• Subscriber Content Read Preview

  

  Fannie Counsel Is Internal CEO Candidate

  Timothy Mayopoulos, a former top executive at Bank of America who was forced out in 2008, has emerged as the leading internal contender to become chief executive at Fannie Mae.

• Taste for Subprime Bonds Returns

  Investors' belief that the worst is over for the U.S. housing market is fueling renewed interest in once-toxic mortgage bonds that were at the heart of the financial crisis.

• Subscriber Content Read Preview

  Citi Settles Case of Ineligible Loans

  A Citigroup unit agreed to pay $158.3 million to settle U.S. claims it cost the government tens of millions of dollars by submitting faulty loans to a federal mortgage-insurance program.

  • Settlement: Citi v. U.S.
  • Deal Journal: Citi Gave 'Star Player' Award

• Lowest-Income Renters Left Behind in Housing Crisis

  A new report finds fewer housing options for 9.8 million extremely low-income families.

• Subscriber Content Read Preview

  

  Apollo Has Difficulty Landing Real-Estate Funds

  Private-equity firm Apollo Global Management has raised only about $385 million for a real-estate fund, well short of its goal.

• Subscriber Content Read Preview

  

  Mission West Hangs 'For Sale' Sign

  The leading office landlord in California's Silicon Valley, Mission West Properties Inc., is preparing to sell itself to the highest bidder. But the selling price is likely to fall short of the $1.8 billion the company nearly fetched five years ago.

• Zurich Is World's Costliest City

  Zurich took over from Tokyo as the world's most expensive city to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's most recent world-wide cost-of-living survey. The list of the top 10 is equally divided between Asia and Europe, but doesn't include London or Hong Kong.

  • Video: Asia, Australia Dominate Costliest Cities

• Windows Reveal the True Housing Market

  Maybe the clearest way to look at the housing market is through a nice glass window.

• What's Inside the $25 Billion Mortgage Settlement: An Early Look

  Officials haven't made public the $25 billion settlement agreement that they reached with five large banks. But draft documents obtained by the Journal show the many moving pieces that were the product of more than a year of discussions.

• Subscriber Content Read Preview

  

  Empire State Building Owner Plans IPO

  The company that runs Manhattan's Empire State Building is planning an initial public offering that could raise as much as $1 billion.

• 

  Five Products That Caught Our Eye at IBS

  Here are five new products we took note of while wandering the floor last week at IBS 2012:

• Housing Agency's Reserves at Risk

  The Federal Housing Administration could exhaust its reserves over the coming year, which would require a Treasury infusion for the first time in its 78-year history.

• China Property Shares Fall After Policy Reversal

  China's property shares fell sharply in early trade Monday after Wuhu, an eastern Chinese city, reversed over the weekend an earlier decision to relax housing curbs, an abrupt move that signaled Beijing's determination to keep up the pressure on the overheated sector.

• Subscriber Content Read Preview

  

  Brooklyn's Shifting Center

  New York's Steiner family is planning a 52-story rental apartment tower on a gritty block in downtown Brooklyn in what would be the latest expansion of residential development in the borough beyond its traditional boundaries.

• 

  Bernanke: No 'Silver Bullet' for Housing Woes

  What more can the Federal Reserve do to help the home-building industry?

• Living Very Large

• Where Art and Architecture Collide

• Kiawah Island Property Is Reduced 10% to $26 Million

House of the Day

• 

  Spanish Hillside Villa

  This seven-bedroom home, overlooking the town of Altea on Spain's Costa Blanca, has extensive sunset views across the Mediterranean Sea.

• 

  Phuket Villa, Beach Included

  This Thailand home has the biggest private pool in the area and a 300-foot stretch of beach to itself.

• 

  English Country Mansion

  This six-bedroom Georgian home in east England has an added Edwardian wing, complete with a watchtower.

• 

  Italian Seaside Villa

  This five-bedroom home overlooking the Mediterranean in Sardinia has been virtually rebuilt by its current owners.

• 

  Historic Farm in Bedford

  This estate in Bedford, N.Y., remained a functioning farm until two years ago. The five-bedroom main house and two-bedroom mill house along still hearken back to the property's historical roots.