Economy

The former Bear Stearns headquarters building at 245 Park Avenue, a long-time home to cornerstone financial services tenants as well as Major League Baseball, is the sole property backing a new single-borrower $500 million commercial mortgage securitization.

The Ventura County, Calif., housing market is enjoying a strong start to the spring selling season, but a lack of midrange housing inventory remains an issue that is pushing prices higher.

Pending sales of existing detached homes in the Albuquerque metro area during April shot up 23% from a year ago.

FHFA Director Mel Watt warned Thursday that to prevent a potential draw on the Treasury Department by the government-sponsored enterprises, he is willing to act unilaterally to rebuild capital at Fannie and Freddie.

The Houston region saw more homes hit the market in April, boosting inventory and providing additional options to eager Houstonians.

A pair of real estate developers told a Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce audience that they regard New Haven, Conn., as one of the most attractive places in the nation in which to do business.

The inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said the regulator should consider firing Fannie Mae CEO Timothy Mayopoulos for not properly disclosing he was dating a senior executive at a bank that does business with the mortgage-finance giant.

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.