Government

The delinquency rate on U.S. commercial real estate loans saw its biggest drop in more than a year in October.

Don Abbey, the famed founder of eponymous commercial real estate company The Abbey Co., has put another mega property on the market. Recently listing his massive estate in Montana, Abbey has now put his equally expansive California abode up for sale at $78.8 million.

California-based Prospect Mortgage is preparing to welcome a new financial leader. The lender recently announced 30-year industry veteran Sandra E. Bell as the Prospect's new chief financial officer (CFO).

Goldman Sachs is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a mortgage securities class action lawsuit that the company says could cost Wall Street tens of billions of dollars, according to a report from Reuters. The bank is facing a suit from the NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund, which is suing on behalf of investors who say they were misled about the securities' risk. Goldman's lawyers are arguing against the suit, citing a 2011 decision that investors may not sue over securities they did not purchase themselves.

MetLife, Inc., announced an agreement to sell MetLife Bank, N.A.'s mortgage servicing portfolio to JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Construction spending rose 0.6 percent in September to its highest level since 2009, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. Spending during the month was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $851.6 billion, up from the revised August estimated of $846.2 billion. Private residential construction posted a 2.8 percent gain from August. That improvement was mostly driven by single-family building, which rose 3.9 percent as low mortgage rates spurred increased demand for new homes.

The U.S. government is violating the terms of the national mortgage settlement with its lawsuit against Wells Fargo, attorneys for the bank argue. In a motion filed in a U.S. District Court, attorney Douglas Baruch says the settlement "wiped the slate clean for Wells Fargo in terms of facing any further liability to the United States (except in carefully crafted, narrow circumstances) for a wide range of Wells Fargo conduct relating to the bank's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage loan portfolio, among other areas."

Last week's jobs report contained some good news with the bad, but analysts doubt there's enough to influence the presidential election.

Veterans United Home Loans earned a coveted spot on Great Place to Work's list of the best small and medium workplaces for 2012, the company announced.

Consumer confidence rose in October to its highest level this year, according to a survey released by The Conference Board.