Lew Sichelman

Loan originations on income producing properties will rise 17% this year to nearly $230 billion, the Mortgage Bankers Association is projecting in its first-ever non-residential lending forecast.

Washington's inability to come to grips with the nation's debt issues and other economic woes is costing jobs and holding back the economy, the president of the Mortgage Bankers Association charged in a speech Tuesday

Driven by large increases in multifamily and industrial production, commercial loan originations rose 13% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Wells Fargo is not only the country's largest originator of home loans. It's also the largest servicer of commercial and multi-family mortgages.

The Villages, an active-adult property west of Orlando, was the country's best selling master planned community in 2012, according to data collected by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

California's home builders suffered through their third lowest year on record in 2011. The only thing that kept the year from being worse was the apartment sector, which rose sharply.

Answering complaints that appraisers are using uncomparable 'comparables' on which to base their valuations, the Appraisal Institute has published new guidance to help valuation professionals know when -- and how -- to use distressed sales in appraising real estate.

Some of the healthiest markets in the country for home builders are in North Carolina. But the safest place is an active-adult mecca called The Villages in Florida.

Only time will tell if the latest round of condominium buyers in the Greater Downtown Miami area will follow the fate of many of their most recent predecessors.

The remodeling sector will start slow but show enough improvement over the year that it will end 2012 on a positive note, according to a key forward indicator tabulated by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

Despite a rough start, the huge Houston housing market ended 2011 solidly in the black.

Low-ball appraisals are having a dramatic impact on housing sales. But they are hitting veterans who want to use GI home loans particularly hard, according to a survey of 188 home building executives by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to more clearly interpret regulations such as the loan officer compensation rule, according to executives participating in a roundtable discussion at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers' recent NAMB/West show.

Housing sales in the Lake Tahoe area held steady last year, notching a 1% increase in the number of units sold, according to local real estate company Chase International. But they were much stronger in the outlying towns of Truckee, Reno and Sparks.

It's a distinction that doesn't portray the mortgage business in a very good light. But it's a milestone nonetheless: The national Loan Modification Scam Database has now collected more than 20,000 complaints.

A condo apartment in the Blue Diamond development on Miami Beach sold for $2.248 million last year. And it was a short-sale!

The rental market is heading south, especially in Florida. And that's a good thing.

National Association of Mortgage Brokers president Don Frommeyer weighed in on what he feels are inordinate disclosure requirements loan brokers face during a recent discussion at the group's NAMB/West Show in Las Vegas.

The Army Times' 2009 Soldier of the Year is now a homeowner, thanks to GMAC Mortgage.

The fourth of 20 high-rise condominiums planned for the tri-county South Florida market is now in the ground.