Housing Wire

APRIL 24, 2024

Two former New Jersey -based mortgage loan originators have been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger. Christopher Gallo has been noted as a top-producing loan originator, at one point being Scotsman Guide ‘s fourth-ranked LO in the country.

Mortgage 543

Mortgage Retail Finance Investing 543

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 8, 2024

The Dawn of a New Appraisal Era In the ever-evolving realm of technology, few innovations have garnered as much attention and promise as blockchain. Originally conceived as the underlying foundation for cryptocurrencies, blockchain’s potential extends far beyond digital currencies. One of its most intriguing applications lies in the domain of appraisals.

Technology 418

Technology Appraisal Valuation Supply Chain 418

Housing Wire

APRIL 15, 2024

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not count buyer’s agent commissions as part of their allowable interested party contributions (IPCs), according to announcements from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) on Monday. The GSEs noted that this guidance was not an update to their selling guides but a clarification on the treatment of seller-paid real estate agent fees.

Buyers 532

Buyers Agents Real Estate Agent Sellers 532

Housing Wire

APRIL 22, 2024

After a couple weeks of big jumps for mortgage rates , we’re still seeing relatively surprising strength in the housing market. In fact, some measures of home prices are now at their all-time highs, having surpassed the previous peak of two years ago. We’re watching a few key factors to see if homebuyers are backing off in the face of increased mortgage rates.

Inventory 531

Inventory New Listings Sellers Contracts 531

Housing Wire

APRIL 17, 2024

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) this week announced a new product proposal for government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Freddie Mac that would allow the agency to purchase certain single-family, closed-end second mortgages. This would offer borrowers an alternative way to access their home equity without surrendering a first mortgage with a more favorable interest rate than is currently available.

Mortgage 529

Mortgage Government Design Finance 529

Housing Wire

APRIL 3, 2024

Millennials replaced baby boomers as the largest group of homebuyers in 2023. The combined share of millennials, both younger (ages 25 to 33) and older (ages 34 to 43), made up a combined 38% of the home purchase market last year, up from 28% in 2022, according to the 2024 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Marketing 526

Marketing Sellers Buyers Realtors 526

Housing Wire

APRIL 27, 2024

Active weekly housing inventory growth slowed slightly last week, but it’s still running at a healthier clip than in 2023. I have a simple model with mortgage rates being above 7.25%: weekly inventory data should grow between 11,000-17,000 per week. Last year, we never hit that target. We have now seen it for two weeks as inventory grew by 13,247. Weekly housing inventory data We’ve now had back-to-back weeks of healthy housing inventory growth and spring 2024 is much healthier than spring 2023

Inventory 514

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 514

Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2024

New home sales have been one of the brighter housing stories since the home sales crash in 2022 — as we can see in the chart below, new home sales have been able to grow since then. This is one reason why the homebuilder stocks have done so well since November of 2022. The mistake some people made here was that in 2021 and 2022, some people believed housing was overbuilt and lacked the demographic demand to get sales to rise from such low levels in 2022.

Inventory 514

Inventory Construction Mortgage Buyers 514

Housing Wire

APRIL 20, 2024

Housing inventory finally hit my target level of growth last week with mortgage rates now over 7.25% , something I couldn’t get all last year. Of course, what is different this year versus last year is that new listing data is growing yearly instead of trending at the lowest levels recorded in history. This is something I talked about last week on Yahoo Finance.

Inventory 514

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Finance 514

Housing Wire

APRIL 4, 2024

Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision Michael Barr said the central bank is taking “a very thoughtful approach” to the Basel III rules (aka the Basel endgame), which would significantly increase bank capital requirements and, if implemented, affect the mortgage industry. “We gave the public extra time to comment on the rule because it was really complex.

Real Estate 513

Real Estate Training Mortgage Marketing 513

Housing Wire

APRIL 16, 2024

Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made statements at the Washington Forum that indicate there will be no rate cuts anytime soon because the economy and the labor market are too strong with sticky inflation. This is a change from previous statements where the Fed talked about the rate cuts it expected to make this year — although that timeframe has changed several times.

Retail 511

Retail Marketing Housing Market Mortgage 511

Housing Wire

APRIL 29, 2024

The weekly volume of new listings is now higher than at anytime last year. It’s still April, so there could be as many as eight more weeks of seller growth in the spring housing market. And seller growth is happening pretty much everywhere across the country, with Florida and Texas leading the way. There’s two ways to interpret these trends. The bearish take is that there are many more sellers than buyers and inventory is rising.

Sellers 508

Sellers Marketing Inventory Contracts 508

Housing Wire

APRIL 9, 2024

Baby boomers are exhibiting an overwhelming desire to age in place in their own homes, but their children — largely members of Generation X — are also making their desires felt by seeking out homes that can accommodate their needs as they get older, according to a recent report from the New York Times. Citing 2021 data from the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies that showed 88% of adults 65 and older are aging in place, many members of the following generation — primarily born b

Buyers 511

Buyers Construction Realtors Housing Market 511

Housing Wire

APRIL 8, 2024

The lack of affordable housing in the United States is well-documented in the nation’s urban markets, where it is contributing to the swelling ranks of the homeless. That same dire need for affordable housing for the least prosperous among us, however, also is a serious problem in rural America — home to nearly 70 million Americans. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers one of the main programs providing housing for low-income households in the rural stretches of this country — w

Tenants 511

Tenants Finance Construction Government 511

Housing Wire

APRIL 18, 2024

Existing home sales fell in today’s report , which isn’t surprising, but one headline that shocked some people was that home prices are still up year over year, even with higher inventory and higher mortgage rates. From NAR : The median existing home price for all housing types in March was $393,500, an increase of 4.8% from the previous year ($375,300).

Inventory 505

Inventory Housing Market New Listings Buyers 505

Housing Wire

APRIL 13, 2024

Mortgage rates headed higher last week after the CPI inflation report , but now, with news of a wider war in the Middle East, should we expect even higher rates? Some argue that money will go into the safety of the bond market, while others say a wider war can lead to higher inflation and higher rates. The week ahead will answer some of those questions early on. 10-year yield and mortgage rates There is nothing good to report on mortgage rates from last week.

Inventory 505

Inventory Mortgage New Listings Retail 505

Housing Wire

APRIL 26, 2024

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have settled on new energy-efficiency standards for the construction of new single-family and multifamily homes. This fulfills a requirement laid out in a 2007 law that directs the departments to adopt the most recently published energy-efficiency standards following reviews by the U.S.

Construction 501

Construction Law Development Finance 501

Housing Wire

APRIL 26, 2024

In February 2024, the national delinquency rate for residential mortgages stood at 2.8%, marking an 0.2 percentage-point decrease from February 2023. The rate remained unchanged from January 2024, according to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights report. The data provider examined all stages of delinquencies to gain a complete view of the mortgage market and loan performance health.

Mortgage 501

Mortgage Marketing 501

Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2024

Three of the biggest topics in housing right now are mortgage rate movements tied to Federal Reserve policymaking, the day-to-day moves in key housing data and forward-looking trends for the housing market. This week at The Gathering by HousingWire in Scottsdale, Arizona, these topics were tackled in separate sessions by HousingWire analyst Logan Mohtashami , Altos Research founder and president Mike Simonsen, and Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather, respectively.

Inventory 501

Inventory Housing Market Sellers Marketing 501

Housing Wire

APRIL 5, 2024

Today’s jobs report beat estimates , but the internals show the labor market is softening, as the Federal Reserve wants. The data shows that wage growth is cooling down and the job opening quits rate is below pre-COVID-19 levels. This bodes well for those hoping to see a soft landing, and for those hoping for lower mortgage rates. The 10-year yield has had a wild ride today, but now is an excellent time to look at my macro take on the labor market and explain what the Fed is looking for wi

Marketing 501

Marketing Mortgage Construction Government 501

Housing Wire

APRIL 30, 2024

Home prices were near an all-time high in February. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted a 6.4% annual gain in February, up from a 6% gain in January, according to the newest report released Tuesday. It was the largest annualized increase recorded since November 2022. On an annual basis, the 10-city composite index grew by 8%, up from 7.4% the previous month.

Inventory 497

Inventory Realtors Buyers Marketing 497

Housing Wire

APRIL 5, 2024

Ginnie Mae this week issued a public notice to its issuer partners warning of an observation of higher prepayments in some of its mortgage-backed securities (MBS) programs, reminding issuers that a violation of its requirements could result in punitive action. In a prior All Participants Memorandum (APM) issued in December 2017 , Ginnie Mae described how it monitors prepayments in its MBS programs.

Government 501

Government Mortgage Marketing 501

Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2024

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) can breathe a small sigh of relief. The trade group’s nationwide settlement of the commission lawsuits has passed its first hurdle as Judge Stephen R. Bough, who oversaw the Sitzer/Burnett lawsuit , granted preliminary approval to NAR’s settlement on Tuesday. While the agreement still must receive final approval from the court, the industry is now one step closer to operating under the new rules outlined in the settlement agreement.

Realtors 497

Realtors Agents Buyers Legal 497

Housing Wire

APRIL 21, 2024

California Association of Realtors CEO John Sebree has departed the trade organization. In an announcement on Saturday, CAR said that Sebree was resigning to “pursue other opportunities. “On behalf of CAR’s leadership team and the Board of Directors, I’d like to thank John for his contributions and service as CEO and State Secretary for our organization.

Realtors 497

Realtors Real Estate Business Agents 497

Housing Wire

APRIL 10, 2024

Mortgage rates shot up today as the CPI data came in just a bit hotter today — 0.1% more than estimates on a month-to-month basis. That’s not much, but it’s high enough to take away one of the rate cuts we expected in 2024. I view rate-cut pricing being tied more to the 2-year yield than the 10-year yield. Today, we saw a noticeable bounce in the 2-year yield.

Insurance 497

Insurance Marketing Mortgage Housing Market 497

Housing Wire

APRIL 11, 2024

Many real estate executives and analysts believe that the Department of Justice , now with the green light to reopen its investigation into the National Association of Realtors , will shake up the civil commission lawsuit settlement agreement. But legal experts are not as certain. Now unshackled , the DOJ could file a statement on interest in the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit and express concerns about the terms of NAR’s settlement agreement.

Real Estate 497

Real Estate Law Realtors Legal 497

Housing Wire

APRIL 18, 2024

Wire fraud prevention firm CertifID and big four title firm Old Republic have entered into a strategic agreement to prevent mortgage payoff fraud , according to an announcement on Thursday. Mortgage payoff fraud occurs when a title company mistakenly sends payoff funds to a fraudulent bank account after receiving wire instructions that appear to be from the mortgage servicer.

Real Estate 493

Real Estate Insurance Mortgage Agents 493

Housing Wire

APRIL 17, 2024

Expect 2024 to be mildly better than 2023 with mortgage rates falling in the second half of the year, housing experts opined in their forecasts at the end of the year. Cuts to the Federal funds rate (and subsequently to mortgage rates) are imminent, traders enthused after December’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee in which committee members predicted three rate cuts in 2024.

Mortgage 493

Mortgage Brokerage Real Estate Tenants 493

Housing Wire

APRIL 16, 2024

When they say housing leads the U.S. economy into and out of a recession, they’re correct, as housing starts fall into a recession and rise when we are recovering. Economic cycles follow a familiar pattern, however, each one is unique in its way. In 2022, many recessionary red flags popped up. However, after Nov. 9, 2022 , a critical recessionary data line changed as mortgage rates fell, new home sales grew, builders bought down rates and the cycle moved on.

Construction 493

Construction Mortgage Marketing Housing Market 493

Housing Wire

APRIL 8, 2024

With the Easter holiday last week, data for housing inventory , new listings and the pace of new contracts started all took a breather from their growth pace. Each of those notched down from a week ago and compared to a year ago. This is a holiday effect and it should all be reversed back onto the year’s growth trend by next Monday’s report. Here’s how 2024 is shaping up: There are now more listings, more active inventory and more sales than a year ago.

Inventory 493

Inventory Contracts New Listings Sellers 493

Housing Wire

APRIL 6, 2024

Weekly housing inventory data — both active inventory and new listings — are prone to one-week moves that deviate from a trend, especially if people are going Easter egg hunting. So, the fact that active inventory and new listings data fell last week isn’t a big deal. Although I expect some of the weekly data to rebound next week as a result, growth in active and new listings is still trending slower than I thought would happen in 2024.

Inventory 493

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Housing Market 493

Housing Wire

APRIL 1, 2024

The recent settlement involving the National Association of Realtors and major real estate firms revolves around the practice of “broker cooperation,” where agents representing sellers share commissions with agents representing buyers. Proponents of the lawsuits argue that this customary practice inflates commissions , and believe that buyers and sellers should pay their agent representation separately.

Sellers 493

Sellers Real Estate Agents Buyers 493

Housing Wire

APRIL 30, 2024

As the July deadline for the implementation of the business practice changes outlined in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement approaches, the trade organization is looking to iron out some details about buyer broker agreements. Under the terms of the settlement agreement , agents will have to have a written agreement with a client in order to work with them as a buyer’s agent.

Buyers 488

Buyers Open Houses Sellers Agents 488

Housing Wire

APRIL 26, 2024

HomeServices of America , the last remaining brokerage defendant in the landmark Sitzer/Burnett antitrust commission case , has agreed to pay $250 million in damages to settle lawsuits that will change agent compensation across America. The New York Times first reported the story. The deal comes just days after the federal judge overseeing the commission case in Missouri approved a preliminary settlement that will see the National Association of Realtors and multiple other residential brokerages

Brokerage 488

Brokerage Agents Real Estate Buyers 488