The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said Thursday she is optimistic the agency will be able to obtain money from the $700 billion bailout fund to launch its proposed home-loan modification program quickly.

Construction starts on new US homes fell to a record low in October, as did new applications for building permits, signaling that the national housing downturn may extend well into the future.

Applications for U.S. home mortgages declined last week, with loans for purchases of single-family homes falling to their lowest level in nearly eight years, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Pervasive fears of job loss, financial market upheaval and recession hammered U.S. home builder sentiment to a record low in November, the National Association of Home Builders said on Tuesday.

Steven Strong, president of Solar Design Associates, recalls standing on the roof of the White House with President Jimmy Carter more than 30 years ago when Carter dedicated the first solar system  there. He also remembers when the Reagan administration consigned that system to the dumpster. " “I made it a career goal to get solar back on the White House, " says strong.  And he did.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Friday unveiled a plan to prevent about 1.5 million foreclosures by promising to share any losses with mortgage companies that agree to refinance certain home loans.

U.S. mortgage applications rose last week, recovering from an almost 8-year low, as potential borrowers took advantage of a sharp drop in interest rates, an industry group said on Thursday.

U.S. foreclosure activity in October rose 25 percent from a year earlier, although filings in California fell by double-digit percentage points for the second consecutive month due to a state law slowing the foreclosure process, according to a monthly report by RealtyTrac.

The government may let more borrowers qualify for a $300 billion program designed to let troubled homeowners swap risky loans for more affordable ones, a top Bush administration official said Wednesday.

Home values in the United States posted their seventh consecutive quarterly decline, with nearly one-third of Americans who sold in the past year losing money, real estate website Zillow.com said Wednesday.

The US government and mortgage industry are launching the most sweeping effort yet to help troubled homeowners by speeding up the process for renegotiating hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The size of most loans eligible for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac   funding will be unchanged in 2009 at $417,000, but caps on exceptions in many costly regions fell, the companies' regulator said Friday.

Pending sales of existing U.S. homes fell in September, reversing the previous month's gains, as access to credit tightened, a private report showed on Friday, adding more gloom to the broader economic outlook.

U.S. 30-year mortgage rates fell in the week ending Nov. 6, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac.

U.S. mortgage application demand skidded last week to an eight-year low, driven by a nearly 30 percent slump in demand to refinance home loans as borrowing costs rose, a trade group said on Wednesday.