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Americans would most like to live next door to actress Sandra Bullock in 2011, but the cast of the reality show “Jersey Shore” made the most undesirable neighbors, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
Bullock, who has won huge audiences with her All-American, girl-next-door image, earned more than a quarter of the vote in the annual poll on the most desirable celebrity neighbors, conducted by online real estate marketplace Zillow.com. Get the full story »
More Americans purchased new homes in November, though not enough to signal better times are ahead for the battered housing industry.
Sales of new homes rose 5.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 290,000 units, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That’s less than half the rate that economists consider healthy. And the increase follows an October sales pace that nearly matched the lowest level in 47 years. Get the full story »
Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area plunged more than 30 percent in November, hurt by difficult comparisons as buyers last year sought to capitalize on federal homebuyer tax cut programs. Get the full story »
Nearly a century after coming into existence, the mortgage deduction may face a day of reckoning. Although out of the spotlight while the lame-duck Congress thrashes to an end, the mortgage deduction issue is likely to resurface next year when the new Congress — including a lot more deficit-hawk Republicans — takes over.
In part, the hoary deduction has a target on its back as a result of policymakers rethinking the whole issue of homeownership. In the wake of the havoc that followed the latest housing bust — a calamity that still shadows the U.S. economy and will for years to come — it’s no longer so clear that near-universal homeownership should be a paramount goal. Get the full story »
A gauge of future economic activity rose in November, at the fastest pace since March, suggesting the economy will strengthen early next year.
The Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators rose 1.1 percent last month — the biggest increase since March, when the index jumped 1.4 percent. Get the full story »
From the Chicago Sun-Times | City planners Thursday endorsed a mixed-used development on the site of the old Lincoln Park Hospital on the North Side in a rare move to override the wishes of the local alderman. The proposal by Sandz Development Co. calls for a Fresh Market store on the 3-acre site at Halsted and Webster. It also includes a medical office building, about 160 residences and public parking. Get the full story>>
Mortgage rates rose in the latest week, extending their bounce off record lows they set in the fall, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.
Rates have climbed in recent weeks after they fell through October, setting repeated lows. Yields on Treasurys have jumped sharply recently, and mortgage rates generally track the yields, which move inversely to Treasury prices. Get the full story »
U.S. mortgage rates extended their bounce from recent record lows in the latest week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates, as Treasury yields continue to climb.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.61 percent for the week ended Thursday, up from the prior week’s 4.46 percent but down from 4.81 percent a year ago. Get the full story »
Consumers are expected to get better control on their mortgage and credit-card payments next year as the economy slowly improves.
Chicago-based credit reporting firm TransUnion predicts that delinquencies, or late payments, on the two biggest major forms of borrowing will drop sharply again in 2011, after substantial declines seen in the second half of this year. Get the full story »
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Retired professional race car driver Bobby Rahal, who won the 1986 Indianapolis 500, moved from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio, in 1981, but the Glen Ellyn native never forgot his roots.
A part-time Chicago resident from 2005 until 2008, Rahal, 57, now is set to make Chicago his exclusive home. He recently paid $3.295 million for a 12-room, 6,600-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion and also has listed his longtime six-bedroom, 13,192-square-foot mansion on 8 acres in New Albany, Ohio, for $4.75 million. Get the full story »
After falling to jaw-dropping lows, home mortgage rates rose this week for the third week in a row, according to a new report today.
The rates on 30-year, fixed rate home loans rose to an average 4.46 percent with 0.8 point this week, up from 4.40 percent a week ago, according to the weekly survey by mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The increase comes after the 30-year, fixed-rate loan fell to a record low of 4.17 percent in early November. Get the full story »
Applications for U.S. home mortgages dropped last week as interest rates rose to the highest level since mid-August, driving down applications for refinancing, an industry group said on Wednesday. Get the full story »
Prices of single-family homes in September fell more than twice as fast as expected from the prior month, while prices compared to a year earlier rose more slowly than forecast, according a widely watched index of U.S. home prices released on Tuesday. Get the full story »
Rates on fixed mortgages edged up this week, inching further away from the lowest level in decades.
Freddie Mac said Wednesday the average rate for 30-year fixed loans rose to 4.40 percent from 4.39 percent last week. Two weeks ago, the rate hit 4.17 percent, the lowest on records dating to 1971. Get the full story »
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Chicago mayoral candidate and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun has her five-bedroom, Prairie-style town home in Hyde Park on the market for $1.9 million.
The first African-American female to serve in the U.S. Senate, Braun, 63, announced on Saturday that she is running for mayor. Get the full story »
