Author name: Ricky Vasquez

The American Financial Services Association (AFSA), the nation’s oldest and largest consumer credit trade group, on Tuesday released its quarterly Consumer Credit Conditions Index. It found that AFSA members’ assessment of current conditions turned slightly negative in the third quarter of 2025. More respondents reported worsening business conditions than improving conditions, pushing the survey’s Net […]

America’s housing affordability crisis is an equal-opportunity phenomenon. Nowhere is this more painfully clear than in the nation’s rural communities, which quietly confront a deepening affordability gap. Financing challenges unique to rural areas pursuing affordable housing development exacerbate a growing imbalance. A new Redfin study notes that home prices in rural communities have increased faster

A new multi-state coalition is warning that worsening floods across Appalachia — and the federal government’s uneven response — are heightening risks for communities, infrastructure and real estate markets across the region. The Appalachian Flood Resilience Coalition recently convened for the first time to examine Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding fights, stalled mitigation programs