ECONOMIC NEWS

Reuters
U.S. housing demand seen holding up despite rising rates

Fears that higher home mortgage rates this year will keep buyers away and hit home sales could be overblown.

Chicago Tribune
Why millennials are finally starting to settle down and buy homes

Millennials are finally starting to show interest in homeownership.

Construction Dive
Home-improvement pros wary of labor market, optimistic about demand

Eight in 10 home-improvement professionals expect to see revenues grow in the next year, while more than half (55.8%) reported an increase in per-project revenue last year, according to a new index from HomeAdvisor and the Farnsworth Group.

The Washington Post
As equity rises, many homeowners use refinancings to free up cash

They're either a valuable financial tool for homeowners or a harbinger of trouble on the horizon: Cash-out refinancings, which were wildly popular during the housing boom years and which contributed to the severity of the crash, are on the rise again.

MarketWatch
Want to see how America is changing? Property taxes hold the answer

Americans paid nearly $300 billion in property taxes in 2016 - but as with everything in real estate, it's all about location. Yet those taxes don't just tell a story about local and regional housing markets - they also show how the country is changing.

Construction Dive

Builders continue to put larger homes on smaller lots

Larger homes are going up on smaller lots, analysis by CoreLogic found. For new homes, the median square footage has risen from 1,938 square feet in 1990 to roughly 2,300 square feet post-2013, dipping somewhat in from 2007 to 2009. Meanwhile, median lot size for new homes shrank from 8,250 square feet in 1990 to 6,970 square feet in 2016.

MarketWatch
Mortgage rates tumble to fresh 2017 low

Rates for home loans fell in line with Treasury yields, nudging mortgage rates to the lowest level of the year, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Construction Dive
Market volatility takes the wind out of vacation-home sales

Vacation-home sales declined for the second-straight year in 2016, dropping 21.6% from 2015 to 721,000 last year, following the most recent peak of 1.3 million in 2014, according to the National Association of Realtors' Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, which tracks new and existing properties.

MarketWatch
Here's where an entire year's salary won't get you a down payment

When it comes to barriers to entry to the housing market, the down payment can feel more like a pole vault for many Americans, especially those stuck paying ever-pricier rent payments every month.

The Wall Street Journal
Teachers, police priced out of America's big metro areas

Rising home prices are putting America's largest metropolitan areas out of reach for teachers, police officers and other big slices of the U.S. workforce. (Subscription may be required.)

MarketWatch
Why most renters don't want to buy homes right now

The spring home-buying market is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent memory, and is even worse for first-time homebuyers, i.e. Millennials.

 

DODD-FRANK

American Banker
Congress playing chicken with Dodd-Frank reform

A Senate Republican effort to use an obscure legislative process to restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could derail any bipartisan agreement on targeted changes to the Dodd-Frank Act. (Subscription may be required.) 

 

HousingWire
Trump floats complete repeal of Dodd-Frank

Last week, President Donald Trump told a group of CEOs that his administration is planning a "very major haircut" on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
 

HOUSING FINANCE

HousingWire
Jamie Dimon says fixing mortgage industry would boost lending by $300 billion a year

J.P. Morgan Chase on Thursday reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations, with trading and investment banking revenues contributing the most during the quarter.
 

MORTGAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION

HousingWire
Community lenders stress possible negative impact on mortgage interest deduction in tax reform

As the Trump administrations works on hashing out comprehensive tax reform, the Community Home Lenders Association penned a letter to address its serious concerns about the future of the mortgage interest deduction, along with the potential negative impact to it.