Housing Wire

JANUARY 28, 2024

Housing demand is up and it’s time to track the spring housing data and see what the selling season will bring. As I always stress, we are working from the lowest bar ever with demand, so let’s add historical context to the data. But, even with mortgage rates higher this year than last year, demand is rising. Purchase application data As we get closer to the end of the first month of 2024, forward-looking purchase application data looks good.

Inventory 520

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Marketing 520

Inman

JANUARY 29, 2024

A buyer with a monthly budget of $3,000 can now purchase a home worth approximately $453,000 — up from $416,000 in October when mortgage rates reached a record of 7.8 percent, according to Redfin.

Buyers 176

Buyers Mortgage Marketing 176

Real Estate News

JANUARY 8, 2024

Kasper had been in the role for just over four months following the resignation of former president Kenny Parcell. Kevin Sears is taking over as president.

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324

Eyes on Housing

JANUARY 8, 2024

The year-over-year (YOY) growth rate for residential building worker wages decelerated to 0.6% in June 2023. Over the past five months, wage growth accelerated moderately and reached 4.0% in November. Overall, average hourly earnings for residential building workers* increased at a relatively slower pace in the past year, compared to the peak rate of 8% in October 2021.

Construction 172

Construction Marketing 172

BiggerPockets

JANUARY 24, 2024

Home prices have grown year over year through the last several months and show no signs of slowing down. Some markets have more momentum than ever and have emerged as early hot spots this year. Here's what you need to know.

Marketing 85

Marketing 85

Mortgagebroker News

JANUARY 29, 2024

Central bank notes initiative will help alleviate pressures on housing market

Housing Market 82

Housing Market Marketing 82

Inman

JANUARY 8, 2024

The National Association of Realtors' leader said she recently received a "threat to disclose a past personal, non-financial matter unless she compromised her position at NAR.

Realtors 199

Realtors 199

Real Estate News

JANUARY 17, 2024

New York Times journalist Debra Kamin talked to Real Estate News about the response to her investigations, why her eXp story “hit differently,” and what’s next.

Real Estate 312

Real Estate 312

Eyes on Housing

JANUARY 31, 2024

NAHB analysis of Census data shows that private residential construction spending rose 1.4% in December, marking three months of gains. It stood at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of $911.7 billion. The 2023 annual spending on private residential construction was $864.9 billion, 5.8% lower than the 2022 annual totals. The monthly increase in total construction spending is attributed to more.

Construction 162

Construction 162

BiggerPockets

JANUARY 31, 2024

Every four years, the SEC weighs in on accredited investor requirements. After loosening the requirements in 2020, more than 18% of U.S. households now qualify, making the SEC worry that there might just be far too much access to accredited-only resources. Here's what you need to know about the possible changes coming.

Investors 84

Investors 84

Mortgagebroker News

JANUARY 24, 2024

Central bank makes eagerly awaited announcement on benchmark rate

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85

Housing Wire

JANUARY 6, 2024

Will the number of homes that take a price cut this year drop below 2023 levels? Yes! If the current trends continue into the strong seasonal pricing period, we will see fewer homes that are discounted before selling. I believe this was the most overlooked housing story of the last year because even as mortgage rates rose all the way to 8% , the home price cut percentage data was always about 4% lower year over year.

Inventory 542

Inventory New Listings Housing Market Mortgage 542

Inman

JANUARY 10, 2024

The defendants point to "legal errors at trial" they say justify setting aside the jury's historic, multi-billion-dollar verdict and giving the defendants another chance to make their case in court.

Legal 193

Legal Brokerage 193

Real Estate News

JANUARY 9, 2024

Anywhere’s Ryan Schneider has been named the most powerful person in this year’s rankings of residential real estate’s movers and shakers.

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315

Eyes on Housing

JANUARY 18, 2024

The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI), a measure of sentiment among professional remodelers, for the fourth quarter posted a reading of 67, increasing two points compared to the previous quarter. Remodelers’ sentiment was quite positive at the end of 2023, when seasonally adjusted for the slowdown that invariably occurs during that part of the year.

Marketing 166

Marketing 166

BiggerPockets

JANUARY 17, 2024

Rates have been falling for the past few months, and signs of the market warming up are already here. These five markets have the highest gains in activity since last year.

Marketing 85

Marketing Mortgage 85

Mortgagebroker News

JANUARY 16, 2024

Surging mortgage interest costs were a key factor

Mortgage 81

Mortgage 81

Housing Wire

JANUARY 13, 2024

Last week, housing inventory grew and the number of price cuts fell, which is expected at this time of the year. I hope the next thing we see is housing inventory grow at the level it typically does in January or February instead of being delayed until March or April. Last year at this time, inventory rose week to week and I was hopeful for a typical spring inventory year, but the seasonal bottom didn’t actually happen until April 14.

Inventory 533

Inventory New Listings Retail Mortgage 533

Inman

JANUARY 4, 2024

Agent "glut" means part-timers are now the majority, leading to "widespread incompetence and pressure to maintain high commission rates," according to the Consumer Federation of America.

Agents 185

Agents Realtors Brokerage 185

Real Estate News

JANUARY 13, 2024

The industry is at a crossroads as lawsuits threaten long-standing policies. For multiple listing services, separating from associations may be the answer.

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295

Eyes on Housing

JANUARY 30, 2024

The Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) reported the U.S. homeownership rate declined to 65.7% in the last quarter of 2023, amid persistently tight housing supply and elevated mortgage interest rates. This is 0.3 percentage points lower from the third quarter reading (66%). Compared to the peak of 69.2% in 2004, the homeownership rate is 3.5 percentage points lower and.

Mortgage 157

Mortgage 157

BiggerPockets

JANUARY 13, 2024

As a real estate investor, you must always remember one thing: every type of investing strategy involves risk. With that in mind, it’s good practice to learn more about low-risk real estate investing strategies. You may come to find that these provide the perfect balance of risk and profit potential.

Real Estate 84

Real Estate Investing Investors 84

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

Lights, camera, lawsuit! A copycat commission lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles. The suit, known as Fierro, after its lead plaintiff Gael Fierro, a Californian home seller, accuses the real estate industry of colluding to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions. It was filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Patrick Thurber, a California home seller, is an additional named plaintiff in the suit.

Realtors 531

Realtors Brokerage Realty Real Estate 531

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

Mortgage rates continued their descent this week to mark their lowest level since May 2023, welcome news for homebuyers who have been waiting on the sidelines for rates to drop. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.6% as of Jan. 11, a decrease from last week’s 6.66%, according to Freddie Mac ‘s Primary Mortgage Market Survey released on Thursday.

Mortgage 530

Mortgage Inventory Retail Construction 530

Housing Wire

JANUARY 23, 2024

Fifty-five percent of surveyed baby boomers plan to remain in their existing homes as they age, but less than a quarter of those surveyed have any plans to renovate their homes to more safely and easily accommodate natural changes that come with aging. This is according to a new report from home improvement services company Leaf Home and market research firm Morning Consult , which enlisted responses from 1,001 baby boomer homeowners (aged 59–77) and 1,001 millennials (aged 27–42) in late Decemb

Renovations 517

Renovations Home Improvement Inventory Housing Market 517

Housing Wire

JANUARY 30, 2024

The U.S. housing market has reached its least affordable point in decades and housing agencies have increasingly rolled out homebuyer assistance programs to tackle this issue. A total of 135 new homebuyer assistance programs were introduced in 2023, a 6% increase over the previous year. This brought the nationwide tally up to 2,294, according to Down Payment Resource’s fourth-quarter Homeownership Program Index (HPI) report.

Landlords 511

Landlords Housing Market Mortgage Insurance 511

Housing Wire

JANUARY 2, 2024

The “ silver tsunami ” — a colloquialism referring to aging Americans changing their housing arrangements to accommodate aging — could have more of an impact on the housing market this year, according to analyst Meredith Whitney in a conversation with Yahoo Finance. “[T]he other major demographic trend you see is the aging of America,” Whitney said.

Housing Market 515

Housing Market Marketing Real Estate Agent Real Estate 515

Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2024

Among the numerous issues that retirement preparation can present to those near the end of their careers, long-term care (LTC) provides an increasingly common discussion point. One potential product that could assist in paying for LTC and its insurance could be a reverse mortgage, according to personal finance publication Kiplinger. LTC is already an expensive prospect and is projected to become a more common necessity as the U.S. population grows older in the coming years.

Mortgage 512

Mortgage Insurance Finance Clients 512

Housing Wire

JANUARY 8, 2024

Top-15 U.S. mortgage lender loanDepot confirmed Monday morning that it is the industry’s latest cyberattack victim. The incident has brought loanDepot’s systems down. The California-based lender, which originated roughly $17 billion in mortgage loans from January to September 2023, said it has launched an investigation with the support of cybersecurity experts.

Technology 512

Technology Mortgage Insurance Business 512

Housing Wire

JANUARY 11, 2024

Inflation came in hotter than expected on Thursday, but we are still talking about rate cuts in 2024! The 10-year yield had a mild reaction to today’s data , increasing a few basis points early. It’s now at 3.98% , a far cry from 5.04% as we saw last year. This, while jobless claims data is still historically low. As I have stressed time and time again, when the market believes the Federal Reserve is done hiking rates, the markets make a big move lower with the 10-year yield and mortgage r

Supply Chain 504

Supply Chain Marketing Mortgage 504

Housing Wire

JANUARY 10, 2024

Despite an uptick in mortgage rates at the beginning of 2024, mortgage demand surged after adjusting for the holiday. Mortgage applications increased 9.9% for the week ending Jan. 5 compared to one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.62% as of Jan. 4, according to Freddie Mac ’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Mortgage 500

Mortgage Government Marketing Finance 500

Housing Wire

JANUARY 5, 2024

Slowing job growth doesn’t mean a recession, but today’s jobs report tells me that the significant job gains we were accustomed to in the early part of the COVID-19 recovery period are ending, which ties nicely to how I thought labor would recover after COVID. Even though the headline number on the report today beat estimates, we are entering a new phase of the economic cycle, which means you need to know where to look to get clues for a recession.

Marketing 500

Marketing Transportation Construction Government 500

Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2024

In the ongoing struggle for attainable housing, one positive development has been the increased availability of funding options for homeowners seeking to incorporate Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) into their properties. A recent survey by Villa noted that some ~60% of rental tenants said that living in an ADU has allowed them to live in a neighborhood they would not otherwise be able to afford — that’s a big deal.

Finance 485

Finance Construction Tenants Renovations 485

Housing Wire

JANUARY 24, 2024

Fannie Mae has announced updates to its HomeReady product, including a temporary $2,500 credit for very low-income purchase borrowers to use for down payment and closing costs. Another step the government-sponsored enterprise took was to enhance the best efforts commitments on HomeReady loans. It allows lenders to lock in margins and reduce hedging costs.

Insurance 479

Insurance Government Mortgage Marketing 479