• Connecticut governor signs aging-in-place bill into law

    Connecticut governor signs aging-in-place bill into law,Chris Clow

    Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law on Tuesday that aims to improve the prospects for seniors who seek to age in place in their current homes.The law, which was supported by senior advocacy organization AARP, creates a state registry of home care providers to promote awareness and acc

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  • HUD announces relief for Texas disaster victims

    HUD announces relief for Texas disaster victims,Chris Clow

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced this week that it is extending a 90-day foreclosure moratorium for all Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages to the federal disaster area in Texas stemming from severe weather, tornadoes and flooding that hit sever

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  • Dave Mele exits as Homes.com president

    Dave Mele exits as Homes.com president,Sarah Marx

    Dave Mele, president of Homes.com since 2014, has left CoStar Group to pursue “an opportunity outside of the real estate industry,” he confirmed to Real Estate News on Friday. During his tenure, Mele guided Homes.com through its acquisition by CoStar in 2021 and its emergence as a significant player

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  • Home prices in opportunity zones show mixed trends in Q1 2024

    Home prices in opportunity zones show mixed trends in Q1 2024,Sarah Marx

    Median prices for homes and condominiums in federally designated opportunity zones rose in 49% of areas from fourth-quarter 2023 to first-quarter 2024, according to a report released Thursday by Attom. On a year-over-year basis, however, prices increased in nearly two-thirds of these zones. Attom an

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  • HUD doles out $26M to promote fair housing and combat discrimination

    HUD doles out $26M to promote fair housing and combat discrimination,Chris Clow

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Friday announced the availability of $26 million in funding to be distributed to state and local housing agencies to enforce fair housing practices and to combat discrimination.The money will be distributed via noncompetitive funding for

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  • U.S. Bank appoints new retail lending leader

    U.S. Bank appoints new retail lending leader,Sarah Marx

    U.S. Bank appointed John Hummel to lead its East market for retail home lending. Hummel, who previously led the correspondent and Housing Finance Agency (HFA) business at U.S. Bank, will now oversee a team of 750 sales managers and mortgage loan officers responsible for generating $7 billion in orig

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  • Movement Mortgage names Joe Thompson as regional director

    Movement Mortgage names Joe Thompson as regional director,Sarah Marx

    Movement Mortgage, a multichannel mortgage lender, has appointed Joe Thompson as its new regional director. Thompson, recognized as a HousingWire Rising Star in 2018, will oversee more than 60 loan officers across Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. In his new role, Thompson will also be responsible for

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  • The impact of student loans on buying a home

    The impact of student loans on buying a home,Luke Babich

    Most Americans still view homeownership as a key to building wealth, but for many, that piece of the American dream is on hold or out of reach thanks to the heavy burden of student debt. In fact, according to a recent study, millennials currently struggle with so much debt that 25% worry they won’t

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  • What the new home sales report shows about labor market risk

    What the new home sales report shows about  labor market risk,Logan Mohtashami

    New home sales missed estimates, showing that demand isn’t crashing but not growing much either. However, we need to keep an eye on the housing construction data in this report because it has huge implications for the economic cycle, our recession risk and mortgage rates. As the chart below shows, t

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  • ‘Not HELOC. Not piggyback.’ Freddie Mac exec defends new product proposal amid resistance

    ‘Not HELOC. Not piggyback.’ Freddie Mac exec defends new product proposal amid resistance,Flávia Furlan Nunes

    Freddie Mac’s head of single-family acquisitions, Sonu Mittal, this week defended the government-sponsored enterprise’s proposal to acquire single-family, closed-end second mortgages amid opposition by trade groups that are worried about its impacts on the secondary market. “Six out of 10 borrowers

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  • HECM study examines borrower trends over two decades

    HECM study examines borrower trends over two decades,Chris Clow

    A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) in 2022 aimed to assess the state of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program over a 20-year period.The study, released late last year, examined three core el

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  • NFM CIO Christos Bettios on building AI solutions from scratch

    NFM CIO Christos Bettios on building AI solutions from scratch,Sarah Wheeler

    Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Christos Bettios, chief information officer at NFM Lending, to talk about the company’s private, proprietary GPT that is making his whole team more efficient. Bettios has been at NFM Lending for seven years. He previously worked at US Bank Home Mortgage an

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  • Sidekick announces new partnership with South Florida MLS 

    Sidekick announces new partnership with South Florida MLS ,Sarah Marx

    Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered real estate assistant Sidekick unveiled a partnership with South Florida’s BeachesMLS on Thursday. The collaboration will allow 43,000 agents that serve Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie counties to leverage Sidekick’s integrated datasets and workflows.The coll

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  • Housing costs continue to burden American families: NAHB

    Housing costs continue to burden American families: NAHB,Sarah Marx

    In the first quarter of 2024, 38% of a typical household’s income was needed to make a mortgage payment on a median-priced, new single-family home in the U.S. That’s according to the Cost of Housing Index (CHI) unveiled Thursday by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo. Fo

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  • Newsweek turns eye toward reverse mortgage pros and cons

    Newsweek turns eye toward reverse mortgage pros and cons,Chris Clow

    A reverse mortgage has potential utility for a homeowner in the right situation, but loan terms must be observed closely to remain in good standing and avoid the possibility of foreclosure. This is according to a look at the reverse mortgage product category published by Newsweek.As part of its rece

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  • Peter Knag joins Offerpad as CFO

    Peter Knag joins Offerpad as CFO,Brooklee Han

    After nearly a year of searching, iBuyer Offerpad has a new chief financial officer. The firm announced Thursday that it has pegged Peter Knag for the role, effective June 5.“I am excited to join at such a dynamic time for the company,” Knag said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the t

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  • New York regulator encourages property insurers to offer free loss mitigation

    New York regulator encourages property insurers to offer free loss mitigation,Chris Clow

    The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced on Thursday the publication of a policy recommendation that encourages property insurers to offer free loss-mitigation options for policyholders that would ultimately reduce premium costs.NYDFS Superintendent Adrienne Harris cited the a

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  • Home prices stay elevated as inventory lags: Redfin 

    Home prices stay elevated as inventory lags: Redfin ,Sarah Marx

    The median U.S. home sale price reached a record $387,600 in the four weeks ending May 19, marking a 4% year-over-year increase, according to data released Thursday by Redfin. The pricing surge comes despite a marginal dip in weekly average mortgage rates, which fell from a five-month high of 7.22%

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  • Expect the growth rate of existing home prices to cool down this year

    Expect the growth rate of existing home prices to cool down this year,Logan Mohtashami

    I anticipated solid year-over-year home-price growth in today’s existing home sales report, so I’ve tried my best on social media to inform people that we have a low bar in home-price comps for this report and the next one. This is the context for why the home-price growth data was strong, which too

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  • Are reverse mortgages for purchase a ‘sleeping giant?’ Pros are split

    Are reverse mortgages for purchase a ‘sleeping giant?’ Pros are split,Chris Clow

    According to the most recent annual report to Congress by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for Purchase (H4P) program saw its share of total HECM endorsements in 2023 rise to its highest level since 2019.That’s not saying all that

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