The unsung hero of the housing market in 2025 has been the improvement in mortgage spreads, because without the spreads improving as much as they have, mortgage rates would not have gotten near 6% this year. I forecast that mortgage spreads should improve by 0.27%-0.41% this year, from a 2.54%

Welcome back to Tech Pulse — HousingWire‘s weekly series rounding up the latest in technology news, including tools, integrations and trends that impact mortgage and real estate. Here’s what happened this week: Zillow’s Follow Up Boss privacy policy changes spark industry debate Zillow‘s

Florida Realtors has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japan-America Real Estate Coalition Office (JARECO) — strengthening cooperation and expanding business opportunities between real estate professionals in Florida and Japan. Under the memorandum, Florida Realtors and JARECO will f

Minnesota’s NorthstarMLS is shaking up its governance structure. In an announcement on Wednesday, the MLS said that its shareholder associations, which include Minneapolis Area Realtors (MAR), the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors (SPAAR), and the Southeast Minnesota Realtors (SEMR), have mad

Non-QM production at multi-channel mortgage lender Newrez has surged 40% in recent months, with company leaders pointing to enhanced guidelines and growing demand for second mortgages as key drivers of record-breaking wholesale production. Coming off of the company’s Q3 2025 earnings report on T

Realtor.com plans to introduce a new 3D property viewing tool called FlyAround. The tool allows users to explore homes and neighborhoods through a low-altitude satellite view. The feature will begin rolling out in the coming weeks. FlyAround uses Google Maps’ 3D technology and is powered by

Zillow Group is making changes to Follow Up Boss’s privacy policy and many in the real estate industry are taking issue with the changes.  Earlier this month, Zillow informed users of Follow Up Boss, which it acquired in 2023, that a new privacy policy is set to go into effect on November 15, 20

Equity Union Real Estate announced Thursday that Dennis and Yana Chernov, along with The Chernov Team, have joined the Los Angeles-based brokerage. The Chernov Team — known for its work in luxury real estate — specializes in new construction and residential sales, including traditional homes and

Ocrolus, an AI-powered data and analytics platform for credit decisioning, recently announced it’s adding automated conditioning to its suite of products. The new solution allows mortgage lenders to move faster, increase loan quality and reduce compliance risk. The new capabilities, announced at

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) and other trade groups issued statements of support this week as they seek to have the Senate confirm two key leaders to federal housing posts. The letters reference President Donald Trump’s nominations of Joseph Gormley as president of G

RE/MAX Holdings reported a decline in third-quarter 2025 revenue compared with the same period a year earlier, but also saw a net income uptick. The parent company of RE/MAX and Motto Mortgage posted total revenue of $73.3 million, down 6.7% from the third quarter of 2024. Excluding marketi

We’ve all heard the refrain: it’s never been harder to buy your first home. The narrative almost always circles back to two usual suspects – mortgage rates and home prices. While rates and prices are undeniably visible and powerful levers, they are not the whole story. For industry insiders, the

It has been a messy few months for Zillow Group, including a copyright lawsuit from CoStar, a class action consumer RESPA suit, and antitrust suits from both Compass and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While some of the listing portal giant’s competitors have said that it is a company of the pa

Rocket Companies reported a third-quarter 2025 adjusted net income of $158 million on adjusted revenue of $1.78 billion, exceeding the high end of its guidance range, the Detroit-based mortgage lender said Thursday. On a GAAP basis, the company posted a net loss of $124 million on total revenue

Mortgage industry experts are divided over the idea of allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase their purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in order to reduce mortgage rates, a proposal recently suggested by trade groups.  While the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) could cr

For Keith Robinson, co-CEO of NextHome, the surge of federal attention on the housing shortage is a positive first step — but one that must be tempered by patience and practicality. “I’m ecstatic that it’s a conversation now, because that’s the first step,” Robinson said. “It’s gone from no one

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and its CEO Nykia Wright have broadly acknowledged that things within the trade organization need to change. And while the trade group and its leadership team have taken steps in that direction, meeting with members across the country and pushing for impro

Dr. Cheryl Travis-Johnson, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of VRM Mortgage Services, died last week, according to the company. Travis-Johnson, an industry veteran with over 30 years of service, joined VRM in 2008 and helped to position the company as a “trusted and innov

The federal government shutdown is set to reach one month on Saturday, and the impacts are being felt by many Americans, including seniors who are struggling to access food, health care and a variety of support services. An article published last week by national senior advocacy group AARP highl

Top-producing mortgage originator Chris Planto has rejoined Rate as vice president of mortgage lending in the Houston market. Planto returns to Rate from CrossCountry Mortgage, where he most recently served as a senior loan officer. “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome back Chris Planto to our