The Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) provision in the Dodd-Frank bill is unquestionably the most controversial aspect of the legislation’s housing-related rulings, and since the start of 2012, eyes have been fixed on the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency charged with defining the standards and parameters of a qualified mortgage.

The Census Bureau released its latest numbers on housing vacancies yesterday for the fourth quarter, and the results were in-tune with the more recent trends in housing – a 9.4 percent vacancy rate for rentals and a 2.3 percent for housing, both 0.4 percentage points lower than 2010′s fourth quarter.
The area of dispute, though, rests with the homeownership rate, with the Bureau placed at 66.0 percent, a decline of 0.5 percentage points from 2010′s fourth quarter and a 0.3 percentage point drop from the third quarter of 2011.

Following the long-delayed appointment of Director Richard Cordray, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has hit the ground running in 2012, launching investigations into PHH Corp and releasing new subprime loan metrics for lenders. Now, it’s setting its sights on appraisals, and the charges associated with the practice.
The CFPB, as explained by syndicated columnist Kenneth R. Harney in an article on the subject, is looking to add a greater level of transparency to how appraisers are compensated.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced new rules and regulations to protect the housing rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals at the 24th National Conference on LGBT Equality.
Shaun Donovan, the secretary of HUD, called the new rules “historic.”

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) released its latest Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices today, showing that home prices fell again from October to November and posted new post-housing bubble lows for home values.
Both the 10- and 20-City Composites fell by 1.3 percent monthly, while annually, both composites were also down, with respective declines of 3.6 and 3.7 percent.

Housing inventory dipped 17 percent year-over-year, bringing the long-bloated housing marketplace closer to equilibrium – at least among visible inventories.
As tracked by Bill McBride of Calculated Risk, though the declines are seasonally inspired (inventory typically declines through the winter and picks up in February), inventories in many of the 54 areas documented by HousingTracker have experienced noticeable declines, and the 6.2 months-of-supply is the most balanced since the downturn.

Industry representatives of the manufactured home business are prepping for a Wednesday testimony before the House Financial Services Committee that will, according to reports, spotlight the critical failures of legislation dating back to 2000.

The latest Mortgage Monitor from financial firm Lender Processing Services (LPS) was a study in contrasts, showing that though originations continue to decline, the quality of those originations continues to improve.
Originations were down 10.1 percent from November to December, continuing a trend of descension that began in October. During that same period, though, loans also performed spectacularly well.

Principal write downs have emerged, in the past month, as one of the major controversies on Capital Hill, with Congressional Democrats and the White House lobbying for such a program from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) – and the agency’s Acting Director, Edward DeMarco, steadfastly refusing.

Construction has been one of the hardest hit sectors of the housing downturn, and though economic tides remain uncertain, the growing multifamily market has been a source of growth and jobs for construction workers.
As a recent HousingWire article paints it, the nation’s large inventory of shadow properties – roughly 6.6 million by recent estimates – do nothing but linger on the market, not only putting downward pressure on prices but also rendering any new construction all but obsolete, given the preponderance of existing properties.