2025

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California will require home insurers to offer policies in high-risk wildfire areas

Housing Wire

The California Department of Insurance unveiled a new regulation this week that aims to increase homeowners insurance coverage in areas prone to wildfires , a response to the recent pullback in policies by several major insurers. Announced by California insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara on Monday, the regulation is under administrative review and is set to take effect by the end of January, according to reporting by The Associated Press (AP).

Insurance 523
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HUD Grants Millions to Help End Homelessness, Prevent Evictions

Appraisal Buzz

As the New Year settles in, unfortunately, homeownership and financial stability are still a worry for millions of hard-working Americans. Through the Eviction Protection Grant Program (EPGP), a first-of-its-kind federal program created to increase the availability of legal services to tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) granted $40 million in funding to 21 recipients to support housing stability and prevent evictions and homeless

Tenants 468
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Real estate trends to watch in 2025

Sacramento Appraisal Blog

Whats the housing market going to do in 2025? Nobody has a crystal ball, but here are some things on my mind. Scroll quickly by topic or digest slowly. Anything to add? UPCOMING SPEAKING GIGS: 1/15/25 Mike & Joel Event (free online (register Eventbrite)) 1/16/25 Sac Real Producers event (details TBA) 1/22/25 Windermere El Dorado […] The post Real estate trends to watch in 2025 first appeared on Sacramento Appraisal Blog.

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Mortgage rates fall after remarks by Fed President Waller

Housing Wire

The 10-year yield and mortgage rates have been on a wild ride lately, even testing my top-end forecast at 7.25%, but today, the 10-year yield fell after remarks by Fed President Chris Waller about whether the Fed would do even more rate cuts than the market was anticipating. His statement on this, in a CNBC interview : If inflation continues on this path through the beginning of 2025, it’s reasonable to think that possibly rate cuts could happen in the first half of the year.” This w

Mortgage 511
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Unlock The Blueprint: How To Construct A Better Payment Workflow

Speaker: Timothy Allsopp

Payment challenges often lead to delayed projects, financial bottlenecks, and strained relationships. With construction projects becoming more complex, outdated processes are no longer sustainable. By refining financial workflow, companies can improve cash flow, reduce error, and foster trust between stakeholders. Discover practical strategies for redesigning payment systems to overcome workflow challenges while creating a smoother, more reliable process for contractors and subcontractors alike.

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Why new home sales are disappointing, despite beating estimates

Housing Wire

Todays new home sales report beat market expectations, just like last weeks existing home sales report. However, a detailed analysis of the data explains why housing permits continue to remain at recession-level figures. Builders are struggling to get clarity on how many homes they can sell in this rate environment in the future. Without more clarity on mortgage rates , substantial growth in housing permits is unlikely.

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LA fires upend rental market as residents scramble for housing

Housing Wire

Several fires burning more than 45 square miles in the Los Angeles area have forced more than 100,000 residents from their homes and killed five people, The Associated Press reported on Thursday. Nearly 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed, with many displaced residents scouting for rental properties and temporary shelter.

Marketing 501
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Why didn’t we see a national home-price correction in 2024?

Housing Wire

Existing home sales ended the year on a positive note , which aligns with our weekly Housing Market Tracker data, but something surprising is that home prices firmed up late in the year as well. We observed a shift in the forward-looking data starting in the summer, which continued throughout the year. Notably, we compared the data from 2022 and 2023 and noticed positive year-over-year data starting in October 2024, which you can see in the chart below.

Inventory 482
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Housing resources and help for victims of the LA fires

Housing Wire

Real estate and mortgage firms are stepping up to help housing professionals and the Southern California community as wildfires ravage the area. Here’s a roundup of the companies and people offering help, which will be updated with new information as it becomes available. Help for those in the community Coldwell Banker Realty in Southern California, which is affiliated with Anywhere , created a Facebook group page for its network to coordinate a wide variety of needs from short- and long-t

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Seattle leaders struggle to agree on a path forward for housing

Housing Wire

This week, the Seattle City Council had its first meeting of 2025 and housing was a key topic of discussion. But if the meeting itself was any indication, determining a path forward for the citys severe housing shortage will be a struggle as elected leaders attempt to ascertain a sustainable plan for the next decade, according to reporting by The Seattle Times.

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Need Curated Pre-foreclosure Lists to Generate New Real Estate Leads? Trellis Has the Data!

Trellis is a state trial court research and analytics platform that provides Real Estate Professionals (Buyers, Foreclosure, Loan Modification, etc.) with LEADS on Pre-Foreclosures, Lis Pendes, Distressed Assets and more — to help uncover **new** opportunities and grow their business. The process is quick and easy — and all in real time. Trellis will supply you with a link to the relevant dockets, a Leads sheet and access to its UI where applicable.

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Higher insurance premiums are a shoo-in after the LA wildfires

Housing Wire

As wildfires tear through Southern California and firefighters battle winds up to 100 mph, tens of thousands of residents have evacuated. The looming impacts on real estate and insurance are also at the forefront of Californians minds. According to Anthony Marrone, the fire chief for Los Angeles County , the wildfires have torched more than 1,000 structures, killing at least two people and injuring several more.

Insurance 418
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Single-family rentals are more expensive than apartments — and the gap is growing

Housing Wire

Single-family rental ( SFR ) homes are now priced 20% higher than the typical apartment, according to Zillow s rental market report for December 2024. This is the largest difference ever recorded by the real estate portal as the pricing gap has grown considerably from pre-pandemic levels. Zillow analyzed the 50 largest U.S. metro areas and found that the typical asking rent for a single-family home reached $2,174 per month in December.

Inventory 448
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How 7% mortgage rates will change housing for a decade

Housing Wire

Heading into the 2025 housing market, we havent had this many homeowners with mortgage rates over 6% since 2016. According to the latest FHFA data , as of Q3 2024, 17.2% of outstanding mortgages, around 8.7 million borrowers, carry a mortgage with an interest rate over 6%. In the last decade, as more and more homebuyers financed their purchases with mortgage rates in the 4s or lower, an interesting thing happened: We held on to these homes longer and resold them less often.

Mortgage 488
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New-home sales hit highest level since 2021

Housing Wire

New home sales continue to be a bright spot in a dismal housing market. The December report from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development shows new-home sales registering at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 698,000, good for a 6.7% rise year over year and 3.6% higher than November. Even better, new home sales for the calendar year 2024 are estimated at 683,000, which is 2.5% more than 2023 and the highest sales have been since 2021.

Inventory 476
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More first-time buyers rely on mortgage rate buydowns to afford homes

Housing Wire

Higher mortgage rates are forcing many first-time homebuyers to adopt a “wait-and-see” approach to the market. According to HomeLight ‘s Top Agent Insights report released this week, real estate agents are feeling this and are being forced to switch up tactics to attract buyers. HomeLight is an Arizona -based real estate platform designed to connect agents with clients.

Buyers 475
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Where Is Housing Inventory Rising the Most?

Appraisal Buzz

The U.S. has experienced two decades of slow but steady housing market growth, paired with inventory growth that has suffered through both the Great Recession and the pandemic. Only now is it returning to 2006-2007 levels, with a typical annual increase of over 1%. A new study by StorageCafe analyzed data from nearly 500 cities from the past 18 years to determine the cities with the fastest growing housing markets, and the South was a clear winner.

Inventory 418
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December jobs report comes in stronger than expected

Housing Wire

While the unemployment rate was up compared to the start of the year, the job market ended the year up, with 256,000 jobs added to the economy in December according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Unemployment finished the year at a rate of 4.1%, down from 4.2% the month prior. The unemployment rate has hovered at 4.1% or 4.2% for the past seven months.

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Mortgage demand drops 22% during holidays as rates move higher

Housing Wire

Rising mortgage rates suppressed applications in the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) final mortgage applications survey index of 2024, released on Thursday. Unsurprisingly, application volume dropped significantly even with a seasonal adjustment to account for the holidays. Mortgage demand declined 21.9% from two weeks earlier during the week ending Dec. 27, the MBA reported.

Mortgage 468
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Pending home sales limped to the end of 2024

Housing Wire

Pending home sales ended the year on a down note, according to data published on Thursday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Compared to a month prior, contract signings fell 5.5% in December, with the Pending Home Sales Index coming in at a reading of 74.4. An index reading of 100 is equal to the level of contract signings in 2001. Annually, pending home sales were down 5.0% compared to a year prior in December.

Contracts 433
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Housing Affordability Stabilizes

Appraisal Buzz

According to a new study from Redfin , a household making a median U.S. income of $83,782 in 2024 wouldve had to spend 41.8% of their earnings on monthly housing costs if they bought a $429,734 median-priced U.S. home. Thats a slight improvement from 42.2% in 2023, but is considerably less affordable than the typical share of 30% or lower recorded throughout the 2010s.

Inventory 431
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CFPB sues Vanderbilt, a Berkshire Hathaway lender, over risky home loans

Housing Wire

Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance , part of Warren Buffetts conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway , has been accused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) of manipulating underwriting standards and setting borrowers up to fail in manufactured home loans. The consumer watchdog on Monday filed a lawsuit in a U.S. district court in Tennessee against Vanderbilt for purported violations of the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z.

Finance 448
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Housing Rights Initiative files massive discrimination case in Illinois

Housing Wire

The Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) is taking aim at 165 real estate agents, brokerage firms and landlords in its latest series of lawsuits filed in Chicago. The group claims that this is the largest housing discrimination case in Illinois history. The lawsuits, filed on Monday, are the result of an undercover investigation conducted by HRI. In total, the housing watchdog group filed 176 complaints against 165 defendants with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Landlords 418
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Climate risk could take $1.5 trillion out of U.S. real estate

Housing Wire

Recent natural disasters such as the LA wildfires show that climate change risks can shift the real estate and mortgage industries on a dime. And these changes could be extremely costly. According to a new study, climate-induced shifts could significantly lower property values over time. But this could have a double-edged effect, depending on the market.

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Tight inventory is challenging Illinois’ ‘steady Eddie’ housing market

Housing Wire

In 2024, more people moved out of Illinois than into the Prairie State. According to the National Movers Study conducted by United Van Lines , 60% of moves in Illinois last year were outbound, which was the second-highest percentage of outbound moves among all states. The most popular reasons for relocating out of state were family (cited by 25.9% of respondents), jobs (20.7%) and retirement (20.3%).

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Realtor.com: HOA fees are on the rise among all home types

Housing Wire

Mortgage and property tax payments are not the only expenses that prospective homeowners need to consider. Homeowners associations (HOAs) are commonplace, and more of them are requiring owners to pay up, according to a survey by Realtor.com. Realtor.com’s report found that 40.5% of listings in 2024 had some sort of HOA fee and these expenses became even more costly.

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Foreclosures are drying up — and it’s showing in sales data

Housing Wire

Foreclosure activity has declined significantly since the housing crisis of the late 2000s, and distressed home marketplace Auction.com reported this week that it expects the number of foreclosure-auction sales in 2025 to drop to the second-lowest total on record. California-based Auction.com published its 2025 Distressed Market Outlook report on Tuesday, which included three scenarios for this years expected tally of auction sales.

Retail 416
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LA Wildfires Cause Billions in Property Damage & Capital Losses

Appraisal Buzz

According to a recent UCLA Anderson Forecast analysis, the two biggest disasters that devastated Los Angeles County may have resulted in between $95 and $164 billion in total property and capital losses, with an estimated $75 billion in insured losses. Economists Zhiyun Li and William Yu wrote the research, which projects a 0.48% decline in county-level GDP in 2025, or around $4.6 billion.

Insurance 407
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Mr. Cooper agreed to a $5.8 million settlement. Who is eligible for relief?

Housing Wire

Nationstar Mortgage currently doing business as Mr. Cooper has agreed to settle a lawsuit which alleges that the company violated mortgage servicing laws and forced borrowers into foreclosure. Attorneys general and mortgage regulators in 50 states, as well the District of Columbia, agreed to a settlement that requires Mr. Cooper to provide $5.8 million in payments to eligible borrowers.

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Understanding the Surge in Title Fraud—And How to Prevent It

Appraisal Buzz

This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of MortgagePoint magazine, online now. Title fraud, though not new, recently gained national attention when a Missouri woman attempted to fraudulently auction Elvis Presleys Graceland estate. She falsely claimed the property was collateral for an unpaid loan, using fake loan documents and a fabricated foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper.

Legal 397
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Home-price growth ramped up in Q4, Fannie Mae report shows

Housing Wire

Fannie Mae ‘s latest Home Price Index (HPI) shows single-family home prices increased 5.8% from Q4 2023 to Q4 2024, a surprising increase from the previous quarter’s downwardly revised annual growth rate of 5.4%. Quarterly, home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7% in Q4 2024, an increase from the downwardly revised 1.2% growth rate in Q3 2024.

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The state of US homeownership: Younger buyers hold the key

Housing Wire

Today, the Census Bureau reported the homeownership rate at 65.7%. Are we becoming a renter nation like many people are saying? Lets look at the data. Household formation Let’s first talk about household formation. I have a simple model (even more appropriate before Valentines Day). My American housing demographic model shows that Americans: Rent Date Mate Get married 3.5 years after marriage, we have kids and dual-income households buy bigger homes to live in.

Buyers 386
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Did home sales momentum fizzle in December?

Housing Wire

The New Years week was expected to be slow, so it’s no surprise that new listings and sales are down. Those will start rebounding in next weeks data. The Christmas and New Year’s holidays fell on Wednesdays this year, which messes up two full weeks in terms of getting home sales done and tracking the numbers. At the same time, mortgage rates jumped back over 7%.

Inventory 448
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Appraiser at center of Rocket Mortgage lawsuit has license revoked

Housing Wire

The Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers executed a Stipulation and Final Agency Order for public censure, fines, and revocation of the license for Maksym Mykhailyna, according to an announcement in early January. Mykhailyna, who is based in Denver, had previously held both a Colorado certified residential appraiser license and a controlling appraiser license.

Appraisal 418