Government

The U.S. Census Bureau and HUD jointly announced today in a press release new residential construction statistics for May 2015 finding building permits were up, while starts and completions saw slight decreases.

ComplianceEase, the nation’s leading provider of automated compliance solutions to the financial services industry, recently announced in a press release that it has launched a new online compliance management platform called ComplianceAnalyzer.

Less than one week after Freddie Mac's Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) debt notes received the RMBS Deal of the Year award from Global Capital, Freddie Mac announced the pricing of the fifth STACR offering of 2015 on Monday.

In an effort to inform Congress of the their regulated entities goals, activities, and missions, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) recently released their 2014 Report to Congress, which examines and reports the activities of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, 12 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks), and the FHLBanks’ Office of Finance. The agency also reported the goals set forth for the GSEs and FHLBank’s mission and affordable housing programs they offer.

In a piece published as a Fox News Opinion earlier this week, Scott Brown, a Republican Senator for Massachusetts from 2010 to 2013 and Henry Cisneros, a Democrat who served as HUD Secretary from 1993 to 1997 during the Clinton Administration, urged those campaigning for next year's presidential election speak about the housing industry's most pressing issues in their campaigns and address what they call a "silent" housing crisis, since it is "largely overlooked by the media and strangely underestimated by our nation's political leaders

Commentary is an ongoing series on theMReport.com that focuses on opinions, ideas, and insights from experts across mortgage banking. This analysis features Cari McCue, Guardian Mortgage’s COO, discussing how long-term demographic trends will affect the mortgage industry.

In an effort to eliminate discrimination within the HUD and DOT programs and raise awareness during pride month in June, U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (D-California) proposed an amendment on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives requesting non-discrimination provisions and LGBT equality in federal housing and transportation programs

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro touted the success of HUD programs such as those to end veteran homelessness and the Jobs Plus Initiative when questioned about HUD's success during a full House Financial Services Committee hearing on Thursday.

Increases in home prices and the stock market pushed household wealth to nearly 85 trillion for the first quarter of 2015, according to the Federal Reserve’s Statistical Release titled “Financial Accounts of the United States” released today. The net worth of households and nonprofits rose increased by $1.63 trillion to $84.9 trillion during the first quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, the value of directly and indirectly held corporate equities increased $487 billion and home values rose $503 billion.

A bipartisan group of Senate Banking Committee members wrote a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) requesting that the agency expand and provide better transparency of the development of the credit risk transfer programs. These programs shift credit risk from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the private sector, according to a press release.