Local job markets have improved and mortgage rates are at a historic low, however U.S. homeownership rates are stagnant at a 50-year low. The main barriers experts are seeing, according to a recent report, are post-foreclosure stress disorder, mortgage availability, the growing burden of student loan debt, single-family housing affordability, and single-family housing supply shortages. Industry professionals explain what needs to be done in order for this to change.

It is no surprise that the home market has favored the seller this buying season, but what is interesting is how millennials have treaded the challenging and sometimes expensive market. Ellie Mae’s April Millennial Tracker showed steady increases in home loans among the demographic. Certain metropolitan areas saw a larger boom than others.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a landmark bill--233 to 186--that, in its current form would dramatically change the future of financial regulation. The Financial CHOICE Act, originally introduced by Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Financial Service Committee, on April 26, 2017, significantly amends the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The CHOICE Act is the Republican response to reforms put in place after the 2008 economic collapse.

While much buzz has been surrounding the presumed passing of the Financial Choice Act (H.R. 10), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan analysis for the U.S. Congress, released the budgetary effects of enacting the amended bill Tuesday. The original CBO estimate, released May 4, 2017, said enacting the legislation would reduce federal deficits by $24.1 billion over the 2017-2027 period, but the recalculated estimate said budget deficits would be significantly more than originally estimated. The House of Representatives is set to vote on the bill Thursday.

A Purchase Sentiment Index was released Wednesday by Fannie Mae based on answers to six NHS questions that solicit consumers’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions. The index ultimately reports on whether consumers think it is a good or bad time to buy or sell a house, what direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier. Findings show patterns only seen twice in the surveys history.

Pamela Patenaude, current President of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families, appeared before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for her nomination hearing Tuesday. If confirmed for Deputy Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Patenaude pledged to ensure that HUD’s programs are responsive to the housing needs of U.S. citizens. President Trump confirmed rumors of Joseph Otting’s intended nomination for the Comptroller of the Currency.

In February, the D.C. Circuit panel gave the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) a win over the allocation of profits from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to the Treasury. This affirmed a lower court’s ruling that actions taken under the FHFA’s conservatorship of the GSEs cannot be challenged in court, however Fannie and Freddie shareholders sued the two for agreeing to the deal. Now, the FHFA and Treasury are urging the D.C. Circuit not to modify its ruling.

A HPI Forecast shows low mortgage rates and increased home prices are on the horizon. The data for April 2017 was released Tuesday showing home prices up both in year-over-year and month-over-month. Increased buying activity was paired with low mortgage rates, which were at their lowest since November 2016.

For going on two months, Ocwen Financial Corporation, the country’s largest nonbank mortgage loan servicer, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have been at odds. Beginning in late April, the CFPB sued Ocwen and its subsidiaries claiming that they have been “failing borrowers at every stage of the mortgage servicing process.” Now, a federal judge has delayed Ocwen’s bid to test the constitutionality of the CFPB.

Since the housing crash and recession of 2008, most metro areas have fully recovered while others are still lagging behind the housing recovery. Using the Federal Housing and Finance Agency’s Home Price Index, a report has been put together on the top and bottom 10 metros that have recovered the most and the least respectively. Five more metro areas were considered “fully recovered” this quarter.