• Elevated mortgage rates aren’t discouraging homebuyers

    Elevated mortgage rates aren’t discouraging homebuyers,Logan Mohtashami

    Why aren’t home sales crashing as they did in 2022? Right now we have elevated mortgage rates, trade war uncertainty, rising property taxes and home insurance, terrible consumer confidence data and a downgrade of the government’s debt, among other factors. But, housing demand continues to hold up, s

    Read More
  • Seattle housing market wrestles with crippling affordability concerns

    Seattle housing market wrestles with crippling affordability concerns,Jeff Andrews

    On the surface, Seattle’s housing market looks like any other in the country.The inventory of single-family homes for sale is up substantially year over year. New listings are up slightly, sales remain subdued and home prices aren’t moving much. That’s the story in the majority of housing markets.Bu

    Read More
  • Comfortable city living usually requires a six-figure salary

    Comfortable city living usually requires a six-figure salary,Jonathan Delozier

    Homeownership in many of America’s largest cities now demands a six-figure salary to sustain a comfortable lifestyle — with some regions requiring more than $300,000 annually.A new analysis by GOBankingRates ranked the top 50 U.S. cities by the income necessary to afford a comfortable standard of li

    Read More
  • Americans are divided over housing impacts of immigration, tariffs

    Americans are divided over housing impacts of immigration, tariffs,Jonathan Delozier

    A new Redfin survey reveals sharp divides among Americans over how immigration and tariffs are affecting housing affordability, reflecting a complex and politically charged landscape.More than half of U.S. homeowners and renters (51.2%) believe that reducing immigration could worsen housing affordab

    Read More
  • In Chicago, a reverse mortgage scammer left a lasting scar

    In Chicago, a reverse mortgage scammer left a lasting scar,Neil Pierson

    Mark Diamond has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for his crimes against elderly homeowners, but the scars from the damage he inflicted across the Chicago metro area are still visible.A recent report from a local publication, the South Side Weekly, detailed one family’s struggle to recov

    Read More
  • Tech Pulse: UWM challenges industry AI fear; Optimal Blue automates refi opportunities

    Tech Pulse: UWM challenges industry AI fear; Optimal Blue automates refi opportunities,Jonathan Delozier

    Welcome back to Tech Pulse — a new weekly series rounding up the latest in technology, including tools, integrations and trends impacting mortgage and real estate.Here’s what happened this week:UWM’s Jason Bressler challenges the fear-driven narrative around AI in mortgage lendingAt HousingWire’s Th

    Read More
  • First American: Rising costs squeeze homeownership for millions

    First American: Rising costs squeeze homeownership for millions,Jonathan Delozier

    The cost of owning a home in the U.S. has jumped sharply in recent years, reaching an average of more than $1,700 per month in 2023 — a 17% increase since 2020 — according to an analysis by First American senior economist Sam Williamson.Using the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, Williamson found

    Read More
  • MBA, FHFA explore single credit report for mortgages

    MBA, FHFA explore single credit report for mortgages,Flávia Furlan Nunes

    While the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) under President Joe Biden proposed a transition from a tri-merge to a bi-merge credit report system, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is now assessing the feasibility of moving to a single credit report for mortgage underwriting.Bob Broeksmit, pr

    Read More
  • HUD signs agreement with South Korean housing finance agency to spur MBS investment

    HUD signs agreement with South Korean housing finance agency to spur MBS investment,James Kleimann

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Ginnie Mae on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a South Korean housing finance authority, with the goal of increasing investment in U.S. agency mortgage-backed securities.The agreement, signed with the Korea Housing

    Read More
  • How midsize lenders are surviving the mortgage squeeze

    How midsize lenders are surviving the mortgage squeeze,Flávia Furlan Nunes

    Mortgage veteran Glenn Stearns is taking a different approach with his latest venture. Kind Lending, a national wholesale mortgage lender and his second brainchild, is built on lean operations and a focus on efficiency — a contrast with his first company, Stearns Lending, which filed for Chapter 11

    Read More
  • HUD is light on reverse mortgage detail in justifications for budget request

    HUD is light on reverse mortgage detail in justifications for budget request,Neil Pierson

    Following the release of the president’s fiscal year 2026 “skinny” budget request — and a look at the White House’s performance expectations for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program — the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released its congressional justificatio

    Read More
  • Judge blocks CFPB bid to undo Townstone redlining settlement

    Judge blocks CFPB bid to undo Townstone redlining settlement,Jonathan Delozier

    A federal judge on Thursday blocked an attempt by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to reverse a $105,000 settlement with Townstone Financial, a Chicago-based mortgage broker accused of discouraging Black applicants.U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama ruled that allowing the CFPB t

    Read More
  • Judge sets trial timeline for Mutual of Omaha and Longbridge

    Judge sets trial timeline for Mutual of Omaha and Longbridge,Chris Clow

    An order signed by a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California has established a forward timeline for the ongoing lawsuit between major reverse mortgage industry lenders Mutual of Omaha Mortgage and Longbridge Financial. A trial is scheduled to begin in Nove

    Read More
  • Logan Finance launches new product suite for non-QM borrowers

    Logan Finance launches new product suite for non-QM borrowers,Jonathan Delozier

    Nonqualified mortgage (non-QM) lender Logan Finance Corp. has launched a new set of loan products designed to serve borrowers who fall outside traditional lending requirements.The “Open Road” product series includes seven mortgage offerings tailored to self-employed individuals, real estate investor

    Read More
  • Aging in place increasingly embraced by independent senior living companies

    Aging in place increasingly embraced by independent senior living companies,Chris Clow

    Senior living organizations are often seen by the public as opposing ideas related to aging in place, but one senior living executive says that the industry’s future may lie in facilitating this increasingly common goal.This is according to an interview with Tod Petty, chief marketing officer at Fyn

    Read More
  • Century 21 expands yet again — this time in Northern California

    Century 21 expands yet again — this time in Northern California,Jonathan Delozier

    Century 21 Real Estate has announced a new affiliation with Kobetz Realty Inc., a full-service brokerage based in Ukiah, California.The move expands Century 21‘s presence in Mendocino County and the surrounding region.Founded in 2020 by broker/owner Benjamin Kobetz, the firm will now operate as Cent

    Read More
  • Federal Reserve watchdog investigates efforts to dismantle CFPB

    Federal Reserve watchdog investigates efforts to dismantle CFPB,Chris Clow

    As Trump administration officials press ahead with their efforts to dismantle and defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Reserve Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is reportedly opening an investigation into moves to fire the vast majority of CFPB and attempted cancel

    Read More
  • EliseAI to integrate conversational AI into Zillow Rentals listings

    EliseAI to integrate conversational AI into Zillow Rentals listings,Jonathan Delozier

    EliseAI is finalizing a partnership with Zillow Rentals to embed its conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology directly into multifamily rental listings on the Zillow platform.The integration is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2025.Branded as AI Assist, Powered by EliseAI, th

    Read More
  • Partner Real Estate soars to new heights among mega teams

    Partner Real Estate soars to new heights among mega teams,Jonathan Delozier

    Partner Real Estate is on the rise — and making its presence felt. The Los Angeles-based independent brokerage achieved its best-ever placement in the 2025 RealTrends rankings, coming in at No. 13 among mega teams by closed sales volume.For Rudy Kusuma, CEO of the team, the distinction represents mo

    Read More
  • Nevada senator accelerates criticism of Republican federal lands proposal

    Nevada senator accelerates criticism of Republican federal lands proposal,Chris Clow

    As Republican lawmakers continue to press ahead with a proposal to sell wide swaths of federal land, one official in a state that would be impacted is ramping up her opposition to plans from both the Trump administration and her congressional colleagues.Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Neva

    Read More