Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word house. 7 news.

An average of £20,000 will be wiped off the value of every home by next Christmas, it has been claimed

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. dollar fell Monday against the Japanese yen and the British pound before the highlight of what's expected to be a low-volume day, the release of existing-home sales figures for November. The British pound was back over $2, up to $2.0058 from $1.9963, and the dollar slipped 0.3% to 111.95 yen. The euro edged lower to $1.4715 and fell from record levels against sterling.

Shares of London Scottish Bank (LSB) plunged almost 20 per cent in early morning trading after the small finance house and debt collector issued a profit and dividend warning. By mid-morning, the shares were down 17.86 per cent at 62.98p

Every night in this quiet western Indian city, 15 pregnant women prepare for sleep in the spacious house they share, ascending the stairs in a procession of ballooned bellies, to bedrooms that become a landscape of soft hills.

Though price growth is slowing, it's one of the few big markets in the nation that hasn't experienced a decline. Yet. It's the kind of house that a year or two ago would have been snapped up in days: a refurbished rambler in a woodsy residential neighborhood minutes from downtown.

Foreclosures reshaped the U.S. economic landscape in 2007. A year ago, losing a house to bank repossession still seemed like a rare event, confined to people enduring unfortunate personal circumstances - job loss, divorce, illness, death of a wage earner. But...

Bhutanese began voting on Monday to elect members to a new upper house of parliament for the first time, a step towards democracy after a century of absolute monarchy