Housing markets

Small towns across the country struggle with vacant housing as much as cities, even though some of those places have plenty of jobs. Geography and a declining population are forcing many rural communities to make hard choices.

After blue collar jobs move out, crime often rushes in to take its place. That makes efforts to turn around housing that much harder.

Housing blight — concentrated areas of vacant properties — is harming communities across the country and posing a risk to the financial system. But governments seem powerless to turn it around. We're finding out why. A special 10-part podcast series by American Banker.

There's a problem in America. Homes are decaying all over the country, even as affordable housing is becoming more scarce. Can we rebuild these communities before it's too late? A trailer introducing a special 10-part podcast series by American Banker.

The Congressional Budget Office has found that restructuring the mortgage market would save the government billions of dollars but may increase the cost of housing.

The agency, with others, will work to stop consumer fraud; manager of four Morgan Stanley L.A. offices allegedly ignored harassment allegations.

Instead of shrinking the GSEs, the housing regulator is letting them expand into a host of new products and programs.

From medical expenses to home improvements, here's a look at some of the most frequently cited reasons homeowners are borrowing against their home equity.

Credit unions may be able to reach more underserved consumers through partnerships with an unlikely ally.

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.

Mortgage borrowers collectively hold more equity in their homes than at any other time on record, but while some analysis shows they've been slow to borrow against this newfound wealth, credit union home equity lending was up significantly last year.

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.

Governments are studying ways blockchain can safeguard property records and simplify how they get tracked.

Senate Democrats accused Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and his agency of failing to enforce fair housing laws.

As policymakers take another crack at housing finance reform, federal leaders and the housing lobby are once again perpetuating the false notion that ending government guarantees would cause the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage to vanish.

The agency should resist renewed calls to lower insurance premiums. Doing so would increase demand and raise home prices, negating any proposed benefits.

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.

Credit standards for commercial loans to medium and large firms showed some signs of easing over the last three months of 2017, even though demand stayed relatively unchanged.

Weak profits and the threat of false claims charges are keeping banks out of the market for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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.