Real Estate

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Community bank failures are accelerating and some experts believe as many as 100 may go under this year, the most in 16 years. Many of the banks were caught up in lending money to developers to build neighborhood strip malls and other commercial or industrial buildings that in this recession have attracted too few tenants or sit empty.   Full Story

WASHINGTON (AP) - Six Illinois banks and one bank in Texas were shuttered Thursday as government regulators proposed new rules for private equity firms seeking to take over failed banks.   Full Story

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New U.S. home sales dipped slightly last month, in another sign that the housing market recovery is likely to be gradual and   Full Story

NEW YORK (AP) - Regulators on Friday shut down five small banks, boosting to 45 the number of failures this year of federally insured banks. More are expected to succumb in the prolonged recession.   Full Story

NEW YORK -- Home sales in the Northeast declined more than 13 percent in May from year-ago levels, the worst showing in the country, as the specter of job losses loomed over the region.   Full Story

WASHINGTON — Though lenders are boosting their attempts to curb record-high home foreclosures, fewer than half of loan modifications made at the end of last year actually reduced borrowers' payments by more than 10 percent, data released Friday show.   Full Story

You're paying your bills, but your landlord isn't. And you're the one holding the eviction notice.   Full Story