Big Builder

Banks blow it again on mortgage standards: watchdog

Reuters' Margaret Chadbourn and Emily Stephenson report that a court-appointed monitor said on Wednesday that four of the largest U.S. mortgage servicers flunked on new standards set out in a landmark settlement meant to help consumers with troubled home loans. Read More

• Housing Policy

Lawmakers critical of CFPB's ability-to-pay rule

Lawmakers and industry officials continue to issue warnings about the impact of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau s ability-to-pay rule, despite recent efforts by the agency to amend certain provisions to assuage industry concerns. National Mortgage News' Victoria Finkle reports. Read More

• Housing Policy

Doubters doubt as Dodd-Frank qualified mortgage rules date nears

• Housing Policy

Wells markets credit card tied to mortgage payment upside

Wells Fargo hopes it can generate more interest in a credit card to help people pay down their mortgages. The New York Times' Ann Carrns reports. Read More

• Finance

AIA: 'Strong rebound' in May business index

Calculated Risk's Bill McBride offers this take-away from the latest print on the American Institute of Architects monthly billings index: more commercial real estate investment in the back half of 2013. And a multiplier effect, thereof. Read More

• Finance

The investment case for Toll Brothers

This year hasn't been nearly as good to Toll Brothers' stock as it has been for most other home builders. Investors are missing out. The Wall Street Journal's Justin Lahart teases out a tactic to out-lie the drag on home builders. The WSJ is a paid-subscription site. Read More

• Finance

Size matters ... big works best in today's market

New Geography demographer Wendell Cox taps into recent Census Bureau data on home sizes, noting that 2012 topped the charts for purchases of homes with the largest amount of square footage, 2,306, to be exact. Read More

• Business

The grad gap: homeownership is a stretch for many young adults

The volatile housing market has slowed purchases of starter homes, but it hasn't wiped out college grads' desire for them. The Wall Street Journal's Sue Shellenbarger reports. The WSJ is a paid-subscription site. Read More

• Business

Fed to Street, 'At ease'

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said risks to the outlook for the U.S. economy and job market had eased since last fall, but it said it would keep buying $85 billion in bonds per month given the still-high level of unemployment. Read More

• Business

Stratasys buys Makerbot 3-D printing firm for $400 million

In a $400 million merger of two 3-D printing leaders, Stratasys is buying Makerbot for an edge in the consumer market. Read More

• Business

Home builder stocks tank on Fed statements

Exchange-traded funds of home-builder-related stocks steepened Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at a press conference. Down about 0.7% ahead of the decision, the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index Fund was recently down about 2.3%. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P... Read More

• Business

Cash and carrying-on

Such buyers sometimes assume that their status as all-cash home buyers should afford certain concessions from the homeowner, like beloved bits of furniture at no extra cost. The New York Times' Elizabeth Harris reports. Read More

• Construction Trends

Blu Home builds houses that flip and fold into place

Blu Home's environmentally friendly pre-fab houses can be folded to fit onto an 18-wheeler. Fortune's Brian Dumaine reports. Read More

• Construction Trends

Data: about one in two adults wishes to be an entrepreneur

Seven out of 10 entrepreneurs would start their businesses all over again, and almost half of all Americans want to begin their own. A Mashable Business News post. Read More

• Construction Trends

K. Hovnanian Homes plans townhomes for Baltimore area tract

Baltimore Business Journal staffer Jack Lambert reports that St. John Properties Inc. sold 11 acres of the former North Point Drive-In movie theater lot in Dundalk to K. Hovnanian Homes for $2 million, seemingly ending the company's plans for big-box stores at the site. Read More

• Management

The U.S.' fastest-growing cities since the recession

New Geography's Joel Kotkin teams up with demographer Wendell Cox to rank the cities that have been the most resilient in population and economic growth since Recession hit in 2007. Read More

• Business

Toll Brothers pays $3.7M for Carefree land, luxury homes planned

Phoenix Business Journal staffer Kristena Hansen reports that, after a two-year hiatus, Toll Brothers Inc. is back in Arizona's land-buying game. Toll paid $3.7 million for more than 15 acres in a Carefree community that has laid dormant since falling into foreclosure amid the housing bust. Read More

• Management

The U.S. cities with the best parks

Fast Company's Zak Stone explores the U.S. metro-scape for where you'd go if you want to live somewhere with plentiful, accessible, well-maintained parks. According to land-conservation nonprofit The Trust for Public Land: Minneapolis and New York, in that order, followed by San Francisco... Read More

• Local Markets

America's 10 cheapest cities to live in

Looking for the cheapest places to live in the U.S.? Kiplinger's Michael DeSenne analyzes the Council for Community and Economic Research's calculations of living expenses in 307 urban areas, and ranks the Top 10. Read More

• Local Markets

All focus on Phoenix: 7 fundamental improving trends

The latest housing data out of Phoenix shows that the market is normalizing: inventories have stopped falling and home sales are rising even as the share of properties sold to investors is declining. The Wall Street Journal's Nick Timiraos taps local market expert Mike Orr to delve beneath the... Read More

• Local Markets