Riverside-based Provident Financial Holdings Inc., the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, said it has hired a retail mortgage banking group to operate from three Northern California cities, including Roseville.

California's redevelopment agencies officially are out of business, effective today. But that doesn't mean that the future of affordable housing is wiped out in the state.
Construction worker Bill Gates frames roofs at an apartment complex for low-income seniors in Elk Grove. Affordable housing advocates say the demise of California's redevelopment agencies will pose challenges for future projects providing low-cost homes, but the problems are not insurmountable.
Redevelopment money for affordable housing projects – such as this 69-unit complex for seniors under construction in Elk Grove – has been the second-largest funding source in California.
Chris Goodwin works on an Elk Grove apartment complex for low-income seniors. Redevelopment agencies once provided key funding for such projects, but are being phased out to help balance the state's budget.

Can R Street become downtown Sacramento's first true art and culture corridor? That's the idea being promoted by an experienced local developer.
The new arch over R Street, near the Fox & Goose Public House, is part of the city’s effort to turn the area around R Street into a lively ‘culture corridor.’ A developer says he wants to further those plans by rehabilitating the historic six-story warehouse at 11th and R streets into a complex where artists can live, work and sell their wares.
Past efforts to convert a vacant warehouse at R and 11th streets into housing have come to naught. But a developer now wants to turn the building that once housed Ford Model T's into an artists' haven and hangout.
Lezlie Sterling lsterling@sacbee.com As many as 120 apartment units and 25,000 square feet of retail space are proposed as part of the conversion of this old warehouse at R and 11th streets. The proposal is due for review by a city agency in March.

A federal investigation into one of the largest alleged mortgage schemes in the Sacramento region has produced new criminal charges.

Sacramento-area foreclosure sales soared 23.8 percent during the third quarter, according to a new report.

Housing construction in the Sacramento region fell to new lows in 2011 as the number of permits for single-family homes dropped by more than 15 percent.

Calling it "inadequate for California," the state is rejecting the latest settlement proposal between states and major U.S. banks over lending abuses that fueled the foreclosure crisis.

Quarterly foreclosure filings in the Sacramento region dropped to a four-year low, but they're expected to pick up this year.

The Sacramento office vacancy rate increased for the 18th consecutive quarter to an all-time high of 23.38 percent, according to commercial real estate brokerage firm Cornish & Carey Commercial.

Sacramento's housing market ended the year on an upbeat note as sales of single-family homes rose in all four of the region's counties.

Sales of single-family homes in the Sacramento region ended the year with healthy gains, but prices remained weak due to the large number of distress sales.
See what homes in your neighborhood are selling for in our database of home sales in the region.

The number of homes sold in California rose for the third straight month in December, according to the California Association of Realtors.

A modest building boom is taking place in Sacramento's central city. Work is under way on at least a half-dozen projects that will bring more than 250 housing units and thousands of square feet of retail to the grid, even as the market in the rest of the region remains stagnant.

A federal grand jury on Thursday issued new criminal charges as part of a yearlong investigation into one of Sacramento's largest mortgage fraud schemes.

New foreclosure filings hit a six-month low in December, but don't expect the lull to last.

A Sacramento neighborhood is one of 13 nationwide to win a $300,000 federal planning grant for community improvements.

The number of single-family homes sold in the Sacramento region rose sharply in November, outpacing gains in the Bay Area and Southern California.
See what homes in your neighborhood are selling for in our database of home sales in the region.

Troubled mortgages and short sales continue to keep a lid on single-family home prices here and throughout California, according to two reports released Monday.

California landlords, who have long had the right to restrict pets, noise and even water beds in their units, can now prohibit smoking under a new law that took effect Sunday.
The exterior of the Maydestone building. The reopening is one of downtown's first apartment buildings, the historic Maydestone, across from Memorial Auditorium, after 11 years of closure. Monday, October 11, 2011.

The administrative offices of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency at 801 12th St. will reopen today.