Housing

Foreclosures are on the rise as more and more homeowners find themselves unable to refinance, stuck with mortgages they can't afford. But now a nonprofit is teaming up with two major banks to offer thousands a second chance.

Subprime lending casts a wide net. Steve Tripoli takes us through different types of subprime loans and the areas where lenders set up shop — and not just the poor communities are targeted.

Chris Farrell foresees a spring housing season with home prices headed back to 2003 levels, a market correction that's bound to lure the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates.

Housing costs have risen so high in some cities that entire regions are out of reach for most first-time home buyers. And in those areas, it's becoming a slow drain for the economy as a whole.

So far the rental market hasn't really been affected by the subprime mortgage crisis. But as more struggling homeowners are forced to return to the rental market, it's bound to impact prices and availability.

A new report predicts the housing market will suffer greater fallout yet from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. UCLA's Anderson Forecast says some non-subprime mortgages now appear unstable.

Faced with broad fallout from a weak economy and a widespread foreclosure crisis, Ohio is putting up state-backed bonds to provide a pool of refinancing money to help some struggling homeowners.

Bankruptcy could be just around the corner for New Century Financial, but other lenders are making money buying and selling subprime loans it issued — a profitable fee-collecting game as long as they unload the loans before borrowers default.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was on Capitol Hill today, where everybody wanted to know whether he thought the subprime market will torpedo the rest of the economy.

Some analysts are now saying publicly what others have been thinking: There's got to be a wider economic impact before the housing slump is over. Amy Scott reports.