Economy

Home prices continued to climb in April as Southern Nevada now has less than a two-month supply of homes available for sale.

Residential property in the city is becoming more valuable — a fact that could drive up potential sale prices for many city residents, but also could raise their property tax bills.

The gap between what homeowners believe their home is worth and what the actual value widened for the fifth consecutive month in April, according to Quicken Loans.

The days of vacant, distressed homes covered in sheets of plywood appear numbered, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move toward greater adoption of polycarbonate "clear boarding" to secure foreclosure properties.

Here's a look at the 12 markets where rising home prices, along with shifts in wages and interest rates, have combined to put the most downward pressure on consumers' purchasing power.

North Texas home prices hit another all-time high in April.

The median sales price for condominiums on Oahu hit an all-time high in April as more buyers appeared to opt for condos while the supply of single-family homes remained low, the president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors said.

While consumers pay for mortgage insurance policies, carriers like Arch MI are forging new relationships with real estate agents and strengthening lender partnerships to reach the growing segment of millennial and low-to-moderate-income homebuyers.

Banks are increasingly tightening lending standards for commercial real estate loans and are likewise seeing a drop-off in demand, according to a report released Monday by the Federal Reserve Board.

Median prices for homes sold on Hawaii island and Kauai in April were mostly flat or down, as was the volume of sales in the two neighbor island housing markets.

Private mortgage insurers have brought their once-beleaguered sector back to financial health. But rebuilding trust with their business partners is still a work in progress.

The lack of available homes, which drives up sales prices in Southern Nevada, continues to have an effect on the local rental market as well.

Fannie Mae's involvement in institutional single-family rental financing bodes well for that market's potential growth, says Investability Real Estate's Chief Revenue Officer Dennis Cisterna.

The next single-asset CMBS to hit the market is backed by the land under an iconic Manhattan address known as the Lipstick Building.

Essent Group Ltd., the Hamilton, Bermuda-based parent of Essent Guaranty, reported first-quarter net income of $66.6 million.

Driving the streets of Mitchell, S.D., and seeing for-sale signs throughout the city, Jesse Stroud is confident he'll find his next home soon.

With double-digit price appreciation returning to some Bay Area markets, we're used to hearing that the region's homeowners are a lucky bunch, richer by the minute.

Employment in the mortgage sector rose for the first time in three months in March, driven by an increase in loan broker hires.

Fannie Mae said it expects to make a $2.8 billion dividend payment to the U.S. Treasury in June after reporting a first-quarter profit driven by a relatively stable mortgage market and a continued decline in delinquencies.