California

As Bay Area sales dwindled, in a reflection of the region's shrinking home supply, buyers continued to bid up the region's notoriously high prices.

The Canyon 2 wildfire has been contained for more than a week, but aftereffects from the 9,200-acre conflagration still are rippling throughout Orange County, Calif.

Southern California's house hunters must move 23% faster this year to find a residence to buy.

The Federal Housing Administration has extended waivers on timelines for disaster-related re-inspections to properties in Puerto Rico affected by Hurricane Maria as well as other properties impacted by California wildfires.

Continued economic growth, a strong jobs market and higher wages will lead to a 7.3% increase in purchase origination volume next year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Mortgage lenders are urging the thousands of displaced homeowners to reach out to them in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires so fire victims can begin the process of either rebuilding or moving on, leaving behind the home they once had.

A limited housing supply fueled by the San Francisco Bay Area's booming job growth and decades of slow construction has forced home values and rents to near record highs.

Soot and ash are still settling over the Sonoma County, Calif., housing market, but real estate brokers and lenders contend the fiery destruction of a few thousand properties here will make it harder for both buyers and renters to find new homes.

The destruction of scores of houses and apartments in the North Bay fires virtually guarantees that the affordable housing crisis in Marin County, Calif., is about to get even worse.

California faces a different set of housing challenges from other U.S. areas that are reeling from recent natural disasters.