Category: Top National News

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 7, 2017–Laura Kusisto, Douglas Belkin (subscription)A severe shortage of construction workers is expected to cause widespread delays and push labor costs sharply higher as Texas begins to rebuild from Hurricane Harvey. The labor squeeze could get worse still if Hurricane Irma slams the Southeastern U.S. this weekend as expected.

HousingWire, Sept. 5, 2017–Ben LaneLast week, Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens sent a letter to Senate leadership, calling for approval of Pam Patenaude as deputy secretary of HUD. As it turns out, Stevens’ call to confirm Patenaude has more than a little support from within the housing industry.

HousingWire, Sept. 5, 2017–Brena SwansonAs the expiration date of the National Flood Insurance Program draws nearer, the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan analysis for the U.S. Congress, calculated that the program has an expected one-year shortfall of $1.4 billion.

National Mortgage News, Sept. 5, 2017 (subscription)The long-term recovery for thousands of Texans whose homes were decimated by Hurricane Harvey rests with a Trump administration government outsider who wants his agency’s budget cut by billions of dollars.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 5, 2017–Peter Grant (subscription)Banks and other underwriters of commercial mortgage-backed securities are on track to issue more notes in September than any other month this year.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 5, 2017–Esther Fung (subscription)Malls need to shift emphasis away from department stores and toward retailers that are less susceptible to competition from e-commerce, according to a report from real estate services firm CBRE Research.

National Real Estate Investor, Sept. 5, 2017–Bendix AndersonMultifamily real estate investment trusts keep building new apartments and the analysts who track the companies are getting worried.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 3, 2017–Laura Kusisto, Valerie Bauerlein (subscription)Not even two weeks ago, this city had one of the weakest apartment markets in the country with tens of thousands of vacant units. Now landlords say prospective renters are lining up outside their doors and some have almost no units left.

Mortgage Daily, Sept. 1, 2017Past due payments on securitized commercial real estate loans turned lower as the wall of maturities subsided. The improvement was led by industrial loans, said Morningstar Credit Ratings LLC.

Mortgage Daily, Aug. 30, 2017For the second month in a row, the performance of securitized commercial real estate loans improved. Industrial loans led the decline in late payments, said Trepp LLC.