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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of homes entering into some stage of foreclosure is surging, according to a survey released Wednesday. In August, 115,292 properties entered into foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure sales. That was 24 percent above the level in July and 53 percent higher than a year earlier. Where foreclosures are jumping Year over year gain in homes in foreclosure. Click for more stats on each state. Nevada: Up 255% California: Up 160% Florida: Up 62% It was the second highest monthly foreclosure total of the year; in February, 117,151 properties entered foreclosure....

Get used to it ¡ª the seller's market is closing up shop. The days of fat, fast home value increases are gone. Pack away those flipping fantasies. "The boom is definitely over, there's no debate about that," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of West Chester, Pa.-based research firm Moody's Economy.com. "Now the question is more how hard is it going to land, if it lands at all." The answer? Depends who you ask ¡ª and what location you're talking about. How to feel about it? Depends which side of the market you're on ¡ª and what location you're talking about....

He, of all people, should have known better. The president of the National Association of Realtors, Thomas M. Stevens of Vienna, admits he didn't follow his agents' advice when the real estate market started to cool. That, he says, is why his old house in Great Falls has now been on the market for a year at the price of $1.45 million. "What I should have done," confessed the senior vice president of NRT Inc., parent of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, "was listened to my agent and cut the price by $50,000 to $100,000 early on, and the property would...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment bank HSBC has revised downward its forecast for 2007 economic growth and cautioned that the risk of an outright recession is growing as a retreat in housing threatens household balance sheets. ADVERTISEMENT The company argues that while corporate profits have remained sky-high, the incomes of most Americans have effectively fallen over the last 18 months. That, say economists Stephen King and Ian Morris, could be a recipe for hard times in an economy that relies on consumers for over two-thirds of its strength. "Never before have households been so hard hit at a time companies...

Falling prices have created a new twist in the suburban Boston real estate market: More homes are selling for less than their assessed values. Massachusetts house prices slumped 3.5 percent in July, the biggest monthly drop since 1993, as a slowdown in sales brought about by rising interest rates created a glut of homes on the market. which are the estimated values communities place on homes to determine property taxes, their primary source of revenue. State law requires communities to assess properties at ``full and fair cash value." * * * But for the past five years, most homes sold...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home sales will be a good deal weaker this year than earlier thought as potential buyers remain on the sidelines waiting for better deals, a national real estate group said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes were likely to drop 7.6 percent this year to 6.54 million. A month ago, the group thought existing homes sales would fall only 6.5 percent to 6.61 million. The association, which said housing prices were likely to dip temporarily below year-ago levels, also revised lower its forecasts for new homes sales and housing...

With millions of adjustable-rate mortgages about to reset this fall, experts expect a wave of foreclosures by Americans in every income bracket. Here's why they could soar in late 2006 and beyond: Those easy-mortgage chickens are coming home to roost. This fall the adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) that millions of Americans took out during the recent housing boom will be reset, and many homeowners will see their monthly mortgage payments shoot up by as much as 20%. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, of all mortgages financed in 2005, 36% were ARMs -- the highest ever. This is a matter of...

The US economy has been generating strong economic growth over the past few years as it has come out of recession. After growing at more than 3% a year in 2004 and 2005, the pace picked up to a blistering 5.6% annual rate in the first quarter of this year - although the pace has since then slipped back to 2.9%. So far, though, little of that growth has translated into the hands of the average worker, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Click here for a graph of wages vs. productivity For real household incomes,...

Nickel prices took a severe beating in late trade at the London Metal Exchange on Monday, falling over $1,000 from Friday's kerb close. Three-months futures ended Monday's kerb at $27,600 per tonne, down $1,100, or 3.8 percent. Once selling began, the metal slipped into free-fall, traders said. "It was around $28,500, then on the next trade -- which was half an hour later -- it had gone down $300, then another $300." Volumes were tiny and support practically non-existent."It was trading one lot, then two lots, then one. There was a void underneath it," the trader said. Sellers may have...

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- For the past five years, the housing bulls have been trotting out one rational-sounding argument after another to explain why the boom made perfect economic sense. Forget about a crash, they assured homeowners. Expect a "soft landing" where your three-bedroom colonial in Larchmont or Larkspur not only holds onto its huge price gains, but keeps appreciating at a "normal," "sustainable" rate of 6 percent or so into the sunset. Real estate slowdown New homes slump worsens Pace of new home sales falls more than forecast as inventory builds, prices decline. (more) Freebies for home buyers Home...

HERNDON, Va. -- For years, real-estate brokers and home builders promised that the soaring property market eventually would glide to a soft landing. These optimists predicted that home prices, which had more than doubled in parts of the country between 2000 and 2005, would continue to rise, but at a more normal pace of 5% or 6% a year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interactive Tool • Use an interactive tool to search the latest data on housing inventories and price trends in 26 real-estate markets, at RealEstateJournal.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It isn't working out that way. The rapid deterioration of the market over the past...

The economy's growth has never before been so driven by real estate. Now that engine is sputtering. Jiany Massad isn't quite ready to throw in the towel on his fledgling career as a Miami real-estate tycoon. But if the local housing market continues to head south, the 30-year-old real-estate broker is already making alternate plans. "I might restart my old business," he says of a home decorating company that specialized in high-end window treatments. "At least it's real-estate-related." With home sales down by nearly a third in Florida last quarter, thousands of those who hoped to cash in on the...

WASHINGTON - Consumer inflation accelerated in July, reflecting a big jump in gasoline and other energy prices. In evidence that the economy is slowing, industrial output in July slipped to just half the June pace. ADVERTISEMENT The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its closely watched Consumer Price Index rose by 0.4 percent last month, double the 0.2 percent increase in June. While energy costs had fallen in June, they rose by 2.9 percent last month, the biggest increase in three months. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve reported that output at the nation's factories, mines and utilities increased by 0.4 percent last...

Millions of Americans bought into the real estate boom with adjustable mortgages and home equity loans. Now rising interest rates are forcing them into agonizing financial choices. Aug. 8, 2006 - When Shawn Howell saw the house in the summer of 2004, he thought he couldn’t lose. The location-close to family and in an upscale subdivision in Louisville, Ky.,—was perfect; the three-bedroom plus loft was just right. The price was a little high at $217,000—especially as Howell's wife, Niki, had just given birth to their second child. But the couple learned they could purchase it with no money down by...

NEW YORK -- Home prices in some parts of the country are falling. Builders are scaling back. Bubble or not, the biggest housing boom in recent U.S. history is coming to an end. Now here is the big question: How bad will the aftermath be? At this point, most economists expect a "soft landing," a gradual decline that won't derail the nation's economic expansion, now in its fifth year. But there is a good chance they are being too optimistic. The boom has depended heavily on the upbeat psychology of consumers, builders and lenders. As moods swing, the landing could...

Washington (Reuters) - U.S. consumer credit rose by a bigger-than-expected $10.27 billion in June on a surge in credit card debt, a Federal Reserve Report on Monday showed. ADVERTISEMENT Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting consumer credit to rise by just $4 billion after increasing by an upwardly revised $5.88 billion in May. Consumer credit outstanding rose to $2.186 trillion in June, rising at a 5.66 percent annual rate from $2.176 trillion the prior month. Revolving credit, which includes credit and charge cards, rose by an annual 9.80 percent rate in June to $820.65 billion after a 11.04 percent surge...

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- It is becoming increasingly obvious that financial advisers, real estate experts and parents will someday point to what is happening in the mortgage market today and use it as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when a buyer stretches to get too much house during a market that seems invincible. Real estate has been booming in most markets over the last five years or longer, fueled by interest rates that reached four-decade lows and by consumers who used new mortgage products to extend their buying power. Many home buyers stopped worrying about buying a home...

The Comptroller General of the United States warns the nation will go broke within a generation - unless it takes radical steps now to rein in out-of-control federal spending. In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Comptroller David M. Walker, explained his mission: Save America from the brink of financial disaster. Walker has revealed America's collision course in computer simulations that show balancing the budget in 2040 (under the status quo of spending like there's no tomorrow) could require cutting total federal spending by an incredible 60 percent - or raising federal taxes 200 percent over today's level. Serving a 15-year...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumer spending was weak for a fourth straight month in June as rising gasoline prices left Americans with little to spend on other items. Construction activity posted a stronger-than-expected advance, though, as a record level of government spending helped offset weakness in housing. ADVERTISEMENT The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose by 0.4 percent in June, down from a gain of 0.6 percent in May. After adjusting for inflation, the gain was an even weaker 0.2 percent, the fourth straight month of a spending increase of 0.2 percent or less. Meanwhile, construction spending rose by 0.3...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Core consumer prices rose a moderate 0.2 percent in June for a third straight month, but the year-on-year rate hit a nearly four-year high, keeping financial markets on edge over a possible Federal Reserve interest-rate hike. In the same report, the Commerce Department said Tuesday that personal income rose 0.6 percent in June, with nominal spending up 0.4 percent. The data, which was incorporated in a report released Friday on second-quarter economic growth, matched Wall Street expectations. Current Savings Rates Type Overall avgs MMA 3.34% $10K MMA 3.57% 6 month CD 4.63% 1 yr CD 5.09% 5...