Residential

  • April 27, 2026

    Affordable Housing Push Persists Despite Elevated Costs

    Building affordable housing presents plenty of challenges in the best of times, with developers and builders striving to keep prices down, sway resistant communities, and navigate webs of government incentive programs and regulations. It is that much more difficult under the present circumstances where construction costs — typically the largest expense for these projects — seem to be on a rollercoaster with twists and turns and no break in the intensity.

  • April 27, 2026

    Mortgage Broker Can Shield $1.4B In Tax Assets In Ch. 11

    Bankrupt home lending broker Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. received emergency approval on Monday to restrict trading of its stock in order to protect as much as $1.4 billion in tax attributes, which are its most valuable assets, as it pursues a 60-day reorganization track.

  • April 27, 2026

    NJ Judge Frees Mixed-Use Properties From 'Mansion Tax'

    Sales of two mixed-use properties along the Hudson River in New Jersey aren't subject to a state fee on properties sold for more than $1 million because the properties should be classified as residential instead of commercial based on their usage, the state Tax Court ruled Monday.

  • April 27, 2026

    HUD Wants To Nix 'Gender Identity' From Its Regulations

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a rule that aims to get rid of "references to 'gender' and 'gender identity' from HUD regulations, or remove and replace it with 'sex,'" according to a proposed rule in the Federal Register.

  • April 27, 2026

    Holland & Knight Tops Affordable Housing Teams List

    Holland & Knight and Dentons are among the U.S. law firms with the most attorneys working on affordable housing, an analysis by Law360 Real Estate Authority found.

  • April 27, 2026

    NYC Real Estate Week In Review

    Tarter Krinsky and Kriss & Feuerstein scored work on the two largest New York real estate deals that hit public records last week, with a large Manhattan Fifth Avenue trade leading the way.

  • April 27, 2026

    Affordable Housing Areas To Watch At The Federal Level

    In the span of two days in mid-March, the U.S. Senate passed an affordable housing bill and President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders aimed at making housing more affordable and spurring more construction, as lawyers keep close tabs on how those developments may affect prices, rates and construction starts.

  • April 27, 2026

    Va. To Allow Tax Breaks For Affordable Housing Conversions

    Virginia will allow local governments to provide partial property tax exemptions for eligible building conversions to provide affordable housing under a bill signed by the governor.

  • April 27, 2026

    Calif. Developer Sees Shifts After Housing Litigation, Reforms

    For developer Cedar Street Partners, it took years of litigation and winning enforcement of an untested provision in state law to get the Southern California city of La Cañada Flintridge to advance the firm's plans for a mixed-use affordable housing project.

  • April 27, 2026

    The Challenges To Building Affordable Housing In Small Cities

    The need for affordable housing has spread far and wide across the country, including in rural counties and mid-size towns, but community resistance and inexperience within local governments can create hurdles to development, attorneys say.

  • April 27, 2026

    Housing Pros See Fla. Policy As Model For Affordability Goals

    Becoming a victim of its own success, Florida has seen recent rapid growth, especially at the wealthier end of the spectrum, spawning affordability challenges for many residents. The dichotomy has been particularly evident in housing, but this is also an area where the state is making strides, in the eyes of industry experts.

  • April 27, 2026

    States Override Localities To Encourage Alt Housing Models

    Alternative housing models — including accessory dwelling units, single-room occupancy dwellings and manufactured housing — could take a bite out of the housing affordability crisis. But first, states must overcome barriers erected by local governments.

  • April 27, 2026

    What Real Estate Attys Say About Federal Moves On Housing

    Land use, policy and deal-side attorneys are mulling recent efforts by the White House and Congress to increase the country's housing supply. Here, Law360 Real Estate Authority shares what experts think of the nuances, and where federal efforts may stimulate — or frustrate — production.

  • April 27, 2026

    HUD Chief Touts Deregulation Efforts To Spur Housing

    As President Donald Trump and Congress turn increased attention to tackling the nation's housing affordability crisis, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, whose agency serves as a key conduit for federal efforts, touted efforts to cut costly regulations during a recent appearance in Florida.

  • April 27, 2026

    Inside Primestor's Tariff-Swayed Modular Supplier Switcheroo

    In early 2025, Primestor Development was roughly half a decade into the planning process for a $300 million mixed-use project in Southern California — including a large modular residential component with affordable and market-rate housing — when tariffs scuttled arrangements with a key supplier. The scramble that ensued made for some challenging and novel lawyering, discussed here with Law360 Real Estate Authority.

  • April 24, 2026

    MV Realty To Pay $4.5M To End NC Suit Over 40-Year Contracts

    Embattled Florida real estate company MV Realty agreed to pay $4.5 million to end a lawsuit from the North Carolina attorney general accusing it of using shady business practices to lock homeowners into decades-long listing agreements with predatory rates, according to a consent judgment.

  • April 24, 2026

    NY Asks 2nd Circ. To Bring Back $74M In Highway Funding

    New York and its Department of Motor Vehicles urged the Second Circuit on Friday to order the U.S. Department of Transportation to restore a $73.5 million highway funding package that the federal government canceled because the state provided commercial driver's licenses to immigrants.

  • April 24, 2026

    AI Co. Founder Copied Real Estate Appraisal Tool, Suit Says

    A 21-year-old founder of an artificial intelligence startup posed as a licensed real estate appraiser to gain access to a residential appraisal software company's data collection tool and share it with his own employees, who duplicated aspects of the product, the software company has alleged in a California federal court.

  • April 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Won't Renew Wash. Developer's Suit Against County

    A Ninth Circuit panel declined Friday to resurrect a Washington developer's lawsuit accusing Whatcom County officials of violating its constitutional rights by scaling back a housing development plan, concluding that the firm hasn't shown a protected stake in the property that it offloaded during Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

  • April 24, 2026

    Bank Asks 2nd Circ. To OK Fed-Blocked Mortgage Program

    Canandaigua National Corp. has urged the Second Circuit to overturn a Federal Reserve Board decision that denied the community bank's request to introduce a cash guarantee program for homebuyers, arguing the agency wrongly treated the plan as off-limits under what the company called an outdated legal view that banks should not own real estate.

  • April 24, 2026

    NYC Council Plans Small-Lot Housing Update, Advisory Panel

    New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin on Friday announced construction code reforms that she said could create up to 35,000 new housing units on small lots across the city, along with a new panel of experts to advise the council on housing affordability.

  • April 24, 2026

    Compass Looks To Dodge 'Baseless' MLS Counterclaims

    Compass Inc. urged a Washington federal court to toss a multiple listing service's "baseless" and "conclusory" counterclaims against the real estate brokerage's antitrust suit, which alleges that the MLS' property listing rules are anticompetitive.

  • April 24, 2026

    Sheppard Advises On $160M Loan For S. Fla. Tower

    New York developer Time Equities Inc. has closed on a $160 million construction loan from M&T Bank to build the first phase of a mixed-use housing project in downtown Boynton Beach, Florida, with advice from Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

  • April 24, 2026

    PMG Launches Miami Condo Tower With Deeded Offices

    PMG is currently selling condominiums that come with deeded office suites for its 40-story, 467-unit Miami luxury mixed-use tower project in the city's Brickell neighborhood, the developer announced.

  • April 23, 2026

    Affordable Housing Pros See Promise In NYC-Backed Insurer

    A New York City-backed program to offer property and liability insurance to affordable housing operators is a promising approach to reducing a key operating cost for landlords that don't have the flexibility of market-rate operators to increase rents, affordable housing experts said, but details of the plan remain scant.

Expert Analysis

  • New Conn. Real Estate Laws Will Reshape Housing Landscape

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    With new legislation tackling Connecticut's real estate landscape, introducing critical new requirements and legal ambiguities that demand careful interpretation, legal counsel will have to navigate a significantly altered and more complex regulatory environment, say attorneys at Harris Beach.

  • Md. Ruling Spotlights Source-Of-Income Discrimination

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    In Hare v. David S. Brown Enterprises, the Maryland Supreme Court recently ruled that landlords cannot impose income requirements that disqualify tenants relying on housing vouchers, raising questions about applying the disparate impact doctrine in source-of-income discrimination cases, says Yvette Pappoe at the University of the District of Columbia.

  • Colo. Law Brings Some Equilibrium To Condo Defect Reform

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    Colorado's American Dream Act, effective next year, does not eliminate litigation risk for developers entirely, but it does introduce a process, some predictability and a more holistic means for parties to resolve condominium construction defect claims, and may improve the state's housing shortage, says Bob Burton at Winstead.

  • A Primer For Lenders On NY's New Mortgage Disclosure Regs

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    A recent New York regulation requiring licensed lenders and mortgage bankers to distribute a significant new disclosure pamphlet, essentially a borrower bill of rights, to applicants serves as a reminder to the industry to follow existing best practices, says Scott Samlin at Blank Rome.

  • Trump Tax Law Has Mixed Impacts On Commercial Real Estate

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    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act brings sweeping changes to the real estate industry — and while the permanency of opportunity zones and bonus depreciation creates predictability for some taxpayers, sunsetting incentives for renewable energy projects will leave others with hard choices, says Jordan Metzger at Cole Schotz.

  • DOJ Settlement Offers Guide To Avoiding Key Antitrust Risks

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    The U.S. Justice Department's settlement with Greystar Management shows why parties looking to acquire companies that use pricing recommendation software should carefully examine whether the software algorithm and how it is used in the market create antitrust dangers, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Contractor Considerations As Construction Costs Rebound

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    The U.S. construction industry is navigating rising costs driven by energy and trade policy, which should prompt contractors to review contract structuring, supply chain management and market diversification, among other factors, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • NC Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    There were several impactful changes to the financial services landscape in North Carolina in the third quarter of the year, including statutory updates, enforcement developments from Office of the Commissioner of Banks, and notable mergers, acquisitions and branch expansions, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Looking Beyond Property Damages For Wildfire Survivors

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    Personal injury attorneys seeking compensation for victims of wildfires like those in Los Angeles County must carefully apply a multidisciplinary approach that looks beyond obvious property loss to the full spectrum of damages, considering factors like emotional distress, disruption of community and the psychological toll of displacement, says Farid Yaghoubtil at Downtown L.A. Law Group.

  • Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    The third quarter of 2025 brought legislative changes to state money transmission certification requirements and securities law obligations, as well as high-profile accounting and anti-money laundering compliance enforcement actions by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • A Mortgage Lender's Guide To State Licensing Overhaul

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    Recent changes to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors' Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System require careful attention and planning from mortgage lenders, including tweaks to remote work designations and individual disclosure questions, says Allison Schilz at Mitchell Sandler.

  • Montana Federal Ruling Takes Broad View Of 'Related Claims'

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    A Montana federal court recently took a broad view of related claims, ruling that claims brought by different plaintiffs in different states alleging different legal theories were nevertheless under a directors and officers insurance policy, illustrating the range of interpretations courts may give these clauses, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Expect DOJ To Repeat 4 Themes From 2024's FCPA Trials

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    As two upcoming Foreign Corrupt Practice Act trials approach, defense counsel should anticipate the U.S. Department of Justice to revive several of the same themes prosecutors leaned on in trials last year to motivate jurors to convict, and build counternarratives to neutralize these arguments, says James Koukios at MoFo.