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Real estate firms are confident in the industry’s future growth and their increasing profitability, according to the 2015 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Real Estate Firms.“A majority of firms have a positive view of the future, with 95 percent of all firms expecting their net income to either increase or stay the same in the next year,” said NAR President Chris Polychron, executive broker with 1st Choice Realty in Hot Springs, Ark.

Joined by dozens of supportive tenants and union members, fired building workers at 2116 Chestnut will rally in front of the building on Wednesday at 2:45pm. With almost no notice, building cleaners, security officers and maintenance workers were terminated from their jobs at 2116 Chestnut Street on Friday after the 319 unit residential apartment building was sold to CBRE Global Investors for $160 million.

The U.S. building industry is under increasing pressure to deliver high-performance buildings to meet the needs of owners, occupants and government. Owners and contractors are looking for opportunities to improve certainty in schedule, performance and cost while managing risks. At the same time, there is an increasing concern from multiple segments of the industry on the availability of a skilled workforce, as well as the productivity of the buildings workforce today and into the future

Mortgage applications increased 4.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 31, 2015

Today’s announcement of EPA’s Clean Power Plan is a positive step towards ensuring that the American economy continues its successful path of doubling energy productivity by 2030, a goal endorsed by the President that would not only reduce emissions below what is required under these new regulations, but would also save the United States $327 billion annually and create 1.3 million net new jobs.

Housing Development Center is pleased to welcome Mai Huynh-Carnes to our Comprehensive Development Services Team. As senior project manager Mai will work with nonprofits and housing authorities to develop high-quality, cost-effective, sustainable affordable housing and community facilities.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations, second quarter 2015 commercial/multifamily mortgage loan originations were 29 percent higher than during the same period last year and 16 percent higher than the first quarter of 2015

MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. today announced that the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed the opinion of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ruling in MERS’ favor that the Pennsylvania recording statute does not create a duty to record all land conveyances

The final Clean Power Plan rule released today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clears a path for multistate collaboration on emissions reduction, says Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) senior advisor Jennifer Macedonia, adding:

“National Parks Conservation Association applauds the Obama Administration for adopting its Clean Power Plan, an enormously important step toward reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s electricity generators. There are numerous outdated coal-fired power plants around the nation that are the number one source of carbon dioxide and of other pollutants that impair the health of our parks and their visitors.

Legislation recently introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters, HR 3424, the “Moving to Work Reform Act of 2015,” would undermine and reverse major progress made by housing authorities in meeting the housing needs of low-income families, seniors and persons with disabilities in their communities. The legislation would also unduly restrict additional housing authorities from initiating more efficient and effective housing strategies. CLPHA strongly opposes the legislation.

Wind energy can provide a majority of the clean power that states will need to comply with the government’s new rule to reduce carbon pollution from electric power plants, U.S. industry leaders said today, and it can save consumers money doing so.

The U.S. building industry is facing significant challenges: addressing the impacts of climate change; achieving sustainability; assuring asset and community resilience; and managing risk. At the same time, it is widely recognized as a fragmented industry with divergent interests and priorities. The need and the opportunity to address these challenges—that affect the industry and the nation as a whole—has never been more critical, but it must be done through the implementation of strategic and collaborative approaches

The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) recently has contributed to several victories in public policies that will have a positive impact on real estate management professionals and organizations.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the centerpiece of President Obama’s groundbreaking climate change strategy, the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The United States’ most ambitious action yet taken to combat climate change, the CCP sets the first-ever limits on dangerous carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants, gives states the opportunity to craft implementation plans tailored to their needs and provides opportunities for new jobs and lower energy costs across the nation.

HousingWire honored Sheila Crowley, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), as one of this year’s 40 influential women in housing for her leadership on “the nationwide effort to secure funding for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF), the new dedicated resource for the production of new housing affordable to the lowest income people.”

Marcia Davies, Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has been honored as one of HousingWire's 2015 Women of Influence. The list, in its fifth year, honors "40 leaders who range from servicers and lenders to tech innovators and heads of nonprofit organizations." As COO, Davies is the second highest ranked executive within MBA

“Through its fundamental commitment to flexibility, local choice, and cost-effectiveness, the Clean Power Plan sets the stage for a market-based transformation of the U.S. power sector that promises to help secure the nation’s prosperity for decades to come. In this competition of technologies and ideas as well as dollars and cents, energy efficiency has a remarkable opportunity to demonstrate its superior value proposition as the cheapest, cleanest, quickest, and most reliable way to reduce CO2 emissions and tackle climate change

John P. Fredrickson, MAI, SRA, of Walla Walla, Washington; Jerome Haims, MAI, SRA, of New York; and Richard A. Stephens, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, of Little Rock, Arkansas, were honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Michael V. Tankersley, MAI, SRA, AI-RRS, of Lewisburg, Tennessee, was named the recipient of the Outstanding Service Award during the Appraisal Institute Annual Meeting Wednesday in Dallas.

James L. Murrett, MAI, SRA, of Hamburg, New York, was elected 2016 vice president of the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers Thursday by its Board of Directors in Dallas. Murrett’s one-year term at the Appraisal Institute will begin Jan. 1, followed by one year each as president-elect, president and immediate past president