Boom! Housing starts had an epic beat Tuesday, which usually means the data will get revised lower at some point, but one thing is for sure: the housing starts and new home sales sector came to throw shade at the 2023 recession crowd. Many say housing leads the economy into a recession, which has been […]
Even though Jerome Powell announced three rate cuts in 2024, Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) group continues to forecast a modest downturn in 2024. The group projects a return to growth in 2025. “Last week’s comments by Chairman Powell, as well as the Federal Reserve’s updated Summary of Economic Projections, suggest increased Fed […]
Big Four title firm Fidelity National Financial and its subsidiary mortgage subservicer Loancare are facing a class action lawsuit alleging that they were negligent with customer data and that they breached their contract, after the firm was the victim of a cyber security attack in late-November. The suit was filed last Tuesday by Teneika Tillis, […]
Housing starts rose in November, significantly beating expectations. New construction rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,560,000, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau data. It’s 14.8% above the revised October estimate of 1,359,000 and 9.3% above the November 2022 rate of 1,427,000. Single-family building activity […]
The defining characteristic of the 2023 housing market has been dramatically fewer home sellers than any recent year. That’s one reason total sales volume has been so low, but it looks now like that’s starting to change. In this week’s Altos Research video, I look at how home sellers and sales are up, but that […]
The home seller plaintiffs and MLS Property Information Network’s (MLS PIN) efforts to address the Department of Justice’s “significant concerns” about their proposed settlement agreement in the Nosalek commission lawsuit were not enough. In a letter filed on Monday, the DOJ told Judge Patti Saris that it had concerns about the second amended settlement agreement. “On […]
The landscape of real estate is undergoing significant transformations in 2024, driven by a confluence of technological advancements, shifting market dynamics and evolving consumer behaviors. 1. Technology 2024: Proptech challenges and profitability pursuit The proptech sector, a technological cornerstone of the real estate space heavily reliant on venture capital, has encountered formidable challenges in the […]
High-profile government actions against some of the nation’s largest financial firms for alleged violations of fair lending laws and loan servicing principles have sent a sobering message to industry CEOs and their boards: the buck stops at the top. We have entered a new regulatory era, one filled with expectations that a firm’s compliance with […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week released a new order amending its “express consent” rules for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which closes the “lead generator loophole” used by mortgage professionals to connect with potential business leads. The loophole allowed those gathering leads to sell to many entities at once, who would then […]
A coalition of seven housing interest groups including the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA), the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) have co-signed a letter urging the full funding of both the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Ginnie Mae. As government funding […]
