Law and regulation

Corporations that own California properties could soon be fined for keeping homes vacant for more than three months under a proposed law to give tenants, nonprofits and cities more say over what happens to empty buildings.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is relaxing mortgage qualification rules to make it easier for homebuyers to secure financing, a move that could give Canada's real estate market another boost.

The city's Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion program, born out of the recession in 2008, has prevented nearly 14,000 foreclosures by working with lenders and homeowners to lower mortgage payments.

Mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs may increase in certain regions due to a new option that can offset a broader fee increase.

In letters to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, six Democrats asked how the mortgage giants are factoring extreme weather into their risk modeling.

A high-profile proposal to address California's housing crisis by compelling cities to build more homes failed to pass the Senate on Wednesday, but lawmakers left the bill's author one more chance to pass the measure.

Companies are already having a tough time finding enough office space in San Francisco and are decamping for lower-cost locations.

IBM called for rules aimed at eliminating bias in artificial intelligence to address concerns which range from identifying faces in security-camera footage to making determinations about mortgage rates.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering bringing back the idea of imposing stricter criteria for purchasing mortgages in areas where residential Property Assessed Clean Energy financing is available.

Mortgage lenders' uptake of innovations in artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies has been relatively slow. It's an approach that may not be tenable in 2020.