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,

The Bipartisan Policy Center made a splash earlier this month with a wide-ranging study of the Echo Boomer generation that highlighted many of the demographic, economic and sociological factors that would contribute to the generation’s economic impact, and it

A new survey by FreeScore.com has uncovered a most interesting anomaly in the housing landscape – although 22.1 percent of homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, according to CoreLogic, more than 70 percent are unaware of government programs created specifically to

The National Association of Home Builders in March added 30 more metropolitan areas to its Improving Markets Index (IMI), a unique survey of the nation’s best-performing urban areas. Representative of 33 states, the IMI has grown steadily since its launch in

Mortgage servicers, namely the nation’s five largest banks, will have to adapt their business models to new timelines starting this week for short sales, as some of the regulatory aspects of the state attorneys general mortgage settlement are implemented

February foreclosures in Chicago posted double-digit increases from a year ago, as banks resume filings in the wake of the $26 billion mortgage settlement, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. From January, February’s 12,587 foreclosure filings were actually

Listed inventory on Realtor.com fell by 22 percent in February compared with a year ago, but according to the site, that drop was accompanied by a 6.8 percent increase in asking price, which signified a greater interest from prospective