Housing

Treasury sweep agreement set to deplete Fannie and Freddie's capital reserves by the end of 2017.

A consumer's ability to afford to purchase a home during the fourth quarter was at its lowest level in eight years due to rapid price appreciation, moderate wage growth and the post-election increase in interest rates.

Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin is facing growing pressure from Senate Democrats to account for his leadership of a bank accused of shoddy foreclosure practices.

The National Association of Realtors is warning House Republicans leaders that their tax reform plan would marginalize two long-standing tax incentives for owning a home, which could hurt the housing market.

While the housing market is expected to cool down a bit in 2017, the National Association of Realtors has identified these 10 metro areas as the top markets for next year.

The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump is considering several candidates to fill key spots at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Housing Administration, including a homebuilder and former lender.

While depository mortgage lenders should exercise some caution before welcoming trended data and alternative credit scoring into their process, they must become inclusive or face losing market share to newer industry players like SoFi.

A regulatory 2017 scorecard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac calls on the firms to transfer a significant portion of credit risk to third-party private investors on at least 90% of unpaid principal balance of newly acquired single-family mortgages.

During the third quarter, the negative equity rate dropped to 10.9%, representing roughly 5.3 million homeowners, from 13.4% a year before, Zillow reported.

The mortgage interest deduction has been a pillar of U.S. housing policy for more than a century, but Congress appears ready to consider significant changes to it that some industry players worry could effectively render it moot.