Construction spending in the U.S. seems to be a bit of a roller coaster as of late. After rising in February, spending dropped to $856.7 billion. This is 1.7 percent below the revised February estimate of $871.2 billion, according

Getting an appraisal done can be compared to a blind date. First, there is the phone call from someone you’ve never met; the one thing you have in common is a listing under contract. The call concludes with a

The government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, received a stinging report from the inspector general of TARP that questioned its merits. The government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, was among its major responses to the housing downturn,

Fannie Mae is releasing a loan-level credit performance data on 18 million mortgages, which will help develop potential risk sharing transactions. Fannie Mae announced that it is making loan-level credit performance data available on over 18 million single-family mortgages

Mel Watt, the Democratic representative from North Carolina, is President Obama’s pick to head the FHFA, a role that would give him enormous sway over housing. News broke yesterday that Mel Watt, a long-time Democratic representative from the state

Residential construction spending continued its forward progress in March, and the construction industry on the whole expanded impressively. Residential construction had another strong month of activity in March, with construction spending on residential projects in the month rising to

Koenig & Strey expands their company footprint in Chicago’s north suburbs with the opening of a new brokerage office in Skokie. Koenig & Strey Real Living has announced the opening of a new brokerage office in Skokie, located at

Consumers, real estate agents and even lenders have been sharing the optimism on the housing recovery, but how do appraisers see things? Slowly but surely, more and more components of the U.S. economy have jumped on the housing recovery

Chicago posted year-over-year increases in the February Case-Shiller, and though monthly prices were down, they mirrored prices in eight other major cities. There was good news and bad news for Chicago home prices in the latest Case-Shiller report from

The shortage of good housing inventory in Chicago is hardly news, but the extent of the decline for some neighborhoods is still quite surprising. News flash! Housing inventory in Chicago, as with most of the nation’s other major housing

Though March’s Pending Home Sales Index from NAR was a positive one, it suggests the low housing inventory levels are affecting home sales at the contract level as well. Pending home sales rose by both monthly and yearly measures

A study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says homebuyers with student loans are less likely to take out mortgages than their counterparts. Student loan debt is big; in fact, it would be more accurate to

MRED, Chicagoland’s MLS, has announced that Trulia is on board as a POW! Sponsor (top level) of MREDpalooza, the largest MLS-hosted free real estate tech expo in the country. Trulia gives homebuyers, sellers, owners and renters the inside scoop

Multifamily developments were, once again, the most in-demand for architectural services, as more and more builders capitalize on rental demand. Multifamily developments once again prevailed in the latest Architecture Billings Index (ABI) from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), as

How does Chicago’s bank-owned real estate compare with its non-banked owned? And how have those numbers changed in the last year? In the latest Real Estate Market Report from Zillow, which analyzed housing data for 2013’s first quarter, Chicago

In one fell swoop, CoreLogic has added the most reputable name in home-price analytics to its roster of real estate data tools – but only its name. Real estate analytics firm CoreLogic has acquired the “Case-Shiller” brand name from