Real estate

The free market wouldn't plop down a trailer park just a few miles from downtown San Jose. At least not today, in a sharply spiking housing market that has made the metropolitan area one of the most expensive in the U.S.

Loan performance has improved since the housing crisis. But credit challenges persist, while higher housing costs combined with a plateau in wages have put increased strain on some borrowers' finances.

A unique public-private program in Dane County, Wis., uses shared-appreciation mortgages to develop new affordable housing units more effectively than other traditional financing options.

American Advisors Group has begun marketing a jumbo reverse mortgage loan over a year after it first planned to issue them.

The refinance mortgage market's unexpected resilience in 2015 has come as the result of a number of well-timed factors coalescing to create a welcomed surprise to lenders.

California's already tight housing market is facing another long-term complication: drought.

The gap between a homeowner's perceived value of their property versus an appraiser's widened in August on a monthly basis, according to Quicken Loans.

Mortgage applications by consumers purchasing a new home dipped in August from July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Homeowners are more pessimistic about the future of the housing market, while renters worry if they'll be able to afford to buy a home, according to a Zillow survey.

Amid growing concerns about compliance costs in title insurance, a trio of title agents has formed a consortium to help smaller firms manage their back offices more efficiently.

The first Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index fell 0.5 points to 80.8 in August from where it would have been in July.

Total home equity in the United States mortgage market has risen nearly $1 trillion year-over-year to $7.6 trillion, the highest level since 2007, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Years after the great American housing bust, mortgages akin to the so-called liar loans — which were made without verifying people’s finances — are creeping back into the market.

The number of homes that are financially underwater decreased in the second quarter, as property values for the bottom third of the market saw faster rates of growth, according to Zillow.

The Hispanic Federation and New York Urban League have partnered to encourage homeownership among low-income and minority groups and to provide financial education.

Mortgage credit availability loosened in August as lenders have more jumbo loan products and added loans for borrowers with less-sterling credit, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages rose this week as the stock market remained volatile, according to Freddie Mac.

Almost half of single-family houses in the New York and Washington metropolitan areas are losing value, a sign that buyers' tolerance for high prices in many large U.S. cities may be reaching a limit.

More than half of real estate agents are planning to extend their sales contracts to provide more time for the closing process due to the coming implementation of new mortgage disclosures.

Home prices rose 6.9% in July compared to a year ago, according to CoreLogic.