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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

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

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

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

The mortgage application process can be a confusing one — especially if you’ve never gone through it before. There’s a lot of red tape, a ton of moving parts and, worse yet, dozens of terms and phrases you’ve probably never even

Existing home sales decreased 2.5% in November, ending the five-month streak of month-over-month gains, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.85 million, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday. Compared to last November, home

Digital closings firm Qualia announced Monday that it had reached unicorn status with a fresh infusion of venture capital. And for good measure, it also announced that it had acquired a rival in the title and escrow software space. Qualia

Comparing single-family houses vs. townhouses can be difficult. What is the right fit for your home purchase? That depends on a whole host of factors — things like your budget, your need for space and privacy, and your penchant for

The U.S. forbearance rate measuring the share of mortgages with suspended payments increased for the second time in nearly six months from 5.48% to 5.49%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. According to Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, more

After nearly 40 million people became unemployed by May because of COVID-19, the housing industry, borrowers and the Federal Reserve quickly realized that without ample aid, things could quickly turn sour. However, servicers leveraged the lessons learned from the last