HUD announced Wednesday that it is issuing a proposed rule to protect consumers being harassed in housing. The newly proposed rule would formalize standards to bring about claims under the Fair Housing Act. The rule, also known as "Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment Harassment and Liability for Discriminatory Housing Practices under the Fair Housing Act,” was published in the Federal Register today for public comment.
Read More »Arch Mortgage Insurance Introduces New Risk-Based Pricing Program
Arch Mortgage Insurance Company, a provider of private mortgage insurance and a wholly owned subsidiary of Arch Capital Group Ltd., recently introduced Arch MI RateStar, the company’s new risk-based pricing program.
Read More »White House Officials Reject Calls to End Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Conservatorship
Officials of the Obama administration recently rejected investors' calls to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to end the seven-year conservatorship between the two GSEs.
Read More »Energy-Dependent Housing Markets Affected By Low Oil Prices
Housing trends are constantly fluctuating, but aside from some of the obvious factors that affect the housing market, oil prices appear to be having a negative impact on markets that are dependent upon this energy.
Read More »Single-Family Housing Starts Rise; Authorizations & Completions Decline
Single-family housing starts increased in September 2015, while authorizations and housing competitions decreased, according to new residential construction statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD released Tuesday.
Read More »Home Values Expected to Rise Over the Next Year
Residential market values are projected to continue to increases over the next 12 months, with overall annual appreciation reaching 3.6 percent, up from its second quarter forecast of 3.1 percent.
Read More »SFR Investors Use Residential Data to Uncover Purchase Opportunities Amid Rental Rate Increases
Rental rates and income yields continue to rise in the single-family rental market, affecting how real estate investors target purchase opportunities and how much landlords make from these properties.
Read More »Favorable Housing Market Conditions Drive Home Prices and Risk Up
Home prices and risk are being driven up quicker than income by low mortgage rates, an improving labor market, and loose credit standards, but some believe this is not a sustainable approach to homeownership. The American Enterprise Institute's First-Time Buyer Mortgage Share Index found that first-time buyers accounted for 56.4 percent of primary owner-occupied home purchase mortgages with a government guarantee in September 2015, up from last years' total of 54.4 percent.
Read More »Jumbo RMBS Issuance in Q3 Already Exceeds 2014 Total
U.S. prime jumbo residential mortgage-backed securities has already passed the 2014 total. A report from Fitch Ratings found that the 29 transactions and approximately $10.1 billion of issuance so far this year have already exceeded the 26 transactions and $8.3 billion issued in 2014.
Read More »Single-Family Homebuilders’ Confidence Highest Since 2005
Homebuilders' confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes rose in October, returning to a level not seen since the end of the housing boom in 2005.
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