America’s housing affordability debate has become one of those national arguments that sounds complete until you look at the product itself. The prevailing story holds that homes became unaffordable because prices outpaced incomes. That is true, but incomplete. The uncomfortable truth is that Americ

Homeowners are facing a crisis. A crisis in property insurance. A crisis in affordability. And with hurricane season fast approaching, a growing sense of anxiety across the Southeast about what comes next. We have seen this before. Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused more than $100 billion in damage

Americans may need roughly $2.57 million to retire comfortably by 2043, up sharply from the $1.75 million projected for 2033, according to a 2025 Goldman Sachs retirement survey. The increase reflects years of inflation that have driven up the costs of housing, health care and daily expenses. Househ

Real estate professionals across the Greater Chicagoland area awoke Wednesday to find their listings removed from Zillow, as the fight between the listing portal giant and the local MLS, Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), which already includes an antitrust lawsuit, escalated.  On Wednesday morning, M

Rocket Mortgage and Rocket Pro announced Thursday that they have begun using VantageScore 4.0 alongside Classic FICO scores in the mortgage qualification process, a move the company said is aimed at expanding access to home financing. Rocket’s crosstown rival, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) began a

A new real estate brokerage aims to eliminate traditional listing agents and listing fees altogether — a model its founder says could challenge decades-old assumptions about agent compensation. Showings announced it will officially launch May 22 in New York City, Atlanta, Chicago and Orlando. The co

Housing starts increased in April compared with a year ago, but a deeper dive into the data reveals that this uptick was driven by a noisier boost in multifamily development activity, while single-family starts declined.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s new residential construction data releas

A new white paper from BlackWolf Advisory Group says adoption of artificial intelligence in mortgage servicing is accelerating as firms seek to reduce costs, improve compliance and automate routine tasks. While the paper says servicers are ready and actively adopting AI, regulatory scrutiny and lega

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) could finalize changes to its Regulation X servicing rules while creating a regulatory pathway for streamlined refinances through the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) by the end of this year, mortgage industry sources told HousingWire.Meanwhile,

The U.S. has too much supply of single-family homes and not enough demand. But why can’t housing starts grow when the White House says we are 10 million homes short?I go back to the 1984 movie “Ghostbusters” and this quote from from Dan Aykroyd’s character: “Personally, I liked the university. They

Mortgage vendors are entering a new phase of consolidation as they respond to rising regulatory and cybersecurity pressures, according to a white paper released this week by investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey. Scale is also becoming a decisive advantage for companies that sell mortgage technolog

The late, legendary Bob Toll once laid bare the fact that he was personally incapable of installing a curtain rod in a living room, let alone knowing the first thing about building a home from the ground up. What Bob did intuit was that the second-floor walls of a typical 1960s two-story home could

For many real estate brokers, the dream of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered efficiency has crashed against a hard reality; agents are reluctant to use tools that force them to change habits. Tyler Morton — broker-owner of REMAX Victory + Affiliates in Beavercreek, Ohio — learned this lesson the

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a detailed deregulation roadmap aimed at state and local governments that, it argues, could lower per-unit costs and shorten cycle times for homebuilders. HUD’s new “State and Local Best Practices for Home Construction

Mortgage lenders are getting creative to combat the housing affordability crisis fueled by rising interest rates, rolling out novel products and blending existing options to keep borrowers in the market. Bayview Asset Management — which closed its acquisition of Guild Mortgage in November — rolled o

The build-to-rent (BTR) industry, which has been under siege from legislative uncertainty since March, just got a modicum of welcome news.  On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amended version of the U.S. Senate’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by a margin of 396 to 13 that re

As part of HousingWire’s Editor’s Choice awards spotlight series, we’re spotlighting past Women of Influence honorees whose careers, leadership and insights continue to influence the industry. This series offers a closer look at the experiences and decisions that have shaped their paths. HousingWire

For decades, the iconic gold blazer was synonymous with the CENTURY 21 Real Estate brand. From appearances in television shows like Gilmore Girls to movies like WarGames and the 1984 Ghostbusters film, the gold blazer was a hallmark of the real estate industry and a marketing calling card for real l

Mortgage lenders are currently wrestling with a high-stakes puzzle: how to accurately compare the new credit score models hitting the market. The differences are significant and carry major implications for risk assessment, loan pricing and secondary market returns. In late April, the Federal Housin