Headlines

Home prices appear to be losing some of their spark, slowing down to a marginal increase of 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in August compared to last month.

Existing-home sales have reversed the downward trend in recorded in August due to stock market declines, rising 4.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rates of 5.55 million in September, the highest pace since February 2007. The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that September's rebound in existing–home sales marks a year–over–year increase for 12 consecutive months and all four major regions experienced gains.

Freddie Mac and Quicken Loans recently announced that they have joined forces to pilot several new initiatives aimed at helping provide more Americans the opportunity to achieve homeownership, while also building a smarter American mortgage finance system.

As part of Washington’s continued focus on reducing regulatory burden for Main Street, the House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee convened on Wednesday to discuss a series of recently proposed bills aimed at achieving this goal.

HUD announced Wednesday that it is issuing a proposed rule to protect consumers being harassed in housing. The newly proposed rule would formalize standards to bring about claims under the Fair Housing Act. The rule, also known as "Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment Harassment and Liability for Discriminatory Housing Practices under the Fair Housing Act,” was published in the Federal Register today for public comment.

Arch Mortgage Insurance Company, a provider of private mortgage insurance and a wholly owned subsidiary of Arch Capital Group Ltd., recently introduced Arch MI RateStar, the company’s new risk-based pricing program.

Officials of the Obama administration recently rejected investors' calls to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to end the seven-year conservatorship between the two GSEs.

The total amount recovered from litigation against banks that sold toxic residential mortgage-backed securities to corporate credit unions has now reached $2.2 billion with two recently announced pending settlements, according to an announcement from the National Credit Union Association, chief regulator for credit unions in the United States.

Housing trends are constantly fluctuating, but aside from some of the obvious factors that affect the housing market, oil prices appear to be having a negative impact on markets that are dependent upon this energy.

Single-family housing starts increased in September 2015, while authorizations and housing competitions decreased, according to new residential construction statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD released Tuesday.