Lew Sichelman

The premium buyers are paying for newly constructed houses is abnormally high.

Both builders and developers report that lenders are loosening their purse-strings on their all-important acquisition, development and construction funding.

Census Bureau data shows that builders started 19,000 single-family attached houses in the quarter, up from 18,000 for the April-May-June period in 2012.

The share of households consisting of married parents with children has been cut in half.

The median size of newly constructed houses has crept steadily higher since the market crash.

South Florida has cruised past its condo bust years and has entered a real estate stratosphere that has not been seen in the United States outside of New York and California's celebrity neighborhoods.

The Tax Foundation's economic model finds that after the effects of wiping out the mortgage deduction are fully phased in, the economy would shrink by $254 billion.

The Federal Housing Administration might have lost as much as $1 billion in 2011 alone because of its poorly performing REO program, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

Applications for financing on new home purchases in June were down 15% from the previous month.

According to CondoVultures, 139 high-rises are currently under construction or set to rise from the ashes of the South Florida condo fizzle of 2007.

A common securitization platform is under full scale development and should be ready for significant testing by next year.

Remodeling activity is expected to gain steam over the next 12 months as more and more owners regain some of the equity they lost in their homes during the recession.

The next 12 months are likely to see only half the price gains experienced in the previous 12 months.

Continued significant improvement can be expected in both the commercial real estate and housing sectors.

Real estate agents in some markets say sales are surging, with many houses attracting multiple offers.

Hispanics, already leading the first-time home buyer market, could be an even greater force if inventory shortages don’t get in their way.

Hispanics, already leading the first-time home buyer market, could be an even greater force if inventory shortages don't get in their way, according to a new report.

Some mortgage market players look at the new rules coming out of Dodd-Frank as one huge pain in the neck.

Harold Turnbull and his wife were forced to pay for costly homeowner insurance, even though there was no longer a house to insure.

The spring thaw has reached all the way down to the South Florida market, where construction lenders are once again starting to show an appetite for condominiums.