For luxury home developers and brokers in Miami and Manhattan who are already contending with slumping prices and slowing demand, the US government’s move to start scrutinising all-cash buyers marks more bad news.

A Bitcoin trade group will meet today with the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and an array of law-enforcement officials and regulators to discuss oversight of the digital currency.

More than 400 estate agents have been charged since March, including dozens over the past two days, in a crackdown on incidents of US mortgage fraud that stem from America’s housing crisis, the Deputy Attorney General said today.