Affordable housing

Home inventory on the market increased in May, but stubbornly high mortgage rates and home prices are leading to slow sales in many areas, according to reports from Redfin and Zillow.

The Massachusetts House passed a bill that would ease the process for property owners looking to build accessory-dwelling units.

St. John's Lutheran Church in Madison is redeveloping its property to build affordable housing blocks from the Capitol in the booming East Washington corridor.

The April and May announcements from the U.S. government, down payment assistance firms and lenders on easing the homeownership affordability crunch.

The rates of single parent homeownership by gender differ by 14 percentage points, even though more single women own homes than men.

Top Federal Home Loan bank officials said they fear the Federal Housing Finance Agency will use supervision to further the goals of last year's report recommending reforms to the Home Loan Bank System.

Banks and other private lenders could help ease the liquidity crisis facing some companies that service Ginnie Mae mortgages, but are currently prevented from doing so by the agency's rules. A simple fix would benefit everyone involved.

In a Senate hearing, Director Sandra Thompson said a raise to the required income threshold provided to affordable housing was on the table, while housing regulators also faced questions related to property insurance hikes and title insurance waivers.

Since the launch of vacant-loan sales, a majority have come from properties located in 10 states, HUD reported.

The questions about whether the Home Loan banks receive a public subsidy has been settled. All that remains is for lawmakers to take steps to redirect that subsidy toward public benefits rather than corporate profits.

Continued failure to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship will lead to see-saw mortgage policy every time the White House changes hands, which is against the intent of the GSE statutes that indicate a desire for stable secondary markets, writes the Principal at public affairs firm TVDC.

But a part of the proposal getting mixed reviews extends a risk sharing program that provides capital to housing finance agencies for multifamily loans.

The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 includes restoration of a 12.5% increase in the program's 9% limit that expired in 2021.

Timothy Harleth is launching Generational Equity Labs, a fund that plans to use a technology platform linking would-be homebuyers to institutions to support equity sharing.

The House Ways and Means Committee is marking up the bipartisan legislation that would restore a 12.5% boost to the program's availability.

While several communities offer monetary incentives to attract new residents, some are making overtures with down payment and other types of assistance aimed at building up their local housing markets.

The city claims it can build the rental units quicker through this mechanism rather than low income housing tax credits.

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.

But the average cost for a mobile home is still more than $300,000 lower than a permanent construction.

California, Midwest and Northeast cities are poised to see the greatest combined rise in sales and home values, but some affordability relief will also emerge nationwide in the next 12 months, Realtor.com said.