Redfin studied 48 emerging neighborhoods located within 16 major metro areas to determine which neighborhoods showed the most promise this year.

The National Rural Housing Coalition recently released a report detailing two successful rural housing programs that, according to the Coalition, are two of the most cost-effective federal housing programs. However, funding for these programs is being drastically cut.

Mortgage applications increased 11.7 percent for the week ending January 4, with refinances rising 12 percent and purchase applications up 10 percent.

Fitch Ratings anticipates the CFPB's QM announcement will finally allow banks to assess the costs of re-entering the securitization market.

According to one mortgage lender, we can expect declining originations, rising interest rates, and fewer mortgage professionals.

Nationstar Mortgage LLC has agreed to purchase residential mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) in the amount of $215 billion in unpaid principal balance from Bank of America.

Bank of America and Fannie Mae reached a $10.3 billion agreement Monday to resolve repurchase claims on loans originated from 2000 through 2008.

From 2008 through 2011, 414 banks failed across the nation, resulting in estimated costs to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) of about $42.8 billion, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GOA). When examining the cause of bank failures from 2008 through 2011, GOA found banks with less than $1 billion in assets were especially vulnerable to commercial real estate losses. GOA also found instances of "nontraditional, riskier funding sources" in many failed banks.

The national housing market has hit bottom and is now in full recovery mode, according to Veros Real Estate Solutions, a provider of risk management and valuation services. While there remains--as always--some variance across markets, Veros predicts prices in two-thirds of all markets across the nation will either remain flat or rise over the next 12 months. This is the first time since the recession that Veros has forecast gains (or at least no declines) for such a large proportion of markets.

Congress approved the appointment of Carol Galante as assistant secretary for housing and commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The appointment was finalized Sunday with 69-24 vote from the Senate.