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A New York state appeals court ruled on Thursday that it has approved, in its entirety, Bank of America Corp.’s $8.5 billion settlement with mortgage securities investors.

With the ruling, Manhattan’s Appellate Division has most likely resolved one of the bank’s last and largest legal liabilities stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.

As Reuters points out, this settlement is separate from Bank of America’s $16.5 billion mortgage settlement last year with federal and state authorities.

Image via flickr/Mike Mozart

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Biniam T. Gebre, the Acting Federal Housing Administration Commissioner and Acting Assistant Secretary for Housing, took to the FHA’s blog on Thursday to share an impassioned note about the organization’s recent decision to decrease its PMI premiums.

In a piece titled “FHA’s Middle Class Promise,” Gebre goes on to explain that it’s all good news – there is no catch – and that there is no reason to believe the lessened fees will lead to another housing market crash.

“We believe it’s time to reduce our prices to make it possible for nearly quarter of a million credit-worthy families to purchase their first home in the next three years,” he wrote. “Still, there are some who don’t want us to reduce our annual insurance premiums. These critics claim this is somehow a return to the days of subprime lending when loans were approved for borrowers who had no business buying a home and set the nation on a path to ruin. This reduction doesn’t change who qualifies for an FHA loan; it only changes the price someone pays for an FHA loan. Let me be clear – FHA has never, is not, and will never engage in the sorts of lending practices that triggered the housing crisis. Unless one is trying to make a distinction, using the words ‘subprime’ and ‘FHA’ in the same sentence is not factual. The borrowers that FHA serves are not subprime. They are in fact the prime example of families pursuing the American dream.”

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According to a new report by CNBC, home prices are beginning to soar once again, as the number of houses for sale continues to remain low.

And, as one expert points out, that could mean bad news for springtime home sales, as high prices were the main factor in last year’s weakened market.

In all, there were nearly 9 percent fewer homes for sale in January 2015 than there were the year before.

“January’s inventory data suggest a continuation of the tightening trend we identified last month in the December data, and with a shortage of inventory typically comes increased home prices,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Realtor.com. “Half of the 200 markets Realtor.com tracks experienced year-over-year price increases of at least 6 percent in January.”

Image via flickr/Tom Caswell

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CNBC reported on Friday that more than $37 million in monthly housing subsidies for people in need landed in the wrong hands last year, and it’s all because the Department of Housing and Urban Development has not yet figured out how to accurately verify who is eligible for its program.

“If HUD does not strengthen its controls, it will pay at least $448 million over the next year in subsidies for public-housing units occupied by noncompliant tenants that otherwise could house compliant households,” a report by HUD’s Inspector General reads.

The program is intended to provide housing subsidies for low-income people who are trying to get back into the job market and meet the “community service and self-sufficiency requirement,” which is defined as being between the ages of 18 and 62 and logging a minimum of eight hours of community service or job training each month.

Image via flickr/401(K) 2012

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