ATHENS, Greece, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - The Greek finance ministry on Friday took steps to reverse a controversial monastery property deal which had caused public outrage and badly embarrassed the ruling conservative party.

LONDON, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - House prices in Britain plunged by a record 12.4 percent during September compared with the same month in 2007, as the credit crunch took its toll, a survey by Nationwide bank showed on Thursday.

Prices dropped by 1.7 percent in September from August, added Nationwide, one of Britain's biggest lenders of home loans.

WASHINGTON, Sept 30, 2008 (AFP) - Home prices in 20 major US cities plunged a record 16.3 percent in July from a year ago, according to a Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller survey released Tuesday.

The index for the 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.9 percent for the month of July, in the 19th consecutive monthly drop.

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - US new home sales plunged 11.5 percent in in August despite a sharp drop in prices, government data showed Thursday, in fresh bad news for the battered real estate sector.

The Commerce Department reported that sales of new one-family homes stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 460,000 units.

WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2008 (AFP) - US existing home sales fell a steeper-than-expected 2.2 percent in August, industry data showed Wednesday, amid deepening worries over the worst real-estate slump in decades.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said sales of existing homes and apartments fell to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 4.91 million units.

TIRANA, Sept 19, 2008 (AFP) - Albania is finally cracking down on a 'land mafia' whose illegal property trade has blighted the once pristine Adriatic coast and wrought confusion in city districts.

TOKYO, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - Japan's commercial land prices, which a year ago ended a decade-and-a-half slump, have fallen back again as Asia's largest economy hurtles towards recession, the land ministry said Thursday.

WASHINGTON, September 13, 2008 (AFP) - The rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be a master stroke that averts a global financial calamity, or one of the biggest economic boondoggles in history, analysts say.

NEW YORK, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - Global banks and brokerages have written off a total of 512 billion dollars linked to the US subprime real estate crisis. Following are the largest losses to date, based on reports from the companies:

- Citigroup: 55.1 billion dollars

- Merrill Lynch: 52.2 billion

WASHINGTON, September 9, 2008 (AFP) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain slammed the federal rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as 'outrageous' but necessary, as Democrat Barack Obama Tuesday expressed disquiet over hefty severance deals for the firms' ousted chiefs.

WASHINGTON, September 9, 2008 (AFP) - Republican White House hopefuls John McCain and Sarah Palin slammed the federal rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as 'outrageous' but needed in a joint editorial published Tuesday.

BEIJING, September 9, 2008 (AFP) - China's central bank sees the US takeover of struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as 'positive', given the billions of dollars of exposure of Chinese banks, state media said Tuesday.

'Chinese investors have a certain amount of exposure' to the companies, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said, according to the China Daily.

WASHINGTON, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - The US takeover of struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offers hope for an easing of the credit and housing crunch while putting the government's finances on the line, analysts said Monday.

WASHINGTON, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - The unprecedented US takeover of struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offers hope for an easing of the credit and housing crunch while putting the government's balance sheet on the line, analysts said Monday.

TOKYO, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - Japanese officials Monday hailed the US takeover of ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying the move would help contain trouble on global financial markets.

'This will remove one factor causing instability in the US economy and have a good impact on the world economy,' Finance Minister Bunmei Ibuki told reporters.

SYDNEY, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - The head of Australia's central bank Monday welcomed the move by the US government to take over ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying it was 'the right thing' to do.

The US Treasury placed the mortgage agencies in a 'conservatorship' on Sunday in a bid to avert a financial system meltdown from the housing crisis.

WASHINGTON, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - The US government took over ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday and placed them in a 'conservatorship' in a bid to avert a financial system meltdown from the housing crisis.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - The US government took over ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday and placed them in a 'conservatorship' in a bid to avert a financial system meltdown from the housing crisis.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - In rescuing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the US government is taking an unprecedented step into the financial sector in a bid to steady an ailing housing market and ease a global credit crunch, analysts said.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said Sunday that the US government takeover of ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would strengthen the US economy and help quiet roiling real estate and financial markets.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said Sunday that the US government takeover of ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would strengthen the US economy and help quiet roiling real estate and financial markets.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - Here is a summary of the key elements of the US government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of an effort to ease the impact of the housing crisis on the financial system.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - The US government took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday, placing them in a 'conservatorship' to help avert a financial system meltdown from the housing crisis.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - The US Treasury said Sunday it was prepared to invest 100 billion dollars each to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as it announced it was taking supervisory control of the ailing mortgage giants.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - The US government took control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday, placing them in a government 'conservatorship' to help the financial system recover from massive housing losses, officials said.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises, chartered by Congress and owned by shareholders that offer vital support to the multi-trillion-dollar US mortgage market.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - The US government was preparing a massive intervention Sunday in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an effort to shore up the two ailing mortgage finance firms that underpin trillions of dollars in loans and are a linchpin the financial system.

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to detail the government's plan to take over struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday, the Treasury announced.

Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart were scheduled to hold a news conference at 11 am (1500 GMT).

LONDON, September 4, 2008 (AFP) - House prices in Britain fell by 10.9 percent in August compared with the same month a year earlier, the biggest drop in 25 years, home loan provider Halifax said Thursday in its monthly report.

Halifax, part of British banking group HBOS, said it was the sharpest 12-month drop since the series began in 1983.

LONDON, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - With the British economy forecast to slip into recession, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government on Tuesday unveiled a raft of measures to perk up the housing market -- and its own flagging fortunes.

LONDON, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - With the British economy forecast to slip into recession, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government on Tuesday unveiled a raft of measures to perk up the housing market -- and its own flagging fortunes.

LONDON, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - The British government announced Tuesday that homes worth up to 175,000 pounds (215,000 euros, 311,000 dollars) would be exempt from stamp duty for the next year, a move aimed at bolstering the stricken housing market.

LONDON, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - The British government announced Tuesday that homes worth up to 175,000 pounds (215,000 euros, 311,000 dollars) would be exempt from stamp duty for the next year, a move aimed at bolstering the stricken housing market.

FRANKFURT, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - German real-estate group IVG said Tuesday that it will sell 70 gas and oil storage caverns to a fund comprised of institutional investors for 1.7 billion euros (2.55 billion euros).

The deal would involve 40 already operational caverns plus 30 now under development, IVG said in a statement.

MADRID, September 1, 2008 (AFP) - Spanish property group Colonial, struggling under huge debts, announced losses of 2.38 billion euros for the first half of 2008 which it blamed on asset depreciation.

Colonial said in an announcement late Sunday that it had reached an agreement in principle to reschedule its debt of nearly nine billion euros this month.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2008 (AFP) - Can Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's 'bazooka' save mortgage finance titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from a calamitous meltdown?

SOFIA, August 31, 2008 (AFP) - Bulgaria's real estate boom is turning to bust as its key British and Irish property buyers are now discouraged by financial difficulties at home and the ugly concrete views outside their windows.