housing wire

The shift to AI-powered technology is rapidly taking over the mortgage industry with leaders turning to machine learning to increase efficiency amid COVID-19. With the move toward a remote workforce and the real estate market booming, this technology is an

President Donald Trump on Sunday officially signed the second COVID-19 relief and government stimulus bill, after a back-and-forth with Congress on the amount of money that will be sent directly to consumers. The $2.3 trillion bill gives $600 in direct

Although I had pockets of joy in 2020, these moments were subsumed in a haze of stress, uncertainty and fear for our country. And, at times, I have found it difficult to keep these emotions from clouding my economic thinking.

Real estate agents across the U.S. have been busy as a result of the pent-up demand from homebuyers due to COVID-19. From facing uncertainty in March from COVID-19-related shutdowns, to seeing home sales skyrocket through the summer into fall, it

The average U.S. mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan fell one basis point this week to 2.66% – the lowest rate in the Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey’s near 50-year history. This week’s mortgage rate broke the previous record set on

Home services tech startup Porch.com made its debut on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange Thursday morning at a valuation of $523 million. The software firm, which merged with special purpose acquisition company Proptech Acquisition Corp., opened trading on Thursday at $15

In the wake of the new financial stimulus bill, the American Land Title Association looked back at the thousands of jobs that have been saved so far by the Paycheck Protection Program. This week Congress passed a $900 billion stimulus

Daryl FairweatherRedfin Chief Economist This is the second installment of our economist Q&A series of the top housing market forecasts for 2021 that focus on everything from home sales to mortgage rates. To help provide as much guidance as possible

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issues around affordable housing and access to it. In particular, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted housing opportunities for individuals and communities of color. Millions of jobs have been lost, and a lot of those

Sales of newly built homes occurred at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 841,000 in November – 11% below October’s 945,000 revised rate, the Census Bureau reported on Wednesday. Despite a double-digit decline, November’s numbers are still nearly 21% higher than

Reports on housing data are headline-driven, and headlines are designed to cause folks to overreact in both positive and negative ways. We’ve seen our share of hyperbolic headlines in the housing reports this year, and for that reason, I have

Multifamily property owners who are struggling to make mortgage payments due to the coronavirus pandemic now have a reprieve through the end of March for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced on

Despite the pandemic, incredibly, the housing market has surpassed all expectations in 2020. Applications to purchase a home hit a low point in the spring due to stay-at-home orders and mandated business closures, but have rebounded swiftly. As of the

The impact of COVID on the real estate market is significant and has forever changed the way our industry operates. This change, while disruptive and uncomfortable for some, has provoked the rapid adoption of real estate technology, the likes of

LoanDepot and Brookfield Residential announced on Wednesday the creation of a joint venture, BRP Home Mortgage. BRP will deliver a streamlined mortgage experience for Brookfield Residential homebuyers, said Dan Peña, executive vice president of national joint ventures for loanDepot. Homebuyers

Borrowers looking to refinance their VA and FHA loans contributed to another uptick in mortgage applications for the week ending Dec. 18, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage applications jumped 0.8% a week after the 30-year

New York-based mortgage lender InterContinental Capital Group plans to make a big investment in Charlotte, North Carolina. The lender will add 500 jobs in Charlotte over the next five years as a part of a $5.8 million capital investment, North

The next time you apply for a mortgage, or your lender services that loan or sells it on the secondary market, you might be helping to disrupt an industry. That’s because the entire transaction, or at least parts of it,

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) took another step in its quest to remove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship on Tuesday, seeking public comment on a rule that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop plans

In recent articles, I have written that although current sales data for the U.S. housing market has outperformed expectations, I expected these upward trends to moderate. Growth in home sales in recent months, I proposed, was primarily due to the

Retail lender Movement Mortgage has invested $200 million to expand its nonprofit Movement Foundation, and to accelerate the development of its growing charter school network. The investment will also aide in the development of adjacent affordable housing and health clinics in

The housing and mortgage industry welcomed yesterday’s announcement of a second round of stimulus payments to citizens, set at $600 per person and potentially arriving as early as next week, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnunchin. But representatives also called

Adoption of remote online notarization soared 547% in 2020, according to a new survey from the American Land Title Association of major vendors working in the RON space. The increase in adoption is largely due to protocols related to the

Mortgage title insurance premiums surged by 17.6% year-over-year in the third quarter this year to $5.1 billion, according to the latest market share analysis from the American Land Title Association. This surge was up substantially even from the 8% increase