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

Construction has been one of the hardest hit sectors of the housing downturn, and though economic tides remain uncertain, the growing multifamily market has been a source of growth and jobs for construction workers. As a recent HousingWire article paints

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has been generating a fair amount of media buzz the last couple months, but unfortunately, little has been positive. Beginning with a University of Pennsylvania study that severely questioned the agency’s finances going forward,

That makes two – after making national headlines with her lawsuit against Wells Fargo for racially-inspired predatory lending, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has done it again, this time in a lawsuit against the parent company of Standard &

Baird & Warner Real Estate announced today that it has acquired west suburban real estate broker Prime Property Partners, expanding its field of service to several western neighborhoods in the Chicagoland

New single-family home sales in December fell by 2.2 percent from November and 7.3 percent from December 2010, capping off what analysts are labeling a new record low in new home sales – though 2012 may be a new

The National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) released its latest Confidence Index yesterday, showing a distinct rise in year-over-year confidence in December among the more than 3,000 agents surveyed. A measure of the strength of the current housing market and expectations about

Residential brokerage @properties has acquired The Tricia Fox Group, a 19-agent group headed by veteran Gold Coast broker Tricia Fox, part of a post-acquisition shakeup that has become a recurring story in the real estate

One of the big takeaways from President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Address was a new government-led refinancing plan that would allow homeowners with current, non-GSE mortgages to refinance at today’s historically-low interest rates. Funding the refinancings with a new

Dream Town Realty welcomed five area Realtors to the company in December of last year. The new recruits include David Romanoff, Matt Barnes, Nancy Lundquist, Mark Lemus and Andy Weber, who will all serve as residential

  The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has announced the 2012 finalist for the Best of 50+ Housing Awards. The awards honor excellence in the building, design and marketing of housing for the baby boomer generation and beyond.

The automated valuation model (AVM) is a fast, convenient way for mortgage lenders to value a property, one that utilizes mathematical models and databases of information. Though quick and easy, Gina Pogol of HSH documents several of AVM’s shortcomings

The Federal Housing Finance Administration and its Acting Director, Edward DeMarco, have been receiving some considerable heat from analysts and members of Congress for their refusal to consider principal write downs for homeowners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

The Appraisal Institute (AI) ruffled many feathers last week by taking a “Don’t Shoot the Messenger” stance in regards to recent controversies in home valuations, but recent reports suggest that the institute may be amending its stance on how its

Housing was largely absent from President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Address, but he did mention a potentially game-changing proposal – a mass refinancing plan for homeowners that are current on their mortgages that, according to the President, could save

Curbed reported that Skyscraper Page forum has posted a rendering of the latest proposal for a new university housing project for the Loop. The new rental building is aimed at students, faculty and staff in the downtown area, and