The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has dramatically reduced the projected costs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to taxpayers in its latest estimations. According to a HousingWire piece on the latest CBO Budget and Economic Outlook report, taxpayers can

The Obama White House yesterday offered details of its mortgage refinancing plan, an initiative first announced during the president’s State of the Union Address, claiming it could save homeowners an average of $3,000 a

Construction spending in the U.S. finished 2011 in a strong way, with December’s $816.4 billion annual rate the highest for spending in four months, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. A 1.5 percent increase from

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) received 2,300 mortgage complaints in the month of December, and 38 percent of them pertained to loan modifications and foreclosures; and according to recent reports, those complaints do not go unanswered. The CFPB has received in

Home values continued their downward slide with Tuesday’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the survey of home values by Standard & Poor’s that is considered the definitive voice on home prices. With a monthly decline of 1.3 percent and a yearly fall

The Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) provision in the Dodd-Frank bill is unquestionably the most controversial aspect of the legislation’s housing-related rulings, and since the start of 2012, eyes have been fixed on the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency

The Census Bureau released its latest numbers on housing vacancies yesterday for the fourth quarter, and the results were in-tune with the more recent trends in housing – a 9.4 percent vacancy rate for rentals and a 2.3 percent

Following the long-delayed appointment of Director Richard Cordray, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has hit the ground running in 2012, launching investigations into PHH Corp and releasing new subprime loan metrics for lenders. Now, it’s setting its sights on

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced new rules and regulations to protect the housing rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals at the 24th National Conference on LGBT Equality. Shaun Donovan, the secretary of

Housing inventory dipped 17 percent year-over-year, bringing the long-bloated housing marketplace closer to equilibrium – at least among visible inventories. As tracked by Bill McBride of Calculated Risk, though the declines are seasonally inspired (inventory typically declines through the

Industry representatives of the manufactured home business are prepping for a Wednesday testimony before the House Financial Services Committee that will, according to reports, spotlight the critical failures of legislation dating back to

The latest Mortgage Monitor from financial firm Lender Processing Services (LPS) was a study in contrasts, showing that though originations continue to decline, the quality of those originations continues to improve. Originations were down 10.1 percent from November to

Principal write downs have emerged, in the past month, as one of the major controversies on Capital Hill, with Congressional Democrats and the White House lobbying for such a program from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) – and

Improved employment figures and record home affordability levels could spawn a minor housing recovery this year, analyst Mark Fleming said in the CoreLogic MarketPulse report. Fleming said economic concerns peaked in the summer of 2011 when politicians were stuck

By Tara Steele, AGBeat The housing market continues to struggle as Realtors report one in three contracts now fail, up nearly 10 percent from the year prior. Failures are due to declined mortgage applications or failed underwriting as appraised

The Federal Housing Administration will toughen its standards for approving lenders that insure mortgages on its behalf and force more of them to buy back defaulted loans. FHA Commissioner Carol Galante said the upcoming rule changes will help the