BusinessWeek Online – Subprime mortgages have taken a lot of blame for banks’ big losses. But there’s another problem lurking behind the mess: home-equity lending.

BusinessWeek Online – It’s no coincidence that states with the largest shares of adjustable-rate mortgages — Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida, and Colorado — are also among the states with the highest levels of foreclosures. The link between ARM concentrations and foreclosures has become increasingly apparent in the year or so since the subprime loans that originated at the top of the market started resetting. But just because a state has a low exposure to ARMs doesn’t mean it is immune to high foreclosure rates.

BusinessWeek Online – For months, high-end retailers posted healthy sales increases, thumbing their noses at dismal reports of slumping home sales, risky mortgages, and rising energy prices. But now it looks as though even well-heeled consumers are pulling back. On Jan. 10, the upscale department store Nordstrom said that December sales at stores open at least a year fell 4% from last year, compared with an 8.7% increase in November. Saks , New York’s Fifth Avenue luxury mainstay, also reported that its same-store sales were up a mere 0.8%, compared with a 25. …

BusinessWeek Online – In case you were still harboring a tiny bit of optimism about the U.S. housing sector, just take a look at a couple of headlines from Jan. 8. KB Home President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Mezger said in a conference call with investors that he sees “no sign” that the sinking housing market is stabilizing in 2008, after announcing a staggering $9.99 loss per share in the last quarter of 2007.

BusinessWeek Online – Dan Fasulo crunches data for commercial real estate investors all day. Still, the managing director of researcher Real Capital Analytics doesn’t understand what’s happening with one stock in his personal portfolio, AvalonBay Communities . The real estate investment trust (REIT) has an interest in more than 51,000 apartments in coastal cities such as Boston, New York, and San Francisco, where rents are high and new construction is hard to pull off. Yet the stock is down 27% this year. “These are premium assets,” says Fasulo. “Someone should tell Wall Street.”

BusinessWeek Online – With the subprime mess working its way into every back alley of the stock, bond, and money markets, this is a tricky time to be searching for income. Anyone looking for a steady paycheck from an investment portfolio in 2008 will have to negotiate a maze of falling interest rates, shrinking dividends, and potential bond downgrades.

BusinessWeek Online – The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday proposed and asked for public comment on changes to Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive home mortgage lending and advertising practices. The rule, which would be adopted under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA), would restrict certain practices and would also require certain mortgage disclosures to be provided earlier in the transaction.

BusinessWeek Online – The proposal would establish a new category of “higher-priced mortgages” that should include virtually all subprime loans. The proposal would, for these loans:

BusinessWeek Online – A surprising new report suggests that U.S. home foreclosures actually declined 10% in November despite signs that the housing slowdown is worsening in much of the nation.

BusinessWeek Online – You’d think the chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders would be alarmed that the pace of new-home construction in November dropped to the lowest level in more than 14 years, according to a Dec. 18 Commerce Dept. report.