Housing Wire

MARCH 15, 2024

The National Association of Realtors has agreed to pay $418 million in damages to settle the commission lawsuits. The story was first reported by the New York Times. NAR’s legal counsel approved the settlement agreement early Friday morning. It has yet to be filed in court. Lawyers for the trade organization told the Times that they anticipate the settlement will be filed in the coming weeks, however it will still be subject to court approval.

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Legal Agents Realtors Real Property 540

Housing Wire

MARCH 7, 2024

The White House announced that President Joe Biden will call on lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate to address a series of housing issues in his State of the Union address, which will be delivered to a joint session of Congress and televised nationally on Thursday night. In the address, the president will call for a $10,000 tax credit for both first-time homebuyers and people who sell their starter homes; the construction and renovation of more than 2 million additional home

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Construction Renovations Insurance Landlords 535

Housing Wire

MARCH 2, 2024

The mortgage rate lockdown premise says that if rates rise, inventory can’t grow meaningfully. The idea is that nobody will trade their low mortgage rates to buy another home — even though this happened every week last year. Of course, I have a different view. My podcast partner, Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler, disagrees, along with many others. You can see our debate on this topic here.

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Inventory Mortgage New Listings Housing Market 535

Housing Wire

MARCH 7, 2024

Steve Harney, founder of Keeping Current Matters and a force in real estate for four decades, died suddenly on Sunday, March 4, at age 68. “As we mourn the loss of Steve, we hold tight to the incredible impact he had on agents, our industry, and the fact that his legacy will live on at Keeping Current Matters. Steve’s vision, his principles and his passion for people will always be our compass.

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Real Estate Agent Real Estate Agents Brokerage 105

Housing Wire

MARCH 23, 2024

Mortgage rates had a chance to break to new highs this year, but the Federal Reserve took a moderate tone at the last Fed meeting. We saw the benefit of lower mortgage rates with the last two existing home sales reports, which showed growth. Then mortgage rates rose, facilitating five weeks of negative purchase application data. As rates were hitting year-to-date highs, the fear was that the Fed would go hawkish in their March meeting, which could push mortgage rates toward 8% and tank 2024 dema

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Mortgage Inventory New Listings Housing Market 521

Housing Wire

MARCH 11, 2024

Last fall when people were still expecting mortgage rates to be falling this year, it was common to assume rates would be in the low 6s or 5s this year and people asked me if lower rates would bring a flood of inventory. The suspicion was that there were a bunch of sellers who were waiting to sell: Once rates fell these sellers would come rushing back to this real estate market and we’d finally see inventory grow.

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Inventory Sellers New Listings Real Estate 516

Housing Wire

MARCH 12, 2024

The CPI report came out Tuesday, and the headline number showed a 12-month inflation of 3.2%. The running average of CPI going back to 1914 has been 3.3%. So, what should we take away from this number, seeing that market participants are still worried about 1970s inflation and some don’t want to see any rate cuts this year? Fed presidents and others have cited the fear of 1970s-style entrenched inflation as a reason they hiked rates so fast and are being careful as they consider rate cuts.

Mortgage 514

Mortgage Supply Chain Investors Government 514

Housing Wire

MARCH 26, 2024

Three agents formerly affiliated with Keller Williams Realty — Jerri L. Moulder, David L. Bueker and Robert E. Hill — have taken legal action against the real estate brokerage by filing three separate class-action lawsuits, Inman first reported on Tuesday. The lawsuits contest alterations made to Keller Williams’ profit-sharing program, with one of them seeking a court order to halt further payouts until the case concludes.

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Brokerage Legal Agents Realty 511

Housing Wire

MARCH 25, 2024

Last week was a pretty strong week for all the housing numbers. New supply and sales numbers keep climbing — both weekly and over last year. Home prices had a slight increase this week across the board. What does this means for home prices this spring? As the data comes in each week this year, I’ve been more optimistic about home sales volume growth than for home-price growth.

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New Listings Inventory Contracts Sellers 511

Housing Wire

MARCH 22, 2024

The landscape for home flipping across the country was challenging in 2023 as fewer single-family homes and condominiums were flipped and investment returns on these projects declined. A total of 308,922 single-family homes and condos were flipped in 2023, down 29.3% from the 436,807 flips in 2022. This marked the largest annualized decline for the sector since 2008, according to recently released report from real estate data analytics company Attom.

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Investors Real Estate Investing Marketing 511

Housing Wire

MARCH 3, 2024

First-time homebuyers made up 55% of agency purchase mortgages in 2023, according to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) eMBS data, the highest such share in the 10 years ICE has been tracking the metric. A record 47% of government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) purchase loans in 2023 came from first-time homebuyers, a number that’s been trending gradually higher throughout the past decade.

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Lending Mortgage Buyers Government 514

Housing Wire

MARCH 16, 2024

It’s spring 2024 and we have a Federal Reserve meeting this week. The 10-year yield is at the same critical point as last year before the Fed went hawkish and sent mortgage rates to 8% and the 10-year yield to 5%. Could this happen again? This is the week the balls are all in the Federal Reserve ’s court. I believe it is in the Fed’s interest to keep existing home sales depressed.

Housing Market 511

Housing Market Inventory Marketing New Listings 511

Housing Wire

MARCH 8, 2024

Everyone was waiting to see if this week’s jobs report would send mortgage rates higher, which is what happened last month. Instead, the 10-year yield had a muted response after the headline number beat estimates, but we have negative job revisions from previous months. The Federal Reserve ’s fear of wage growth spiraling out of control hasn’t materialized for over two years now and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9%.

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Marketing Mortgage Transportation Insurance 511

Housing Wire

MARCH 26, 2024

Mortgage rates rose this week as the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note inched up. As of Monday, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was about 4.25%, according to Tradeweb, up from 3.86% at the end of last year. As a result, HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center showed the average 30-year fixed rate for conventional loans at 7.16% on Tuesday, up from 7.07% one week earlier.

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Mortgage Inventory Marketing 508

Housing Wire

MARCH 21, 2024

Today’s existing home sales report was a massive beat , similar to what happened last year in this month. Will this mark the high point for sales this year like it did in 2023? Unless mortgage rates go lower, that’s what we should expect, because that’s what happened last year. When mortgage rates headed lower at the end of 2022 into 2023, we had 12 weeks of positive weekly purchase application data.

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Inventory Housing Market Mortgage Marketing 508

Housing Wire

MARCH 28, 2024

Florida is reckoning with a severe homeowners insurance crisis. The recent surge in both the frequency and intensity of hurricanes that have battered the state has prompted numerous insurers and reinsurers to exit the market , leaving Florida homeowners grappling with skyrocketing premiums and limited coverage options. According to the Insurance Information Institute , this exodus has resulted in Florida homeowners paying an average of nearly $4,000 a year in insurance , which is nearly three ti

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Insurance Design Marketing Legal 505

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

The title insurance and settlement services industry directly generated $30 billion of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, according to a report commissioned by the American Land Title Association that was published on Wednesday. Additionally, the report, conducted by Ernst & Young’s Quantitative Economics and Statistics (QUEST) team, found that the title industry was also directly responsible for 155,000 jobs , and $13 billion and wages and benefits for those employed in the industry

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Insurance Business Finance 508

Housing Wire

MARCH 9, 2024

We survived jobs week and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talking to Congress, with mortgage rates ending the week below 7%. But will mortgage rates keep heading lower? If so, what will this do to inventory levels? Let’s look at this week’s tracker data to get clues for the future. Mortgage rates and the 10-year yield The 10-year yield is the key for all my housing work, so I focus on it religiously.

Mortgage 505

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Housing Market 505

Housing Wire

MARCH 30, 2024

The best housing story in 2024 is that inventory is growing — both active inventory and new listings. With mortgage rates at the current levels, inventory is still below my expectations, but it’s still such a positive story that I had to discuss it on CNBC last week. As we head into April, let’s see where we’re at on the Inventory side as are officially into spring.

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Inventory New Listings Mortgage Housing Market 500

Housing Wire

MARCH 7, 2024

Buoyed by a rise in home prices , U.S. homeowners with mortgages saw their home equity increase by 8.6% year over year in fourth-quarter 2023. Homeowners saw an average increase of slightly more than $24,000 compared to Q4 2022, adding up to a collective gain of $1.3 trillion, according to CoreLogic ’s newest homeowner equity report. Net homeowner equity totaled more than $16.6 billion at the end of 2023.

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Mortgage Real Estate 501

Housing Wire

MARCH 4, 2024

At HousingWire , we have a debate about whether home sellers will freeze up again this year as mortgage rates stay stubbornly high. We’ve had seller growth for 18 weeks in a row. I’ve previously been confident that trend will continue. A couple months ago, when rates were in the 6s still, I suggested that we could see 15% home sales growth this year.

Inventory 501

Inventory Sellers Buyers Real Estate 501

Housing Wire

MARCH 22, 2024

There is no doubt that the cooperative compensation structure changes outlined in the National Association of Realtors’ commission lawsuits settlement agreement will generate massive changes in the real estate industry, but those are not the only changes mandated by the terms of the agreement. Based on NAR’s settlement, agents working with buyers will need a signed buyer representation agreement starting in mid-July, pending final court approval of the settlement.

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Buyers Contracts Real Estate Agents 497

Housing Wire

MARCH 20, 2024

Those too young to remember the wild west of real estate believe that real estate commissions have always been evenly split between seller’s and buyer’s agents, with each receiving a portion of the sale price. This misconception obscures the reality that, historically, buyers lacked formal representation. Initially, the entire commission percentage was pocketed by the listing agent, who solely represented the seller’s interests.

Real Estate 497

Real Estate Buyers Agents Sellers 497

Housing Wire

MARCH 14, 2024

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is being sued in federal court over accusations that it failed to refund nearly $385 million in mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) to borrowers over a period of more than two decades. The lawsuit was previously reported by National Mortgage News and Law360. The proposed class-action lawsuit brought by Florida resident Tricia Sarmiento claims that HUD has failed to issue refunds tied to MIP payments on mortgages backed by the Federal Housi

Insurance 497

Insurance Mortgage Development Legal 497

Housing Wire

MARCH 8, 2024

Consumer sentiment toward housing inched higher for a third consecutive month as respondents feel increasingly optimistic about home selling conditions. Fannie Mae ’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index ( HPSI ), which tracks the U.S. housing market and consumer confidence to buy or sell a home, rose 2.1 points in February to 72.8. The full index is up 14.8 points from one year ago.

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Housing Market Mortgage Development Buyers 497

Housing Wire

MARCH 27, 2024

As first-time homebuyers contemplate their housing options, the financial calculus between renting and owning is essential. Against the backdrop of elevated mortgage rates and soaring home prices , discerning the evolving financial dynamics between renter-friendly and buyer-friendly markets is also paramount. A report released Tuesday by Realtor.com highlights a significant disparity in costs between buying and renting a starter home across the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas.

Marketing 493

Marketing Buyers Mortgage Housing Market 493

Housing Wire

MARCH 26, 2024

Home prices maintained their upward trajectory in the opening month of the year. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted a 6% annual gain in January, up from a 5.6% gain in December , according to a report released Tuesday. It was the seventh consecutive month of annual price growth and the biggest increase since November 2022.

Buyers 493

Buyers Inventory Housing Market Realtors 493

Housing Wire

MARCH 15, 2024

Prospective homebuyers have more options to choose from in the housing market, which could help spur sales this spring. Mortgage demand has been on the rise for two weeks in a row. Inventory has been trending upward for the last two years despite persistently high mortgage rates, Mike Simonsen, president and founder of Altos Research , wrote on Monday.

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New Listings Inventory Home Value Contracts 493

Housing Wire

MARCH 12, 2024

If a couple decides to dissolve their marriage, something that is often described as a “third character” in the proceedings is the couples’ home. Finding a way to divide a home can be financially and emotionally fraught. And it often takes on more significance than other items due to the home typically being a couple’s most valuable asset — and because of the complex emotions often intertwined with it.

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Business Mortgage Clients Finance 493

Housing Wire

MARCH 14, 2024

The dream of homeownership is becoming increasingly elusive for many Americans as both home prices and insurance premiums are on the rise. Over the past decade, home prices have nearly doubled, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national index. Homeowners insurance premiums are climbing too. The average cost of insuring a $300,000 property surged by 12% in 2023, reaching $1,770 per year, according to a recent Insurify report.

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Insurance Buyers Finance Real Estate 492

Housing Wire

MARCH 8, 2024

In remarks made Thursday to the Senate Banking Committee this week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he expects some U.S. banks to fail in the coming months because of declining values and defaults in their commercial real estate loan portfolios. According to reporting by multiple outlets, including The Hill , Powell indicated that the risk is tied to small and midsized banks, and there is no systemic risk to the banking sector posed by the potential collapse of major institutions.

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Real Estate Insurance Lending Retail 493

Housing Wire

MARCH 5, 2024

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday announced a series of new initiatives designed to increase the supply of affordable housing across the country. There are three core provisions of the plan. They include the reallocation of funds originally earmarked for relief from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for affordable housing construction, as well as new provisions for the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program to clarify the use of such fu

Insurance 493

Insurance Construction Government Design 493

Housing Wire

MARCH 28, 2024

Seemingly forever, the average time between reaching a sales agreement and closing on that property has hovered around 45 days — a month and a half. It’s not something consumers think about much when they set out to buy a first home or plan to “upsize” to accommodate life changes. Instead, they think about finding a home in a great neighborhood or perhaps in a good school district.

HOA 488

HOA Property Management Real Estate Agent Technology 488

Housing Wire

MARCH 28, 2024

One of the most critical moments in any race is the very beginning. A mistake at the start can snatch away a win before the race is even underway. Any coach will tell you that springing into action the moment the shot is fired is a critical success factor for any athlete. A race is a useful analog for the mortgage business, especially as it relates to the refinance business.

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Mortgage Technology Tools Business 488