NAHB Now's Latest Posts
NAHB and House Panel Reach Agreement on Flood Insurance Bill
NAHB today reached an agreement with leaders of the House Financial Services Committee to craft a viable, long-term flood insurance reauthorization bill that will keep the National Flood Insurance Program fiscally sound and enable home builders to provide safe and affordable housing to consumers.
Proposal Would Raise Appraisal Threshold on Commercial Real Estate Loans
The Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today issued a notice proposing to increase the threshold form requiring an appraisal on commercial real estate loans from the current level of $250,000 to $400,000.
DHS to Add 15,000 Additional H-2B Guest Worker Visas
The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will allow an additional 15,000 H-2B temporary worker visas to be issued during this fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. The H-2B program allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers for seasonal, non-agricultural positions. In past years, roughly half of the visas have gone to landscaping businesses.
House Panel Set to Approve HUD Funding for Fiscal 2018
The House T-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee is expected this evening to approve a spending bill for HUD for fiscal 2018, which starts Oct. 1, 2017.
CFPB Publishes Final ‘Know Before You Owe’ Rule
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on July 7 published final updates to its “Know Before You Owe” mortgage rule, offering amendments on finance charge disclosures, disclosures tied to housing assistance that a borrower receives, and when information can be shared with third-parties, including real estate agents.
Of particular interest to NAHB, the final rule clarifies disclosures for construction and construction-to-permanent loans addressing many of the concerns lenders have expressed in making these loans.
FHFA Proposes New Housing Goals for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has proposed new housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2018 through 2020.
The housing goals are for mortgages purchased by the two government-sponsored enterprises. They include separate categories for single-family and multifamily mortgages on housing that is affordable to low-income and very low-income families, among other categories.
Lumber Tariffs Threaten Thousands of U.S. Jobs, Raise Housing Costs
In a move that will raise housing costs and price countless American households out of the housing market, the Commerce Department on June 26 imposed a preliminary 6.87% anti-dumping duty on Canadian lumber imports on top of the 19.88% countervailing duties announced in April.
NAHB Opposes Flood Insurance Bill that Clears House Panel
As the House Financial Services Committee voted today to approve the 21st Century Flood Reform Act, NAHB vowed to fight the measure and to work with Republican lawmakers to craft an alternative measure.
Multifamily Decline Brings Overall Housing Starts Down 5.5% in May
Led by a decline in multifamily production, nationwide housing starts fell 5.5% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million units, according to newly released data from the HUD and the Commerce Department. Multifamily starts fell 9.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 289,000 units while single-family production edged down 3.9% to 794,000.
Builder Confidence: Still Solid
Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes weakened slightly in June, down two points to 67 from a downwardly revised May reading of 69 on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.
