ECONOMIC NEWS

MarketWatch
National home prices hit a two-and-a-half year high in December, Case-Shiller says

U.S. home prices surged higher in December, just months after hitting a high last seen at the height of the housing bubble a decade ago.

 

MarketWatch
More Americans want to downsize their homes than supersize them

The number of compact townhouses being constructed rose by 13% last year The American Dream of owning your own home remains. But the home itself appears to have gotten smaller.

 

CNBC
Spring housing already overheating—think 60 offers on one house

The spring housing market started early this year, not because of higher-than-average temperatures but because of hotter-than-average demand and overheating home prices.

 

CNBC
Millennial money myths: The truth about homes, cars and ownership

When it comes to trying to get inside the head of millennials, don't buy the buzz about the "don't own" economy.

 

Los Angeles Times
L.A. is building lots of homes but too few for its growing population

Along many Los Angeles thoroughfares, large apartment complexes are replacing parking lots, strip malls and warehouses, as builders provide new homes in a city grappling with a persistent housing shortage.

 

HousingWire
Investor to NAR: We aren't competing with first-time homebuyers

The National Association of Realtors drew a line in the sand between homebuyers and investors, but one investor says he's had enough.

Reuters
Fed's Brainard, citing improved global economy, says rates can rise "soon"

An improving global economy and a solid U.S. recovery mean it will be "appropriate soon" for the Federal Reserve to raise U.S. interest rates Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Wednesday, adding an important voice to the chorus of officials signaling rates may rise as soon as mid-March.

 

TAX REFORM

The New York Times

Did someone say 'tax code rewrite'? Lobbyists scramble

The homebuilders lobby fears that an ambitious rewrite of the entire tax code will stifle the housing market. Retailers fret that it will make the cost of their imports soar. For charities and their representatives, the worry is that donations will be stunted, plaguing nonprofit groups that serve the neediest Americans.

 

Los Angeles Times
Developers of affordable housing in California are on pins and needles over Trump's tax plan

Over two years, developer Geoffrey Morgan lined up investors, partnered with a medical clinic and found a manufacturer in Idaho to build 135 apartments for formerly homeless residents near downtown San Jose.

 

MarketWatch
Trump tax plan, not even on drawing board, is already roiling rental housing

The housing development known as A.O. Flats, announced in March 2016, was hailed as exactly what Boston needed: affordable rental homes in a mixed-use building, just steps from a transit station. It would mean 78 middle-class families and residents - nurses, teachers, service workers - could afford to rent in Jamaica Plain, one of the city's most sought-after neighborhoods, an area where 2-bedroom apartments are renting for about $2,000 per month, according to Zillow.

WOTUS

CNBC
Trump executive order seeks to roll back controversial Obama water rules

Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order seeking to roll back a controversial water rule opposed by farmer, rancher and homebuilder groups. 

 

The Wall Street Journal
Trump's clean watershed; He orders the EPA to review Obama's illegal waterways regulation

Speaking of deregulation (see nearby), President Trump on Tuesday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider an Obama Administration rule that seized control over tens of millions of acres of private land under the pretext of protecting the nation's waterways. EPA chief Scott Pruitt will now follow due process to rescind one of his predecessor's lawless rule-makings. (Subscription may be required.)
 

HUD

 

Politico
Senate confirms Ben Carson for HUD

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dr. Ben Carson to become secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, backing him on a largely party-line vote of 58-41.

 

MORTGAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION

Reuters
No change to mortgage interest deduction in Trump tax plan: Mnuchin

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday the Trump administration's tax reform plan will not change the deductibility of mortgage interest and charitable contributions.

 

IMMIGRATION

Bloomberg
Why Trump's immigration crackdown could sink U.S. home prices

In San Francisco, an Indian software engineer on a work permit canceled plans to bid on a $900,000 home. In Washington, a Brazilian nonprofit executive passed on a fixer-upper near her office. And, in Mesa, Arizona, a 24-year-old son of undocumented Mexican immigrants won the trust of a bank -- a green light for a mortgage -- but now fears deportation.

 

APPRAISALS

HousingWire
Experts answer: Will technology replace appraisers?

HousingWire's webinar on Wednesday on the state of the appraisal industry, featuring four industry experts: Brian Coester, CEO at CoesterVMS, Matt Simmons, partner at Maxwell, Hendry & Simmons, Zach Dawson, the director of collateral strategy at Fannie Mae, and Alan Hummel, chief appraiser at First American Mortgage Solutions.

 

 

REGULATION
National Mortgage News
Trump orders govt agencies to create deregulatory task forces

President Trump signed an executive order Friday requiring every agency to establish a task force focused on eliminating unnecessary regulations. (Subscription may be required.)