Housing affordability

The number of homeowners spending more than 30% of income on housing costs jumped 18% from pre-pandemic 2019, according to a new Harvard analysis.

With many already living in aging properties, the millennial generation could be stuck with the costs, a Leaf Home/Morning Consult survey claimed.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine rolled out the Welcome Home Ohio program, a product of the Ohio legislature's biennium budget bill, House Bill 33.

Recent pullbacks in interest rates have lowered monthly payments, but amounts needed still make home buying unaffordable by most standards, according to new reports.

The government is moving forward with a catalog of pre-approved home designs to reduce the cost and time it takes to build housing. The idea dates back to the 1940s when thousands of soldiers returned from the Second World War and needed a place to live.

Affordability decreased during the month across all racial groups and loan types tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System is a crucial element of our financial infrastructure. All stakeholders should be included in discussions about reforming it.

Policymakers are all too quick to categorize IMBs as financially risky institutions; making them easy targets for stricter - and unnecessary - federal oversight and regulatory efforts, Stevens and Olson argue.

With a scarcity of listings driving high home prices, both repeat and new purchasers are putting the most money down in decades, the report found.

In conjunction with an announcement last week, federal agencies will conduct training workshops to help developers, lenders and other stakeholders benefit from the Biden administration's housing supply plan.

The median monthly amount on new purchase applications fell for the first time since early summer, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The National Association of Realtors' index of contract signings increased 1.1% from a month earlier to 72.6, the group reported Thursday.

After regulators deemed special-purpose credit programs compliant with housing law, their numbers have grown, but lenders are still trying to determine the best way to develop them and achieve their intended purpose.

Expected income earned through rental of the units will be considered in underwriting for FHA-backed mortgages and rehabilitation loans.

But even as housing costs slowed on a quarterly basis, they still came in 5.3% higher than a year ago, according to Fannie Mae's Home Price Index.

The rise in the number of reductions runs against typical seasonal norms, Redfin said.

The move comes after the e-commerce giant has provided some $1.7 billion to create or preserve affordable rental units as part of a $2 billion initiative launched two years ago. 

The long climb in mortgage rates has also kept an additional $200 billion in equity out of the hands of borrowers, and the economy at-large, the firm said.

The decision highlighted conflicts between insurance providers and detractors, with supporters of alternative products underscoring it had no effect on the services they offer, while a major industry trade group critical of the program lauded the outcome.

Active listings fell in July on an annual basis, while median home prices also showed signs of a downward trend, according to new data from Realtor.com.