WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The turmoil in the financial markets has been pushing mortgage rates lower.

For most people, their biggest investment is their home. Following Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S.

Members of Congress appear closer to reaching a deal in the ongoing drama over raising the nation's debt ceiling.

Construction of new homes rose more than expected last month. But with the glut of foreclosures and other houses already on the market, home prices in many places continue to fall.

It turns out that the housing market works a lot like love. At least for some people.Take Christina Huang. She fell in love with a $969,000 house in Northern Virginia. She could picture raising a family.

For homebuilders, it hardly feels like an economic recovery.Nearly two years after the recession ended, the pace of construction is inching along at less than half the level considered healthy. Single-family-home building, the bulk of the market, has dropped 11 percent in that time.

In 2006 and 2007, several banks and hedge funds realized what was happening to the U.S. economy while it was happening — and then made vast fortunes by betting against the markets."