Housing

Beneficial State Bank — which was joined by various civil rights groups — said in an amicus brief that the regulatory reforms are much-needed and that banking groups' legal challenge to the Community Reinvestment Act rules should be dismissed.

Democrats Ritchie Torres and Gregory Meeks called on the New York Home Loan bank to follow the lead of its peers and use alternative credit scoring models for collateral to improve consumers' access to homeownership.

Despite being a top concern for a wide swath of voters, housing affordability has largely been absent from presidential politics.

The guidance is largely unchanged from what the agencies proposed last year. It directs institutions to craft policies that consider a wide array of potential shortcomings.

The Federal Reserve's struggle in bringing inflation down from its current level to its 2% target may come down to how the government measures shelter costs in the U.S., leading some experts to question whether the problem is in the economy or in how it is measured.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says crushing inflation is the most important thing the Fed can do to reduce costs in the housing market. Some economists and policy specialists say higher rates are not the only tool at its disposal.

The Federal Reserve chair said a rate cut would not solve the underlying issues driving up shelter costs, even as housing becomes a disproportionate driver of inflation.

Policy experts say the mix of proposals put forth by the White House could ease the nation's housing shortage, but success will be neither quick nor assured.

The Congressional Budget Office put an estimate on the net government subsidy provided to the Federal Home Loan Bank System, including the so-called "implied guarantee," on bonds priced and sold to investors.

An initiative in Baltimore to use blockchain tech to track and manage vacant properties is a prime example of how blockchain can help solve stubborn problems, even if it isn't ready to revolutionize the fundamentals of commerce.