Fri, Jul 30 2010, 12:23 PM
The dormant USDA Section 502 rural housing program was revived by Congress yesterday and a House committee approved a bill to encourage owners of HUD ...
Thu, Jul 29 2010, 12:31 PM
The Administration has begun to telegraph its intentions to move forward with reforms of the housing finance system. A conference will be held next m...
Thu, Jul 29 2010, 9:33 AM
The Census Department released its survey of Residential Vacancies and Homeownership for the second quarter of 2010 which indicated that vacancies of ...
Wed, Jul 28 2010, 9:25 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 23, 2010. Mortgage loan applic...
Wed, Jul 28 2010, 3:18 PM
HUD and FHA opened a public comment period on Thursday on another series of changes to underwriting guidelines, including the reduction of seller conc...
Wed, Jul 28 2010, 2:24 PM
Nearly all Districts reported sluggish housing markets in the months since the homebuyer tax credit expired on April 30. While some Districts, such as...
Tue, Jul 27 2010, 10:26 AM
Housing’s image certainly is as battered as it’s ever been. Responsibility for this last recession is rightfully borne by a mortgage market on steroid...
Tue, Jul 27 2010, 9:07 AM
US MAY HOME PRICES IN 20 METRO AREAS RISE 0.5 PCT SEASONALLY ADJ (CONSENSUS 0.2 PCT) VS 0.6 PCT IN APRIL - S&P/CASE-SHILLER
Tue, Jul 27 2010, 1:47 PM
FHA has published the names of over 1,000 lenders who have been sanctioned over the past months. Penalties include temporary or permanent suspension f...
Mon, Jul 26 2010, 10:03 AM
New Home Sales in June rebounded from historic lows in May. Attention should be given to the fact that May survey data was revised from 300,000 new ho...
Thu, Jul 22 2010, 10:24 AM
Nothing has changed since last year, the tax credit just covered up structural weakness at the core of housing demand.
Wed, Jul 21 2010, 10:45 AM
"As rates on 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages declined to the lowest levels recorded in the survey, refinance activity increased last week. The r...
Wed, Jul 21 2010, 2:39 PM
The second edition of the administrations composite housing score card covers a number of indices on the state of the housing market. New this month ...
Tue, Jul 20 2010, 12:47 PM
Lower loan volume and a decreased pull-through rate led to higher production costs and reduced profits for independent mortgage companies and subsibia...
Tue, Jul 20 2010, 9:42 AM
FHA Commissioner David Stevens wrote to the industry today. He discusses over exuberant underwriting standards, lender accountability, and sustainable...
Tue, Jul 20 2010, 6:31 PM
After a huge improvement in May, multi-family housing starts led the overall starts number lower with a 26,000 unit decline. Single-family starts fell...
Mon, Jul 19 2010, 3:19 PM
The July survey of builders conducted by the National Association of Home Builders found that its members are seeing few bright spots in the market no...
Mon, Jul 19 2010, 1:23 PM
Homelessness used to ebb and flow but now seems to always be with us. The focus has slowly changed from treating it as an emergency to a long term fo...
Mon, Jul 19 2010, 1:02 PM
Guidelines and procedures for participants in HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program to participate in FHA's First Look Program were published yeste...
Fri, Jul 16 2010, 8:02 PM
After much ado our political "leaders" have finally come to an agreement on the broadest regulatory overhaul since the Glass Steagal Act of 1933. By a...
Fri, Jul 16 2010, 1:25 PM
The House of Representatives has passed a 5-year authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program. A similar measure continues to be stalled in ...
Thu, Jul 15 2010, 5:49 PM
The midyear numbers put us on pace to exceed 3 million properties with foreclosure filings by the end of the year, and more than 1 million bank reposs...
Wed, Jul 14 2010, 10:33 AM
Fixing a consumer's credit is not an easy process, nor is it quick. Depending on the make-up of defaults, it can take years to rebuild a credit profil...
Wed, Jul 14 2010, 4:05 PM
A new report on mortgage fraud released on Wednesday indicates that approximately one in every 200 loan applications contains a misrepresentation that...
Wed, Jul 14 2010, 3:34 PM
Stimulus is wearing off and the economy is trying to gain recovery traction on its own (with the help of a 0.00-0.25% Fed Funds Rate). While the macro...
Tue, Jul 13 2010, 3:26 PM
Beyond the human costs, local and federal government suffer very real economic impacts from homelessness. The homeless, particularly those who are ch...
Mon, Jul 12 2010, 12:52 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has issued subpoenas to 64 companies seeking loan documents and other information related to private-label m...
Thu, Jul 8 2010, 1:03 PM
The National Association of Realtors reports that a stronger dollar and improving economy are motivating many international buyers to purchase homes i...
Wed, Jul 7 2010, 3:06 PM
Is the rise in the refi index a factor of new borrowers entering the refi market or is it a factor of borrowers re-locking at another lender for a low...
Tue, Jul 6 2010, 10:55 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released preliminary data from its 2009 American Housing Survey showing that American homes are bi...
Fri, Jul 2 2010, 1:03 PM
One way to get a picture of homelessness is to look at data collected by HUD during a single night when canvassers nationwide look in shelters, abando...
Thu, Jul 1 2010, 11:30 AM
Late Wednesday night the Senate followed the lead of the House of Representatives and voted to extend the closing deadline for the popular homebuyer t...
Thu, Jul 1 2010, 1:08 PM
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator, dropped 30.0 percent to 77.6 based on contracts signed in May from a reading of 110.9 in Ap...
Wed, Jun 30 2010, 11:39 AM
As lenders have begun repossessing homes at record levels over the first half of 2010, it will be interesting to watch how they will manage the invent...
Wed, Jun 30 2010, 9:16 AM
Amid continuing financial market volatility, mortgage rates dropped again last week, with rates on 15-year loans reaching a record low for the MBA sur...
Wed, Jun 30 2010, 4:46 PM
FHA Commissioner David Stevens wrote to the industry today. He discussed RESPA reform and provided and update on the implementation of the SAFE Act.
Wed, Jun 30 2010, 2:35 PM
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)'s Annual 2009 Mortgage Bankers Production Survey released on Wednesday, profits on the average loa...
Tue, Jun 29 2010, 5:29 PM
The House backed a measure to extend the closing deadline to Sept. 30 for buyers who met the April 30 deadline to have a signed contract. The current ...
Tue, Jun 29 2010, 5:16 PM
The Obama Administration's Strategic Plan to End Homelessness released last week is a pretty thorough examination of the state of the problem in the U...
Fri, Jun 25 2010, 11:56 AM
Delinquencies in the Freddie Mac mortgage portfolio appear to be leveling off according to the monthly volume summary released today. The portfolio s...
Thu, Jun 24 2010, 12:07 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting that the delinquency rate for commercial mortgages held in mortgage backed securities has reached an al...
Thu, Jun 24 2010, 2:33 PM
The first states to receive funds under the Administration's "HFA Hardest Hit Fund" have been announced by the Treasury Department. Arizona, Californi...
Wed, Jun 23 2010, 11:10 AM
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 5.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier....
Wed, Jun 23 2010, 8:09 AM
Investors are optimistic this morning ahead of the central bank’s afternoon policy announcement. Sentiment could easily change early into the session,...
Wed, Jun 23 2010, 3:49 PM
Defaulting borrowers who walk-away and had the capacity to pay or did not complete a workout alternative in good faith will be ineligible for a new Fa...
Wed, Jun 23 2010, 2:24 PM
The first quarter report on mortgage metrics from the Offices of Thrift Supervision and Comptroller of the Currency duplicate findings from other rece...
Tue, Jun 22 2010, 12:45 PM
An interagency council composed of 19 federal departments and agencies today released a strategic plan for dealing with homelessness among veterans, f...
Tue, Jun 22 2010, 11:52 AM
The Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation will coordinate funding awards for planning projects linking housing and transport...
Tue, Jun 22 2010, 8:42 PM
Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, were at a seasonally adjusted an...
Tue, Jun 22 2010, 8:05 AM
The market's confidence in China’s decision to loosen its peg to the U.S. dollar ended up fizzling out before the close yesterday, leaving stocks flat...
