Housing

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has taken pains to stress that the Trump administration isn't out to kill Americans' beloved mortgage-interest tax deduction — but a side effect of the plan could turn it into a perk for only the wealthy.

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.

Citing a pattern of "bad-faith harassment, retaliation and fraud" against rent-controlled tenants, a San Francisco Superior Court Judge has ordered a landlord to pay the city nearly $2.4 million in penalties for violations of state housing law.

Mortgage Bankers Association President David Stevens is confident that housing finance reform will move forward under the Trump administration, but criticized calls to simply let the government-sponsored enterprises recapitalize and be returned to shareholders without additional reforms.

Wichita leads the nation in terms of affordable housing for teachers, according to a report released Thursday.

For almost four years, Seattle officials neglected to collect a $3.4 million payment for affordable housing from the developer of a high-profile, luxury condominium project.

Mayor Sylvester Turner expressed optimism Monday about city efforts to resolve a federal finding that Houston housing policies violate the Civil Rights Act, saying U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told him last month he "is very pleased with the direction in which we are going."

Although home price growth is expected to eventually decelerate, CoreLogic's home price index for February shows it grew slightly on both a year-over-year and consecutive-month basis.

Post-recession, educational achievement became a factor in determining whether a young adult decided to buy a home.