The news cycles have been been abound with positive developments in construction the past couple weeks (and we’ll have a new issue on construction out on Monday), but the Wall Street Journal has just reported on perhaps the most encouraging detail of all

The continuing decline of mortgage rates was a welcome sign of consistency in an increasingly chaotic market. Amidst foreclosures, settlements, REOs and shadow inventories, we all seemed to grow comfortable with the fact that come Thursday, Freddie Mac would

Two developments in the foreclosure market this week, one involving completions and the other construction, have shown that housing is slowly but surely working its way through the distressed inventories that have long plagued the

Existing-home sales continued their strong year-over-year increases with the latest data for February, as sales rose 8.8 percent from last year to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million, according to the National Association of

SearchCIO, a source for midmarket-specific technology designed to help IT leaders with the ever-changing demands of managing IT at fast-growing midsized enterprises, has announced finalists for its 2012 Information Technology Leadership Awards. Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED’s) Chris Lambrou,

According to a breaking report from the Chicago Tribune, potential buyers and renters will have to deal with new fees from Koenig & Strey Real Living starting April

Standard & Poor’s continued what has been an entire month of credit-friendly news with its reports on first-time default rates, which declined on consumer credit for the second straight month while nonpayments on second lien mortgages hit a new

Throughout most of 2011, the finances at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) received considerable media attention, with analysts and politicians alike predicting the end of the agency. An recent infusion of funds was thought to have alleviated those concerns, but new

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development released hugely promising data on February building permits earlier today, reporting a 5.1 percent increase from January and 34.3 percent increase from last year at an annual rate

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) maintained its highest level since June 2007 in March, with the national measure holding steady at 28 and gaining two points in the Midwest to settle at

RE/MAX analysts are reporting great things for February home sales in Chicago. Boosted by unseasonably warm weather and record-low mortgage rates, home sale stats for the seven-county area came in at 4,760 closed sales for the real estate company,

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced late last week that it has granted $42 million in restored housing counseling funds in the last three months, a reduction of the agency’s normal timeline by 70 percent. According

The U.S. Treasury Department says it has sold off the final portion of $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities it purchased during the height of the financial crisis, and in addition, the sales of securities issued, primarily by troubled mortgage

Overall home sale data for February is still a few days away, but economists surveyed by Bloomberg are already anticipating a decent uptick in sales for the month. According to the economists, sales – bolstered by gains in jobs

A new state program, the Illinois Building Blocks Pilot Program, might sound childish, but it aims to help accomplish something big: fill vacant metro Chicago real estate and create affordable housing in six Chicago-area cities hit hardest by the

Real estate is an industry of hyper-local interests, and few sectors of the market better demonstrate that than construction. Though some builders are growing, and raising prices as a result, others are still pursuing incentives, such as price cuts,