Government

Policymakers are apparently in no hurry to start hiking interest rates just yet, bringing back language from the last FOMC statement: "Based on its current assessment, the Committee judges that it can be patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy."

FDIC has released another new entry in a series of technical assistance videos created to help bank employees meet regulatory requirements in the mortgage space.

Highland Community Bank, located in the city's South Side, closed its doors over the weekend on orders from the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation's banking division.

A U.S. District judge denied the U.S. Department of Treasury's motion to strike Pershing Square Capital Management's voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit it filed in August over misappropriation of government funds.

Based on home sales price information from mortgages sold to and guaranteed by the GSEs, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that its House Price Index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent month-over-month in November.

In an announcement on Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said loan officers at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase accepted cash, marketing materials, and consumer information in exchange for business referrals to Genuine Total, a now-defunct title firm formerly headquartered in Maryland.

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court convened Wednesday to spar with attorneys—and each other—in a case that could narrow long-held interpretations of a federal law barring housing discrimination.

In a live-streamed "fireside chat" with Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries, HUD Secretary Julian Castro reiterated that 2015 will be a "year of housing opportunity," reusing a phrase he coined in a National Press Club appearance earlier this month.

During his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, President Barack Obama did not make any substantial announcements regarding the housing market, government mortgage-backed securities, or the GSEs. However, "lower mortgage premiums" were mentioned, alongside "child care and sick leave and equal pay" as "ideas [that] will make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of families."

Choice Neighborhoods builds on the work of the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, a partnership formed in 2009 between HUD, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice, and Treasury.