housing wire

Freddie Mac on Friday announced that its president Michael Hutchins has been appointed interim CEO, effective March 16, but the company continues its search for a permanent appointment. He will replace Michael DeVito, who is retiring after three years in the job. 

The National Association of Realtors has agreed to pay $418 million in damages to settle the real estate commission lawsuits. The trade group has also agreed to abolish the “Participation Rule” that required sell-side agents to make an offer of

California mortgage tech firm Blend Labs narrowed its loss in 2023 by expanding its consumer banking footprint and growing its mortgage consumer base.  The San Francisco-based company reported a non-GAAP net loss of $101.3 million in 2023, down from a

No matter where you are in the state, real estate agents in Virginia are facing low inventory conditions that are creating frustrating scenarios for their buyers. “I think people are getting used to the interest rates where they are now,

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

Independent mortgage lender Embrace Home Loans has promoted Ryan “Buddy” Hardiman to the position of president, the company announced on Wednesday.  Before the promotion, Hardiman served as the company’s senior vice president of retail and direct sales for more than

The Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition (UMMC), a coalition of 32 housing groups initially convened by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, published a report on Wednesday that recommended actions for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Described

The Fannie Mae February Selling Guide has a series of updates, including the expansion of value acceptance and property data appraisal waivers to condominiums, cash-out refinance allowances for manufactured homes, and updates to credit references and certain definitions. Following up

U.S. home prices posted their highest yearly rate of appreciation since January 2023, reaching 5.5% year over year in December, according to CoreLogic’s Home Price Index.  Home prices declined by 0.1% compared to November 2023. Price appreciation slowed greatly over

California-based lender Summit Funding has appointed Thomas Yoon as the head of subsidiary Lead+ Wholesale Lending, the company announced on Wednesday. In his new position, EQA Mortgage’s former president will strive to bring unmatched support to mortgage brokers who sell

New York-based Rithm Capital posted a profit in 2023, a year marked by several acquisitions that turned the company into a leading global asset manager. In the mortgage space, the parent of multichannel lender Newrez earned most of its profits from the servicing

The late January auction of iconic Hamptons estate ‘La Dune’ marked the first time a property was included in an art auction at Sotheby’s. The $88.48 million winning bid on ‘La Dune’ also made the estate the most valuable property

It’s no secret that 2023 was a difficult year to buy a home. With mortgage rates briefly topping 8% and home prices breaking records throughout the year, many would-be sellers simply decided not to bother listing their homes, exacerbating already

Consumer sentiment toward housing reached its highest level since March 2022, fueled by increased confidence in job security and a higher share of people who expect mortgage rates to decrease. Fannie Mae’s home purchase sentiment index (HPSI) — which tracks

After closing out 2023 with its first annual membership decline since 2012, the National Association of Realtors is still struggling with its membership count. In January, NAR membership dropped 2.5% from the month prior to 1,515,837 members, according to the

Freddie Mac rolled out standardized subordinate lien documents for subordinate mortgages offered by down payment assistance (DPA) providers to facilitate easier and greater use of DPA program Historically, subordinate-lien documents for various DPA programs have been housing finance agency (HFA)-specific

Digital mortgage automation solution provider Floify launched a lending platform for mortgage brokers built on the foundation of the Floify point-of-sale (POS) platform.  Florfy Broker Edition is designed to provide an intuitive loan management portal for borrowers and make managing

In an industry as dynamic as housing, innovation is the key to staying ahead of the curve. And for the companies that are eager to showcase their technological prowess and catapult their success, the HousingWire TECH100 Awards have become the

Coldwell Banker Danforth, a Seattle-based Coldwell Banker franchise, won’t renew its National Association of Realtors (NAR) affiliation at the beginning of 2024, the company announced on Friday. The announcement comes amid major turmoil at the trade organization. In recent months,

Housing Forward is leading the charge in the greater Dallas area against homelessness, a vexing problem that plagues many cities across the county, and in recent years the nonprofit has notched some significant victories in the effort.  Still, the organization and

I recently had the privilege of attending the AMPCon event hosted by the inspirational author and speaker René Rodriguez. We frequently talk about game-changing approaches, but I must say, this event was truly a game-changer in my real estate career.

Rising home prices have pushed the third quarter’s tappable home equity amount near its 2022 peak, but interest rates are making homeowners reluctant to extract that wealth. Mortgage holders withdrew a mere 0.41% of tappable equity in Q3, about 55%

We’re writing today to address the unintended consequences that may result from the real estate agent commission dilemma stemming from recent lawsuits. As leaders of a non-profit, the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME), we advocate for over 65,000 wholesale

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra has made the rounds this week on Capitol Hill, providing testimony to Congress in their semi-annual reviews of the CFPB. On Thursday, Chopra took questions from members of the U.S. Senate Committee