Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, invest in and operate income-generating real estate. And the hot trend in REIT investment today is apartment buildings.

Homeowners with underwater mortgages can breathe a little easier following the $25 billion agreement between by state and federal officials and the country’s biggest mortgage lenders over fraudulent mortgage foreclosure practices.

As the economy begins to slowly piece itself back together after the Great Recession, many are still wondering how it all happened. What went wrong? How could this have been prevented? Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz tackles those questions and more in his analytic book “Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy.”

Photo courtesy Truthout.org

While the rate of Illinois homeowners behind on their mortgage payments fell this year, the share of those borrowers beginning the foreclosure process spiked to 5.85 percent – over a full point above the record-high national rate.

Some gloomy numbers loomed over the real estate market this week when national home sales and prices dropped, while mortgage rates creeped up.

“Demand to buy homes is really weak,” said Patrick Newport, economist at IHS Global Insight.

With the recent mortgage rate hike, those seeking to refinance their homes may not get the bargain they were hoping for. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

BY FELICE BAKER – MEDILL REPORTS

The low mortgage rates characterizing the second quarter of 2009 may be history starting this week. According to

BY MARJORIE KORN, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Fannie Mae [[FNM]] expects this year’s beefed-up loan-loss reserves to carry it through 2009 and 2010, but anticipates credit-related expenses to be “significant” in 2009.

The company expects to preserve $1.9 billion in capital through 2009 by slashing its quarter common stock dividend 86 percent, from 35 cents to [...]

BY MARJORIE KORN, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Fannie Mae [[FNM]] was poised to open more than 16 percent lower, after plunging by $1.65 per share in premarket trading Friday, hovering around $8.30 down from Thursday’s close of $9.95, the lowest since July 16. The company’s 52-week low of $6.68 was set July 11.

In a press [...]

BY MARJORIE KORN, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Fannie Mae [[FNM]] reported a second-quarter loss Friday as the troubled mortgage-finance company added $3.7 billion to combined loss reserves to total $5.4 billion in total credit-related expenses.

Fannie Mae reported Friday a net loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.54 per diluted share for the second quarter [...]