Lew Sichelman

A small, privately-held mortgage banking company based in Wyoming has opened a new branch office, an indication that some home finance firms are thriving in the face of the housing recession.

Developers at six newly proposed condominium towers in the tri-county South Florida region have signed more than 500 pre-construction sales contracts and reservations, an indication that the market there has returned in a big way.

Nearly four out of every ten homes sold in 2011 have been purchased for cash on the barrelhead, according to a preliminary count by Housing Intelligence.

Existing home sales were up in November for the sixth straight month in the huge Houston area market.

Housing production in California was up in November for the fourth consecutive month. But builders in the Golden State are still on track to start the third lowest number of units on record in 2011.

MortgageKeeper, the anonymous referral service that helps lenders and counseling agencies connect struggling home owners with qualified sources of assistance, is ending the year with a bang.

An offhand, deleterious comment about mortgage brokers by President Obama has raised the ire of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers - and brought a strong rebuke from trade group president Donald Frommeyer.

ANAHEIM, CA—The ever-optimistic National Association of Realtors believes the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression is almost over.

State and local governments aren't the only ruling bodies feeling the impact of the housing meltdown. So are homeowner associations, the "mini" governments that ride herd over hundreds of thousands of communities from coast to coast.

More than 90% of the nearly 49,000 condominium units built in South Florida since the real estate boom began in 2003 have been sold. But that still leaves about 4,700 units to go.

Remember when "investor" was a four-letter word? Not anymore. Now, investors are all but saving the housing market.

The composition of the housing markets is changing, as are some key housing demographics, according to the latest edition of the National Association of Realtors' annual profile of buyers and sellers.

Looking for some decent housing news for a change? Try this: A major land developer with 22 master planned communities in 14 states has already equaled last year's sales.

Although some 4,700 units remain unsold from the last condo boom in South Florida, developers are now proposing to build 20 more towers in the tri-county area of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

WASHINGTON—Although the chances are slim, the conforming loan limit in a few high-cost markets could rise on Jan. 1.

Only one county in the country–Fairfield, Conn.–will have a higher conforming loan limit in 2012. The ceiling in the other 3,200-plus counties will remain unchanged.

For the third consecutive month, builders in California pulled an increasing number of permits compared to the previous year.

Five months and counting. That's the number of months the Houston market has showed gains in its existing home sales.

Here's a couple of names you don't usually see at the top of any housing list: El Paso and Boise. Yet there they are, leading the pack in new home closings in the third quarter.

When it comes to technology, the mortgage origination space is holding out for what a panel at National Mortgage News' Mortgage Technology conference in Miami called "the Holy Grail." But lenders shouldn't hold their collective breathes, the presenters agreed.