Claire Boston

2 months ago | autos.yahoo.com | Claire Boston

When Brittney Ross moved to Summerville, S.C., last fall, she quickly realized she was part of a trend. Reminders of the state’s burgeoning population surround her: She and her boyfriend snagged an apartment in a newly constructed building, and she battles fierce traffic to commute to work. One bad day, her ordinarily 35-minute drive took more than two hours. Lines back up at her local Walmart, turning simple errands into unpredictable quests.

2 months ago | autos.yahoo.com | Claire Boston

February 20, 2025 at 12:14 PM·1 min readMortgage rates ticked down slightly again this week during a quieter period for economic data releases. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.85% this week through Wednesday, according to Freddie Mac data, compared with 6.87% a week earlier. The average 15-year mortgage rate was 6.04%, down from 6.09%.

2 months ago | autos.yahoo.com | Claire Boston

A report of coming layoffs at the Federal Housing Administration is casting fresh doubts about the future of an office responsible for insuring millions of mortgages across the country. Bloomberg Law reported on Tuesday that the FHA plans to lay off at least 40% of its workforce, adding to pain at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where many divisions are bracing for cuts of 50% or more.

2 months ago | autos.yahoo.com | Claire Boston

Borrowers who got home loans through government-backed programs are increasingly falling behind on their payments, a potentially worrying signal for how lower-income Americans are faring in today’s economy. Delinquency rates on Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs loans reached 11.03% and 4.7%, respectively, at the end of last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, breaching pre-pandemic levels.

2 months ago | autos.yahoo.com | Claire Boston

February 14, 2025 at 9:52 AM·1 min readWorkers at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development are bracing for deep staffing cuts in divisions that provide housing assistance, investigate discrimination, and compile market data and research. In all, around 50% of HUD employees are expected to lose their jobs amid President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s broad efforts to reduce the size of the federal government, said Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE Council 222, which represents HUD workers.