Housing

The Chicago, Des Moines and Cincinnati FHLBs have grown their life insurance company membership the most in recent years.

Low borrowing costs and rising home values are just two of several reasons why owning a home is far less burdensome than it was a decade ago.

Fannie and Freddie have been selling pools of delinquent mortgages at auction to the highest bidders. Community groups say the Federal Housing Finance Agency should be giving preferential treatment to nonprofits and community development financial institutions.

Flagstar Bancorp in Troy, Mich., has launched a national homebuilder lending platform.

The Federal Housing Administration will continue to charge borrowers an annual premium over the entire life of the loan, rejecting calls from some housing advocates to change how it’s calculated.

Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati said Thursday that it will spend $27.5 billion over the next five years to provide loans and other financial services to underserved communities in its region.

Mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 14% on an unadjusted basis from the month before, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Application Survey.

Bank of Botetourt in Buchanan, Va., said Thursday it has opened a mortgage division to pursue unmet demand for home loans in southwestern Virginia.

Mortgage rates fell for the sixth straight week as market volatility continued, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The financial crisis turned a lot of Americans into renters, because they couldn’t keep paying their mortgage, or because high unemployment and stagnant wages in the ensuing years forced them to put off homeownership.

Strong demand for rentals will keep pace with new construction over the next few years, the government-sponsored enterprise says.

There were 3.1 million homes and condos sold during 2015, a nine-year high. From the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul to Salem, the capitol of Oregon, here's a look at the 10 markets with the biggest year-over-year percent increases in home sales.

Home prices rose in 81% of U.S. metropolitan areas in the fourth quarter, even as the pace of sales slowed from earlier in the year, the National Association of Realtors said.

Foreclosures nationwide continued to decrease in December, according to CoreLogic.

The San Francisco Bay Area housing market has seen values that have risen to unsustainable levels, according to Fitch Ratings.

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index fell 1.7 points to 81.5 in January, reflecting the effects of decreasing housing affordability.

Mortgage credit availability decreased in January, on a decline in some Federal Housing Administration and conventional offerings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Genworth's U.S. mortgage insurance business earned $179 million in 2015, but the parent company lost $615 million as it still has problems with its long-term care insurance product.

Mortgage lenders are ramping up marketing and point-of-sale processes, in order to prepare for an environment in which home sales are expected to cool down, according to a new report by Stratmor Group.

Housing policy focused on government guarantees and the 30-year mortgage hasn't done much to help low- and middle-income homeowners build wealth.