ECONOMIC NEWS

MarketWatch

Home price gains picked up steam at year-end, CoreLogic says

Forget the rent - home purchase prices may soon be "too damn high." Nationally, prices rose 6.6% for the 12 months ending in December, real-estate data provider CoreLogic said Tuesday. That marked the fourth month in a row in which annual increases were higher than in the prior month.

USA Today

10 states predicted to have strong housing markets in 2018

The housing market in the U.S. has experienced a major uptick over the past two years. In 2016, existing home sales were the strongest they've been since 2006. More than a decade after the worst housing crisis in U.S. history, it seems we're finally in a sustainable recovery period.

MarketWatch

Homeownership rate reaches three-year high as rebound from crisis gathers pace

More Americans became homeowners in the final three months of last year, fresh evidence that homeownership is rebounding after touching a post-crisis low.

National Mortgage News

12 high-rent housing markets ready for more first time home buyers

Rising rents could suggest the homebuyer pool is about to get even bigger at a time when demand in the housing market is already far outpacing supply.

The Washington Post

In many parts of the country, the bar for what's considered a luxury home has risen

While owning a house valued at $1 million or more still means you're well-to-do, the definition of the luxury home market has been creeping upward along with home prices.

The Washington Post

Predictions of a crash in housing prices have not come true

Were fears overblown that changes to the federal tax law would trigger plunging home values?

CNBC

Mortgage volume stalls as rates rise to the highest level in four years

The first week in February usually marks the start of the busy spring housing market, but you wouldn't know that from the mortgage market.

MarketWatch

Mortgage rates hit 14-month high as bonds sell off

Rates for home loans rose to the highest in more than a year, raising the prospect of a fresh headwind for housing that mortgage professionals think the market can handle — for now.

MarketWatch

Will stock market volatility affect house prices?

As the stock market's correction dredged up memories of 2007, some have begun to look for the bubble that might burst into the next recession. But housing experts say that real estate is unlikely to be the culprit this time around.

Houston Chronicle

Houston builders to add 28,000 homes this year

Houston-area builders will start construction on more homes this year, but labor shortages, increased material costs and rising mortgage rates could present challenges to the industry, according to a new forecast.

The New York Times

Powell becoming Fed Chief as economy starts to show strain

Jerome H. Powell, who will be sworn in Monday as the Federal Reserve's 16th chairman, is stepping into his new role as a half-decade of economic tranquillity is beginning to show some signs of strain.

HOUSING FINANCE NEWS

PRODUCT NEWS

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Professional Warranty Service Corporation

The 2018 Home Building Forecast: Is It the Tortoise or the Hare?

Should we feel good about the prospects for housing in the coming year considering the positive signs we are seeing? The answer, according to PWSC's President, Gale F. Sommers is... yes, but cautiously. Here's why.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The New York Times

The affordable housing crisis is about to get worse

Many of the worst effects of the tax bill President Trump signed in December could take years to emerge. But the damage to the federal tax credit program that finances nearly all affordable housing built in America is already painfully evident. Unless Congress rescues this crucial program, a quarter million fewer affordable units will be built over the next 10 years, deepening an already serious crisis.

MULTIFAMILY

The Wall Street Journal

Rent controls, a bane of landlords, are gaining support as costs soar

Calls for rent-control legislation are growing across the U.S. as apartment tenants endure sharply rising rents and memories fade of the downsides of price caps. (Subscription may be required.)