest in a year. The purchase index fell 6.7% to 335.6 and the refi index fell 5.6% to 1392.7. Financial turmoil has caused interest rates to rise while soaring home-loan defaults have forced banks to curb credit, deepening the housing slump.

The 272-152 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a bill that aims to help homeowners facing foreclosure and to prevent mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fidelity National Financial Inc , which controls one of the largest U.S. title insurers, said on Wednesday second-quarter profit tumbled 92 percent as the housing slump cut into home sales and refinancings.

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) - General Motors on Wednesday posted a five percent drop in global sales in the second quarter as a sharp drop in its home market offset strong gains overseas.

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Congress may vote today on a rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after lawmakers reached a deal on legislation aimed at alleviating the worst housing recession in a quarter century.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has an explanation for the housing market meltdown that has thrown the global economy into turmoil: Wall Street got drunk.

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote today on a rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after lawmakers reached a deal on legislation aimed at alleviating the worst housing recession in a quarter century.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will sign into law a housing rescue package, despite objections about a provision to provide grants to communities to buy and repair foreclosed homes, because the legislation was needed promptly to address the crisis, the White House said on Wednesday.

Banks are closing, and unemployment's up. We have record foreclosures and sky-high gas prices. Everywhere we turn, there's gloom and doom -- on the newspapers, the nightly news, radio âEuro¦ every media outlet is full of these stories.

Over the last several years, many banks galvanized by the housing boom affixed their names to sports stadiums and arenas across the country, hoping to drive brand awareness at the ballpark. Now, as the subprime and credit crisis continues to strike many financial institutions, one expert criticizes certain money-losing companies for buying naming rights.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Single mother Mary White worked as a sales clerk until the bank foreclosed on the home she rented.

WASHINGTON - A federal rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost taxpayers $25 billion, congressional budget experts said, as the House scheduled a Wednesday vote on legislation that would tap the mortgage giants' profits to cover any losses from saving 400,000 homeowners from foreclosure.

Geopolitical tensions and fears in the financial markets owing to the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, along with a weak dollar, have pushed gold higher again, according to a World Gold Council report released Tuesday.

CHICAGO - Behind their down-home names, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are so vital to the economy that the government scrambled to offer them a lifeline. But what exactly are they, and what do they do?

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson spent another day stumping for the U.S. banking system, declaring Tuesday that his top priority was ensuring "stability and confidence in our markets and financial institutions."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional budget analysts on Tuesday put a $25 billion cost estimate on a Bush administration plan to bolster mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , but raised questions about a key assumption underlying the plan.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Tuesday shoring up housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was crucial to ending the slide in housing prices and easing the strains in financial markets.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Penn. (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve has a limited role in a government plan to provide financial support for ailing mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser said on Tuesday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp. reported a surprisingly large second-quarter loss Tuesday, deflating Wall Street's hopes that the nation's big banks are weathering the credit crisis well. The bank said it lost $8.86 billion, is slashing its dividend and eliminating 10,750 positions after losses tied to mortgages soared.