From the White House: The housing plan President Obama unveiled today could directly help up to 9 million people -- but indirectly, it will help all of us.

U.S. President Barack Obama is set to announce his plan to help people who risk losing their homes because they have defaulted on their mortgages and face foreclosure. Mr. Obama will unveil this part of the recovery effort Wednesday in the southwestern U.S. state of Arizona, which has been hit hard by the mortgage crisis.

According to The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, passed by Congress in July, first time home buyers who purchase homes between April 8th 2008 and July 1st 2009 are eligible for a tax credit. They can get $7,500 tax credit or up to 10% of the value of the home for home purchases under $75,000.

The Portabello Estate in Corona del Mar is ranking as the third most expensive real estate property in the United States, priced at $75 million, writes David James Thaindian News.

Does Lawrence Yun, the NAR chief economist, have a clue? He might just yet. Yun called the new report on the glut of unsold homes ‘uncomfortably high’ in a resignation that the housing market just isn’t in very good shape no matter which way you cut it.

The WSJ doesn't like the 'angry renter" movement.

A great article in Builder highlights Jack McCabe’s research report which calculates that the Florida condo market has a whopping 5 years worth of inventory with cranes still hovering over new developments.

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) reported that the losses related to the subprime mortgage bust could hit $420 billion based on an ultimate recovery of mark-to-market assets to 40 to 50% of their initial value.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 4, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 725.6, an increase of 5.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 688.3 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5.7 percent compared with the previous week and was up 10.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX), one of the world's largest private equity firms, has taken a record $10.9 billion loan to take advantage of the situation on the real-estate market.

Unusual weather patterns and problems in the subprime lending marketplace are creating challenges in assessing housing market conditions, but a recovery in the housing and real estate markets is likely this year, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales rose strongly in February following a healthy gain in January, reaching the highest level since last April, according to the National Association of Realtors.