Mexico’s president launches ambitious, zero-interest mortgage plan

One month into her presidency, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a new initiative to address her country’s housing deficit by building 1 homes and offering zero-interest mortgages, a development first reported by Newsweek.The program is designed to support vulnerable groups, including fe
Read MoreHere’s where economists think the housing market is headed
Housing markets across the country have stalled since mortgage rates began to rise in 2022, but relief may be on the way.That’s according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), whose latest forecast calls for a 9% increase in home sales in 2025 and a further
Read MoreNykia Wright wants to make NAR an association for ‘today and tomorrow’

For Nykia Wright, CEO of the National Association of Realtors, 2025 is going to be all about turning NAR into a trade association for the future while rebuilding relationships with members.“NAR is really focused on rebuilding the association for today and tomorrow,” Wright told NAR members gathered
Read MoreUrban Institute: Zero-down FHA mortgages could expand first-time homeownership

Downpayment assistance programs are available to first-time homebuyers across the country in the form of more than 2,400 such offerings at the local and state levels, but they have not had an appreciable impact on the level of U.S. homeownership.This is why a zero-down Federal Housing Administration
Read MoreStates are making ADUs easier to build. Now it’s up to municipalities to follow suit.

The national housing shortage, the benefits of increased density, an ongoing shift in consumer tastes toward smaller homes closer to where the urban action is, and other factors have pushed state legislators to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units. In 2024 alone, Colorado, Arizona, Massa
Read MoreHousing market pauses for election
Inventory, new listings, sales, and prices all dipped this week. The autumn seasonal decline is upon us. The election took up a lot of peoples’ lives last week, and that obviously delayed some listing and sales activity, plus we’ve had spiking mortgage rates. It’s actually not uncommon for housing a
Read MoreDespite everything, NAR hasn’t lost many members (and its budget reflects that)

The headlines might suggest that National Association of Realtors (NAR) members are struggling to find common ground on many issues. But any hint of division was nowhere to be seen during Monday morning’s NAR Board of Directors meeting.According to NAR president Kevin Sears, 886 directors attended t
Read MoreReal estate industry challenges, change and what to watch in 2025

While 2024 was certainly a challenging year for the real estate industry, 2025 may be a doozy if the Counselors of Real Estate’s (CRE) 2025 Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate report is to be believed. From price expectations to the impact of a Trump presidency, uncertainty is the main driver of to
Read MoreBetter introduces VA refi loan with no appraisal or closing costs

New York-based digital mortgage lender Better.com launched a streamline refinance loan product on Monday that aims to help military veterans and service members save money on long-term interest expenses and closing costs.Better is now offering the well-known Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (I
Read MoreThe future of the MLS may be murky, but brokers still want the data

As a panel of real estate leaders gathered to discuss the future of the MLS at the National Association of Realtors‘ NXT conference in Boston, Errol Samuelson, Zillow‘s chief industry development officer, found himself and his company in a bit different standing than usual with the audience of sever
Read MoreZillow’s mortgage business is growing. Lenders beware

Zillow is moving full speed ahead with an ambitious expansion of its mortgage business, leveraging its housing tech innovations to potentially reshape how modern homebuyers finance homes. In its third-quarter earnings report, Zillow Home Loans revealed an impressive data point: mortgage revenue incr
Read MoreNew technology, old-world style: Zillow reveals 2025's home trends

Housing inventory drops noticeably on election week
The seasonal housing inventory peaks and bottoms have happened later than usual in the past few years. Last week, we saw a noticeable decline in both active inventory and new listings, which isn’t abnormal, but we might have had an election variable here. In the past two years, starting in mid-Novem
Read MoreFannie Mae releases updates on leasehold estates, manufactured homes, fraud prevention

The newly-updated Fannie Mae Selling Guide for November has aimed to modernize special property eligibility and underwriting considerations for leasehold estates, and it has revised the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE)’s project review requirements for properties secured by manufactured homes.T
Read MoreLongbridge parent posts softer Q3 earnings while touting proprietary reverse performance

Ellington Financial, the parent company of top-five reverse mortgage lender and servicer Longbridge Financial, saw its net income attributable to common stockholders fall in the third quarter of 2024 to $16.2 million — down from $52.3 million in Q2 — but company leaders said that the proprietary rev
Read MoreHow will a GOP-controlled government impact retirement policy?

Following the resounding election victory of Donald Trump this week and the retaking of the U.S. Senate by the Republican Party, retirement and tax policy could be significantly impacted following the transfer of power, according to the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA).A political majori
Read MoreGinger Bell and Fobby Naghmi on leadership deficits in the mortgage industry

In the latest episode of the Power House podcast, host Diego Sanchez sits down for a group chat with Fobby Naghmi, senior vice president at Homecomings Mortgage & Equity, and Ginger Bell, founder of Edumarketing. The conversation covers Bell’s and Naghmi’s co-authored real estate and mortgage guideb
Read MoreTrump tariffs would result in homebuilder price increases

Praising tariffs as “the greatest thing ever invented“ is unusual — that title is typically reserved for for sliced bread — but Donald Trump has always been vocal about his trade policies.An impending return to the White House for Trump could raise U.S. homebuilding costs as his proposed tariffs wou
Read MoreWill Trump, Project 2025 kill HUD?

Project 2025 refers to a series of proposals published by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation that would reshape many federal agencies and systems to more closely align with conservative ideology.Now that Donald Trump is once again the president-elect of the United States, and with sever
Read MoreSide files restraining order against Alexander brothers for allegedly moving loan collateral

White-label brokerage Side keeps turning the screws on Official Partners and the Alexander brothers. Side filed a temporary restraining order on Wednesday against Tal and Oren Alexander, accusing the brothers of moving the underlying collateral on a loan that Side extended to Official Partners prior
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