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Home prices have been rising steadily for the past several months, but some fear the rapid increase could actually start hurting the housing recovery.

The reason is that the rise in prices is mainly due to investors, mostly large hedge funds, that have been swooping into the most distressed markets and inhaling properties as fast as their plentiful cash will allow. They are turning those properties into rentals, and getting anywhere from 8 to 12 percent returns on their investments, thanks to still hot demand. The trouble is, as home prices rise, those returns shrink.

“The worry with investment demand is that the very recovery in prices that it is driving will eventually reduce rental yields and undermine the investment case,” warns Paul Diggle of Capital Economics.

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When it comes to saving money, Generation Y is asking "why not?"

Young people are discovering that the earlier they start saving for retirement and the longer they work, the larger the nest egg when they finally want to use it. And they are looking for ways to change their savings behavior accordingly.

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Fat Chance Productions | Iconica | Getty Images The monthly gauge of pending home sales from the National Association of Realtors was also revised higher in September and is now up 13.2 percent from October of 2011.

Buyers are coming back to the housing market in ever greater numbers, as an industry index measuring contracts to purchase existing homes surged 5.2 percent in October from September.

The monthly gauge of pending home sales from the National Association of Realtors was also revised higher in September and is now up 13.2 percent from October of 2011. This is a forward looking indicator for closed sales one to two months from now.  » Read More

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Much is made of women’s lack of engagement in basic investing, including investing for retirement. Reasons given range from a lack of confidence to a congenital fear of risk to a simple lack of information—when women gather, they apparently don’t talk about their financial futures.

But here’s a reason that may be too simple to get much attention: It could be that women invest less than men because they don’t have as much money.

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Photo by: stngls New U.S. single-family home sales fell slightly in October casting a small shadow over what has been one of the brighter spots in the U.S. economy.

After a slew of positive readings on the nation’s housing recovery, sales of newly built homes in October were a big disappointment.

Despite the big public builders reporting big jumps in new orders and builder confidence positively leaping to the highest level since 2006, sales just didn’t compute, and even September’s numbers were revised down.

“The recovery in new home sales is looking a little weaker than we were previously led to believe,” writes Paul Diggle of Capital Economics.

But Diggle points out the positives, specifically that the time between a completion and a new home sale has been falling dramatically, from over 14 months in late 2009 to just over 6 months today. The average historically is five months.  » Read More

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British pension providers are asking insurers to identify people likely to die young in a bid to reduce the amount of retirement income they have to pay out.

Pension trustees ask people to provide private medical information. The data is then given to an insurer which may take on the brunt of the liabilities of the pension scheme if it believes members will die shortly after retirement.

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Michael Coyne | Axiom Photographic Agency | Getty Images Mining and industries that benefit from rising commodity prices provided much of the income boost.

Personal income grew in all major U.S. metropolitan areas in 2011, the first time in four years that all of the country's 366 large cities and surrounding suburbs registered increases, according to federal data released on Monday.

The range of growth was wide, with Odessa, Texas, seeing the largest local personal income growth over the year at 14.8 percent, and Rochester, Minnesota, the smallest at one percent. On average, incomes were up 5.2 percent across all metropolitan statistical areas in 2011, compared with 3.9 percent in 2010.

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A tax break that has long been untouchable could soon be in for some serious scrutiny.

Many home buyers deduct their mortgage interest when assessing their tax bill, a perk that has helped bolster the income of millions of families - and the broader housing market.

But as President Obama and Congress try to hash out a deal to reduce the budget deficit, the mortgage interest deduction will likely be part of the discussion.

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