Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 16, 2024
Three sources, who have asked to remain anonymous, have confirmed to HousingWire that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has run out of liability insurance funds. The news about NAR’s insurance predicament began circulating late Wednesday , with industry analyst Rob Hahn highlighting the news in the Thursday edition of his email newsletter NotoriousROB.
Real Estate News
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
A statement of interest filed late Thursday by the Department of Justice savages the proposed MLS PIN settlement, and calls out MLSs for limiting competition.
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Inman
FEBRUARY 16, 2024
With a combined net worth of $125 billion after earnings this week, the mortgage giants remain on a path that could lead to eventual release from government conservatorship if political winds shift.
Eyes on Housing
FEBRUARY 12, 2024
The median age of owner-occupied homes is 40 years old, according to the latest data from the 2022 American Community Survey[1]. The U.S. owner-occupied housing stock is aging rapidly especially after the Great Recession, as the residential construction continues to fall behind in the number of new homes built. New home construction faces headwinds such as rising material costs, labor.
BiggerPockets
FEBRUARY 13, 2024
Now that hundreds of cities and towns across the country are moving to ban or limit short-term rentals, investors who used to make bank off these properties have to readjust their strategies to stay in the game. Here's one way that they're doing it—and it's proving to be just as lucrative.
Mortgagebroker News
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
Industry giants have argued a change could be needed – but regulator shows no sign of budging
Property Appraisal Zone brings together the best content for appraisal professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Real Estate News
FEBRUARY 27, 2024
Keller Williams’ charismatic co-founder kicked off the Family Reunion event with his hot takes on the housing market “winter” and how to get through it.
Inman
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
Broker and reality television legend Ryan Serhant headlines an all-star roster of the industry's most compelling voices for the second-annual Inman Global Real Estate Influencers program.
Eyes on Housing
FEBRUARY 16, 2024
Despite weakness for single-family construction in 2023, townhouse construction recorded the best quarter for starts in more than 17 years. According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the fourth quarter of 2023, single-family attached starts totaled 47,000, which is 27% higher than the fourth quarter of 2022.
BiggerPockets
FEBRUARY 2, 2024
Over the next four years, commercial debt bills will total a whopping $2.8 trillion many of which are balloon payments. It's led to the steepest drop in commercial asset valuations in recent history and created tremendous anxiety amongst investors. Where does the market go from here?
Mortgagebroker News
FEBRUARY 26, 2024
Surging sales ahead of interest rate cuts pose unexpected hurdles
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 28, 2024
Rocket Companies will soon shut down Rocket Pro Originate , a mortgage origination platform for real estate agents, insurance agents, tax professionals and other financial professionals who are also licensed to originate mortgages. According to a copy of an email sent to affected originators this week and reviewed by HousingWire, the Rocket Pro Originate platform — part of the company’s third-party origination channel — is to be sunset by the end of June.
Real Estate News
FEBRUARY 17, 2024
The newest statement from the Department of Justice focuses on one MLS settlement in a specific case but could be a blueprint for the industry as a whole.
Inman
FEBRUARY 28, 2024
The Consumer Federation of America, a watchdog group, examined 43 contracts from 37 states, most from state or local Realtor associations, and found practices it believes worthy of scrutiny.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 10, 2024
So far in 2024, fewer homes are taking price cuts than in 2023, and this trend is on the verge of breaking below the 2023 lows in price cuts percentages. While weekly inventory is still falling, we have year-over-year growth in total active listing and new listings data. This calls into question a mortgage rate lockdown, as mortgage rates are also higher year over year.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 4, 2024
How will mortgage rates impact seasonal inventory in 2024? Is the seasonal bottom going to happen later than I want? Maybe. It’s not what I wanted to see in 2024, but I have to be realistic since we are already in February. In the last four years, we have had abnormal seasonal inventory data, meaning that the spring inventory bottom happens later in the year.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 13, 2024
In January, the number of properties with a foreclosure filing inched up on both a monthly and a yearly basis, according to a report released Tuesday by Attom Data. In total, 33,270 U.S. properties received a default notice, were scheduled for auction or were undergoing bank repossession last month, up 10% from December and up 5% compared to a year ago.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 4, 2024
There was rampant speculation after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting last week about the timing and number of interest rate cuts this year. In a follow-up interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell did not sound like someone who has pivoted. In fact, Powell believes the Fed can wait until it sees more labor damage before cutting the Federal Funds Rate aggressively or moving toward a neutral policy stance, saying again that a March rate cut is “
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 26, 2024
The cost of owning a condominium in Florida has shot up significantly in recent months, prompting a wave of homeowners to offload their properties. The cost of homeowners insurance has surged in Florida as insurance companies have grappled with significant losses due to an increase in natural disasters. The average cost of a policy increased 40% in 2023 alone, according to a report by Redfin.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
Among homeowners who have a mortgage escrow account, only 52% fully understand how the account works, according to survey results released Thursday by property tax services provider LERETA. More than 80% of survey respondents said they know what an escrow account is and its primary purpose — to pay property taxes and other expenses, such as homeowners insurance , flood insurance and mortgage insurance premiums.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 27, 2024
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) this week announced the awarding of more than $14.5 million that will be distributed by public housing agencies (PHAs) across the country in an effort to house veterans. The funds will be distributed by the PHAs through more than 1,400 HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 22, 2024
Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae announced on Thursday the appointment of Peter Akwaboah as executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective May 20, 2024. Akwaboah, who is currently serving as COO for technology and global head of innovation at Morgan Stanley , has nearly 30 years of experience in the financial services industry.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 29, 2024
Mortgage rates continued to trend up this week and dampen homebuyer momentum. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.94% as of Feb. 29, an increase from last week ’s figure of 6.90%, according to Freddie Mac ’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey released on Thursday. Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed rate averaged 6.26% this week, down from 6.29% during the prior week.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 23, 2024
We got a great existing home sales report on Thursday, but is this data already too old? Existing home sales showed a jump in sales, which was anticipated by most as we had positive, forward-looking housing data due to mortgage rates falling from 8.03% to 6.63%. However, the last four weeks have had negative trending data. This is nothing dramatic, but similar to what we saw in 2023 when mortgage rates rose from 5.99% up to 7.25%.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 12, 2024
The worst times for mortgage originations may be over as the market appears to be turning, but it’s still an unaffordable environment for younger borrowers in particular, according to a fourth-quarter 2023 lending report from Maxwell. Loan volume between the third and fourth quarters declined by 21%, but that was far less than the 37% drop from Q3 2022 to Q4 2022, the report showed.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 8, 2024
People have been screaming about a housing bubble crash on social media sites for over 12 years. The truth is, U.S. housing credit looks very different than in 2005, 2006, 2007 or 2008. Homeowners have actually never looked better and the data from the Federal Reserve ‘s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit shows why. Homeowners are not the people we need to be concerned about this time.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 6, 2024
Banks reported having tightened lending standards across almost all categories of residential real estate loans over the fourth quarter of 2023 amid an elevated interest rate environment. There’s some optimism, however. With the central bank expected to cut interest rates this year, banks reported that loan demand should strengthen across residential loan categories in 2024, according to the Fed’s quarterly senior loan officer opinion survey (SLOOS) released on Monday.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 7, 2024
U.S. home prices posted their highest yearly rate of appreciation since January 2023, reaching 5.5% year over year in December, according to CoreLogic ’s Home Price Index. Home prices declined by 0.1% compared to November 2023. Price appreciation slowed greatly over the past year to 3.9%, down from 14.5% in 2022, but is in line with the pre-pandemic rate of 3.9% in 2019.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 7, 2024
Mortgage demand picked up last week as lower interest rates steered homebuyers back into the market, but activity remains weaker than a year ago because of limited inventory. Mortgage applications increased by 3.7% during the week ending Feb. 2 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association ’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 5, 2024
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate surpassed the 7% mark on Monday on the heels of strong economic data and the Federal Reserve signaling that it will move carefully with any future cuts to interest rates. The 30-year conforming fixed mortgage rate was at 7.04% on Mortgage News Daily and 6.91% on HousingWire’s Mortgage Rate Center. It’s the first time since December that the average 30-year fixed rate has eclipsed 7%.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 2, 2024
Redfin is back to offering refunds to homebuyers but this time under a new name. Launched on Thursday, the brokerage’s Sign & Save program provides buyers who sign up to work with a Redfin agent before their second home tour — and who purchase a property with that agent within 180 days of signing the agreement — a refund of 0.25% to 0.5% of the purchase price of the house.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 16, 2024
On average, members of the baby boomer generation saved approximately $4,060 over the course of 2023, lagging behind the average savings levels of every other surveyed generation. This is according to the newest edition of the “Wealth Watch” survey conducted by New York Life Insurance Co. By comparison, millennials (ages 28 to 43 last year) led all age groups with an average savings of about $9,300.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
The preference that older Americans have for aging in place in their own homes is showing up in broader trend data, according to a new report from Redfin. While “homeowner tenure” has fallen slightly since its 2020 peak, the length of time that homeowners are remaining in their properties doubled to 11.9 years last year, up from 6.5 years in 2005, according to a Redfin analysis of median U.S. homeowner tenure by year using county records.
Housing Wire
FEBRUARY 1, 2024
Keller Williams has decided to bow out of the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit. On Thursday, the Gary Keller-helmed brokerage notified the federal court in Missouri that it had entered into a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs in the Sitzer/Burnett suit. The settlement settles all home seller lawsuits nationwide. According to Keller Williams spokesperson Darryl Frost, the firm will pay $70 million as part of the settlement agreement.
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