Is the National Association of Realtors (NAR) finally revising its existing home sales data? What’s going on with appraisals? And how do student loans affect housing? Here’s a quick rundown of stats from this week’s news (Dec. 12 – Dec.

It’s the end of the year, and numerous analysts, media outlets and public figures are adding their two cents as to what 2012 will have in store not just for housing, but for the greater U.S. economy (and we’re

Karen V. Peterson, sales associate at the Coldwell Banker Gold Coast office, has been honored with the LuxeHome 25

After the boom years, Lehman, Fannie & Freddie, Dodd-Frank, and a whole host of other reforms and failures seemed to set the real estate markets straight, but now it appears fraud might be coming back. A new piece in the

Dream Town Realty added six Chicago Realtors to its team during October and November. The firm’s new members are Marnie Sax, Giorgio Pescatore, Justin Brown, Thomas Secson, Jeneane Ally and Justin Francek, all of whom are residential sales specialists

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against six former executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including the GSEs former CEOs, alleging that they misled investors and the federal government over the risky nature

Earlier today, Fannie Mae released its Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) Program results for the third quarter of 2011, which measures the performance of servicers with an emphasis on foreclosure prevention. According to a press release on the program,

The Federal Reserve yesterday released its third quarter study of household debt, showing that households continued to decrease their debts following the stock market crash of 2008. Using two measures to track debt – the household debt service ratio

Leave it to a credit ratings agency to be the bearer of pleasant news. Fitch Ratings, one of the major ratings agencies in finance, stated in a report released earlier today that economic conditions in 2012 may be more

Cook County commissioners are moving forward with an enforcement ordinance against vacant properties despite a lawsuit from the Federal Housing Finance Agency against the city of Chicago for similar measures, reports the Chicago Sun-Times‘ Lisa

Top producer Michael Bauknecht has joined the @properties Lincoln Park office as a broker

A particular mortgage from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has suddenly become costly for private lenders, as the weak housing market has exposed an unforeseen loophole in the mortgage’s distinguishing

Home values in the U.S. declined by 0.3 percent from September to October, according to the latest Zillow home index, a measure that formulates the median prices of metropolitan areas using the company’s controversial “Zestimates” data According to a

A good amount of the literature today on the housing market focuses on the various things that “hold housing back.” From tough lending environments to excess inventory, the topic is a common one, and all the reasons, from foreclosures

Mortgage lending has returned to its pre-bubble requirements, and some homebuyers are unable to meet private banks’ standards for income, credit scores and other financial factors. We’ve covered on numerous occasions the ascent of Federal Housing Administration loans in

First it was the 2011-2012 federal budget; then the Super Committee, and its potential $1 trillion deficit-cutting measures; now, it’s the payroll tax cut extension, and though all the previous moments of fiscal gridlock in Washington only mentioned housing