The Lede

Boston Globe, May 31, 2016--Horowitz, Evan  If you live near Boston, you already know that housing is expensive. Rents and mortgages eat up a growing share of middle-class incomes. And among the poor, affordable housing is as rare as it is essential.

Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2016--Morris, Keiko  At 52 stories, the glass-and-concrete skyscraper on Manhattan's far West Side has been detailed in dozens of glossy renderings and constructed in miniature for tabletop models. Now, the first building in the massive Hudson Yards project is finally to scale and ready for business.

National Real Estate Investor, May 31, 2016--Anderson, Bendix  Crowdfunding websites are becoming an important piece of the real estate financing puzzle, especially for apartment developers who need a little extra debt or equity to complete their plans.

OurBroker.com, May 31, 2016--Miller, Peter G. Is it possible that 300,000 loan officers will be employed in a decade? Twenty years? Time marches on--and so does fintech.

New York Times, May 31, 2016--Henning, Peter J. Proving fraud usually starts with finding a lie made to mislead someone into pursuing a transaction or spending money when they would not have done so if they knew the truth. Figuring out exactly what constitutes the type of deception that can support a case remains a challenge, however, as shown by a federal appeals court decision last week.

Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2016--Kusisto, Laura Home prices across the U.S. rose sharply in early spring amid rising demand and supply constraints, a sign that the lopsided housing-market recovery of the past five years is gaining strength.

Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2016--Sparshott, Jeffrey Consumer spending advanced at the fastest pace in nearly seven years in April, the latest sign of stronger economic growth following a sluggish start to the year.

National Mortgage News, May 31, 2016--Passy, Jacob Competition fueled by low inventory and interest rates and high prices will likely continue to push home sales figures higher this year, according to Ken Johnson, an associate dean at FAU's College of Business in Boca Raton, Fla.

HousingWire, May 31, 2016--Lane, Ben Later this year, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will reach its sixth anniversary, but if Congressional Republicans have their way, Dodd-Frank won't reach anniversary number seven and many of the financial reforms enacted by the landmark law will be repealed or replaced.

HousingWire, May 31, 2016--Swanson, Brena This week's National Appraisal Volume Index posted much of the same, falling 3% for the week of May 22, the latest appraisal volume numbers from a la mode found.

National Mortgage News, May 31, 2016--Collins, Brian The Federal Housing Finance Agency is set to make the sales of nonperforming loans by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac more transparent, including providing information on trends at the individual pool level.

Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2016--Rapoport, Michael Community bankers are struggling under new regulations. But they also are in their best shape in years.

SFGate.com, May 31, 2016--Lavingia, Christina Homeownership might appear increasingly elusive to a large subset of the population, but a whopping $8.74 trillion of U.S. debt (72 percent) is mortgage-related, according to MarketWatch.

HousingWire, May 31, 2016--Lane, Ben Several senior executives at First Mortgage Corporation lied about the performance of the mortgages the company originated so they could pull the mortgages out of mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae,then turn right back around and sell the mortgages back into new mortgage bonds, defrauding investors out of $7.5 million, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday.

Scotsman Guide, May 31, 2016--Whitman, Victor The Office of Inspector General for HUD says it is not backing off its scrutiny of higher-priced FHA loans that receive downpayment assistance from government-sponsored development authorities.

Reverse Mortgage Daily, May 31, 2016--Oliva, Jason Now in its 16th year, the annual event, which is hosted by the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association, will bring industry professionals from all over the country to the Lone Star State for a day of reverse mortgage networking, education and conversation.