California

Galvanized by the Moms 4 Housing standoff that drew national attention to the region's affordability crisis, Oakland officials may soon overhaul the way homes are bought and sold and other Bay Area cities are considering similar measures.

The California Consumer Privacy Act is here, but many mortgage lenders still don't know what that means for them.

After the 2017 October fires in Sonoma County, Calif., prices inflated in 2018 as the destruction strongly stoked demand for homes. Last year, the housing market cooled and balanced itself.

Home prices were up 3.9% annually in the San Diego metropolitan area in November, outpacing all other West Coast markets, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices reported.

After a months-long slump in Bay Area home prices, the market appears poised to drive higher as buyers act on low interest rates and fight for scarce inventory.

A high-profile proposal to address California's housing crisis by compelling cities to build more homes failed to pass the Senate on Wednesday, but lawmakers left the bill's author one more chance to pass the measure.

Rooted in increased regulations and general customer backlash, there is a growing emphasis on collecting consent and ensuring privacy of customer data, especially following enactment of the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Companies are already having a tough time finding enough office space in San Francisco and are decamping for lower-cost locations.

Bidding wars for Bay Area homes have scraped new lows, as buyer fatigue with high prices and stressful deals saturates most of the region.

The median price paid for an existing, single-family home in the Bay Area fell in 2019 for the first full year since 2011, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Foreclosures in San Diego County have hit record lows, following a national trend of better fortunes for homeowners coming out of the Great Recession.

In another sign of state officials trying to outdo the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, governors in California and New York want greater authority to license and oversee the debt collection industry.

State officials are set to grant a private-equity firm building a passenger train to Las Vegas the ability to issue tax-exempt bonds, while requests for using the funding for affordable housing go by the wayside.

Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and consumer advocates have designed a proposed state consumer agency that would subject more financial firms and fintechs to state oversight.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to ask the legislature to revamp the current Department of Business Oversight and rename it the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, modeled after the federal CFPB.

California homeowners with big home loans and vacation properties would owe higher taxes under new legislation to raise money for programs to get the state's homelessness crisis under control.

The new owner of a 12-bedroom, $94 million home purchased in October received a $58 million, 10-year mortgage from HSBC.

A fight over how to fix California's worst-in-the-nation housing shortage is about to heat up again in Sacramento.

The foreclosed former home of Fireman's Fund Insurance in Novato, Calif., could become the site of a mixed-use development.

There are an estimated 46,000 vacant homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, a surprising number in a region beset by a crippling housing shortage.