Personal Finance News Headlines

Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area reached a five-year high for January, as prices and mortgage rates plunged, a real estate tracking firm reported Thursday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese banks extended a total of 1.26 trillion yuan ($199.4 billion) in new loans to property developers and home buyers in 2011, down 38 percent from 2010, the central bank said in a statement on its website on Monday. Beijing has taken an array of measures to rein in the property market -- including …

Fixed mortgage rates fell once again to a record low, offering a great opportunity for those who can afford to buy or refinance homes. But few are able to take advantage of the historic rates.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian housing starts climbed more than expected in December, fueled by low mortgage rates and a boom in condo construction, even as analysts predicted the once-hot sector would cool further in 2012. Housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 200,200 units from an upwardly revised …

Personal finance media personality Suze Orman is thinking big. She's the   first out of the gate in the fast-growing prepaid debit card market with a card that aims to help its users build a credit score. It's a gamble that could pay off, if it can help create a way measure the creditworthiness of millions who function …

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(Reuters) - Demand for loans to buy homes and refinance mortgages slid in the final week of 2011, even as mortgage rates dipped, an industry group said on Wednesday. Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell 4.1 percent in the week ended December 30, weighed down by a 9.6 percent drop in purchase loan requests and a 2.5 …

Fixed mortgage rates rose slightly this week off their record lows. The year ends much like it began, with few people able to take advantage of the best rates in history.

Fixed mortgage rates rose slightly this week off their record lows. The year ends much like it began, with few people able to take advantage of the best rates in history.

see photosLuis Louro/istockphotoClick for full photo gallery: The 10 Biggest Individual Tax Expenditures The Internet is a great source of information on personal finance, but often this information lacks the personal touch. The new website MyMoneyCircles.com aims to provide that personalized element by taking an interactive, …

TORONTO (Reuters) - Weaker Canadian economic growth and an oversupply of condos will lead to a 5 percent drop in home prices in the first half of next year, a report released on Monday by Bank of America Merrill Lynch said. Canadian housing prices are overvalued by as much as 10 percent, the report said, with demand spurred …

  Image by 401K via Flickr Once you’ve reached the last month of the tax year, your options are limited to minimize your income taxes. But there are a few things that could still be done, so don’t give up hope. For example, you could double up your real estate taxes by prepaying [...]

Image by 401K via Flickr Most women wait until after the holidays to move forward with their divorces --and that’s completely understandable. Many don’t want to disrupt family traditions for their children. Some welcome the distraction offered by the hustle and bustle of the season. And, of course, others want to [... …

*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.

This should be a great time to buy a first home. Prices have sunk to 2002 levels. Sellers are waiting anxiously as homes languish on the market. Mortgage rates are their lowest ever.

With each passing year, the former Oracle of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, is reminded that there really was a housing bubble and lowering interest rates to record lows just made matters worse.  Nearly four years after the housing market peak in 2007, record low mortgage rates are no match for [...]

With each passing year, the former Oracle of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, is reminded that there really was a housing bubble and lowering interest rates to record lows just matters worse.  Nearly four years after the housing market peak in 2007, record low mortgage rates are no match for falling [...]

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage hovered above its record low for a fourth straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.

The average rate on the 30-year mortgage hovered above the record low for a third straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.

The average rate on the 30-year mortgage stayed hovered above the record low for a third straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.

As part of her MoneyZen series, women and money expert Manisha Thakor highlights every day personal finance lessons that can be extracted from Jo Piazza's new book Celebrity, Inc.

Mortgage rates are at record lows, yet many home buyers are shunning loans. Do they know something you don't?

With housing prices and mortgage rates still near historic lows, now could be a great time to become a homeowner. I recently talked to a caller on our Financial Helpline who had a great credit score and could afford the mortgage payment for the home value she wanted since it [...]