Low levels of for-sale inventory, high mortgage rates, and record-high home prices continue to hamper existing-home sales.According to the May 2024 existing-home sales report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), sales volume fell 2.8% year over year to an annualized rate of 4.11 million.

On a recent HousingWire Daily podcast, I explored the question of whether construction labor was finally showing a recession risk. Today’s housing starts data has further solidified this trend, which we’ve been tracking for several months: construction labor is at risk, serving as a potent leading i

On Thursday, two U.S. regulators — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) — announced their approval of a final rule imposing quality control standards for automated valuation models (AVMs) used by mortgage originators and secondary market

Finance of America (FOA), the leading U.S. reverse mortgage lender, has received shareholder approval upon recommendation of its board to perform a reverse stock split at a 10-to-1 ratio in a move designed to boost the company’s stock price. This is according to a company filing with the Securities

The plaintiffs in the Moratis commission lawsuit (formerly known as the Spring Way suit) took issue with the nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement reached by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).On Wednesday, West Penn MLS, a defendant in the Moratis suit, filed a motion to stay t

Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with UWM CTO Jason Bressler on the HousingWire Daily podcast to talk about technology and how UWM is leveraging AI specifically. This interview has been edited for length and clarity, but you can listen to the entire episode here. Sarah Wheeler: How is UWM leve

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking to provide more support to military veterans who want to age in place in their current homes. This includes exploration of the smart-home technology sector, according to reporting at the Federal News Network.Smart home tech, including wearable

Real estate technology provider Inside Real Estate is rebranding its kvCORE platform to BoldTrail, according to an announcement on Thursday.Like kvCORE, BoldTrail is a branded portfolio that unites a collection of capabilities into one system, bringing Inside Real Estate products together in one pla

The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) is calling on both houses of Congress to adopt a mortgage interest credit as the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is currently set to expire in 2025. This is according to a letter the organization submitted to leaders in both the U.S. House of Representa

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) cannot escape allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination.In a lawsuit filed on Monday in a U.S. District Court in Illinois, former NAR employee Roshani Sheth claims that she was wrongly terminated from her role at the trade organization, and that e

Oklahoma-based Adfitech, a mortgage industry partner for quality control and risk management services, has changed its name to Mortgage Connect Risk Solutions. The move reflects the company’s 2022 acquisition by Pennsylvania-headquartered Mortgage Connect LP.Mortgage Connect, a nationwide services p

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Tuesday announced its submission of a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which urges the department to avoid reprimanding mortgage servicers for compliance lapses with the new National Standards for the Physical Inspection

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) this week announced a proposed Mortgagee Letter (ML) that would add fraud and misrepresentation to its defect taxonomy list for Title II FHA-sponsored mortgage financing.The defect taxonomy includes a list of attributes that FHA can use to identify potential

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed that lender and servicer Freedom Mortgage Corp. pay $3.95 million for alleged violations of a 2019 consent order and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) when it submitted incorrect mortgage data.The proposed order was filed on Tuesday

U.S. home prices are growing at their slowest pace in nearly a year and a half, according to Redfin‘s home price index that was published on Tuesday.Home prices rose 0.26% month over month in May, down from a monthly increase of 0.44% in April. Last month’s reading marked the smallest monthly increa

U.S. single-family rental (SFR) homes posted rent price growth of 3% during the year ending in April 2024, according to CoreLogic data released Tuesday. That was down from an annualized gain of 3.4% in March.The California-based real estate analytics company reported that the annualized gain was in

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Tuesday announced a series of enforcement actions against two companies for what the bureau called “illegal activities that harmed older homeowners and caused them to fear losing their homes.”The actions were taken against Pittsford, New York-based

Members of Generation X are more concerned about their post-retirement ability to support the lifestyles they’ve grown accustomed to when compared with other generations — including baby boomers and millennials — according to the results of a recent survey conducted by Allianz Life.In the company’s

Given a backdrop of escalating mortgage rates and soaring home prices, the prospect for first-time homebuyers (FTBs) in 2023 was daunting. The average FTB faced a significant financial burden, with monthly principal and interest (P&I) payments more than doubling ($2,110 vs $980) since 2013. To mitig