Housing inventory

The Democrat, who will likely head the Financial Services Committee, has signaled she'll make expanded housing opportunities for lower-income consumers a top priority.

Real estate and mortgage industry groups outspent proponents 3-to-1 to defeat Proposition 10, a measure to allow California municipalities to set local rent control laws.

City National Bank said the foundation will buy houses and hold onto them until the buyer lines up financing.

Despite recriminations about how the crisis and ensuing regulations have tightened loan access, an actual assessment of mortgage credit availability finds the situation is more complicated.

Housing confidence hit an all-time high as more consumers report it's a good time to sell, while also anticipating a rise in home prices but a drop in mortgage rates, according to Fannie Mae.

Despite soaring home prices, other factors needed to inflate a housing bubble are absent from the real estate market. But experts warn falling home values and rising mortgage defaults are inevitable, even if conditions naturally cool off.

Here's a look at the 10 housing markets with the biggest gap between growth in home prices and wages that could indicate a housing bubble is forming.

The recently enacted tax reform bill is likely to encourage more consumers to rent instead of buy and tamp down the rapid rise in home prices.

The tax law is expected to eliminate 300,000 affordable housing units over 10 years in part because it will reduce the value of banks’ low-income tax credits, which finance half of all affordable housing units.