Yearly Archives: 2018

Institutions (CDFIs), will manage the District’s newly created $10 million Affordable Housing Preservation Fund. The Mayor’s Housing Preservation Strike Force recommended the creation of this Fund, located within the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), to increase the preservation of affordable housing in the District.

Construction costs escalated in February, driven by price increases for a wide range of building materials including steel and aluminum, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data released today. Association officials warned that newly imposed tariffs on those metals will create steeper increases that will squeeze budgets for infrastructure, school districts and commercial projects

Apartments outperform other commercial real estate property types, on both a risk-adjusted and unadjusted basis, regardless of holding period, geographic region, metro size, and growth rate according to new research from the National Multifamily Housing Council Research Foundation.

Home purchases by millennials ticked up over the past year, but inventory constraints and higher housing costs kept their overall activity subdued and prevented some from leaving the more affordable confines of their Gen X and baby boomer parents’ homes.

The U.S. Senate is considering S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, and the National Association of Realtors® showed its support with a letter(link is external) to Senate leadership.

Recent infrastructure packages proposed by the White House and Senate Democrats note the need for more investment in Stormwater Management practices, raising awareness nationwide for greater investment in stormwater infrastructure.

The MPF Program recently surpassed $1 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issued. The MPF Government MBS product was the result of a partnership forged by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) to issue securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae and backed by mortgages originated by FHLB member financial institutions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $300,000 contract award to ASAT Inc., based in Cottage Grove, Oregon to complete development of an innovative clean-burning cooking stove. ASAT Inc. is among five other companies receiving a total of $1.8 million in EPA funding for small businesses to develop technologies that provide solutions for environmental issues.

Mortgage applications increased 0.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 9, 2018.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America (NAMMBA) announced today that the two associations will form a formal strategic partnership to advance each other's diversity and inclusion efforts

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced today the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $276 million in rural electric infrastructure (PDF, 60 KB) to improve system efficiency and reliability. This announcement comes the day before Secretary Perdue is set to testify alongside Secretaries Wilbur Ross, Alexander Acosta, Elaine Chao and Rick Perry at a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing focused on rebuilding American infrastructure.

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service today announced $12.6 million in grants for 51 projects in 24 states that preserve sites and highlight stories related to the African American struggle for equality in the 20th century.

The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, a new report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), finds a shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low income (ELI) renter households, those with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of their area median income.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Applications Survey (BAS) data for February 2018 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 4.6 percent compared to February 2017. Compared to January 2018, applications increased by 3 percent. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

Oregon Lithoprint Inc., owner of the News-Register, a twice-weekly community newspaper based in Yamhill, Oreg., has agreed to settle FTC charges that it invited a competitor to collude in an arrangement to divide the market for placement of foreclosure notices.