Mortgage applications for the purchase of newly built homes fell sharply in July, but the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said it expects new home sales for the month will remain strong. MBA's Builder Application Survey (BAS) recorded a 27.4 percent decline in applications compared to July 2020 data. Applications were down 4 percent from June 20...

The July report on residential construction from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that permits increased during the month for only the second time since January while housing starts posted a significant decline, falling in three of the four major regions.Permits for residential construction were at a seas...

 It seemed like a simple solution for expanding the credit profile of many first-time homebuyers, but Fannie Mae's new plan to utilize rent payment history to that end will not immediately remedy the situation. Linda Goodman and Jun Zhu, in a new post on the Urban Institute's (UI's) Urban Wire blog, say it will eventually prove beneficial to m...