The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Monday appointed Jamie Woodwell as its senior vice president of commercial/multifamily policy and strategic industry engagement. Woodwell brings 20 years of experience at MBA to the new role. He transitions from a previous position as vice president of resea

Much like the rest of 2024, key performance metrics for the reverse mortgage industry went on something of a roller coaster ride for the final month of the year. This is set against a backdrop of changes, with a new Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) limit that became effective Jan. 1 and a new

The New Year’s week was expected to be slow, so it’s no surprise that new listings and sales are down. Those will start rebounding in next week’s data.The Christmas and New Year’s holidays fell on Wednesdays this year, which messes up two full weeks in terms of getting home sales done and tracking t

While recent housing market reports and trends have shown that older homeowners are unwilling to sell their homes for a variety of reasons, one of them may be the expected requirement to pay capital gains taxes stemming from the post-pandemic explosion of home-price appreciation, according to a repo

In the newest episode of the Power House podcast, HousingWire President Diego Sanchez sits down for a conversation with Prosperity Home Mortgage CEO Justin Messer. The duo explore Prosperity’s transition from refinances to purchase mortgage originations, the company’s Realtor affiliate model, servic

James Mullis, a plaintiff in the Batton homebuyer commission lawsuit, is joining the growing list of parties that have appealed the final approval of the settlement agreements reached by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and HomeServices of America. Mullis filed his appeal on Dec. 24 in the

Michael S. Barr will step down from his position as vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve Board. His resignation is effective Feb. 28, or until a successor is confirmed, the board announced Monday. Barr, who has served as vice chair for supervision since July 19, 2022, submitted his lett

Has the spring home-buying season already begun? Our weekly pending contract data has shown year-over-year growth for some time now, even with elevated mortgage rates. I believe that spring demand actually started in November this year — a trend that has been evident in the rising sales data we’ve o

Results Realty ERA Powered, located in St. Charles, Illinois, has acquired Chicago’s Mark Allen Realty, giving the combined firm three offices and 80 agents. Mark Allen, led by broker Matt Liss, will now operate as Mark Allen Realty ERA Powered.“Joining forces with Matt and his associates allows us

The sexual assault lawsuits against Oren Alexander keep piling up. A woman filed a civil suit in Colorado this week, alleging that the New York real estate broker and his twin brother Alon drugged and raped her in 2017 when she was 17 years old. It’s the fifth known civil suit against one or more of

HousingWire real estate reporter Jeff Andrews sat down with John DiMichele, the new chair of the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS), to discuss the state of MLSs and their future in a rapidly changing real estate environment.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.Andrews: Whe

The California Department of Insurance unveiled a new regulation this week that aims to increase homeowners insurance coverage in areas prone to wildfires, a response to the recent pullback in policies by several major insurers. Announced by California insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara on Monday,

Reverse mortgage professionals made more inroads into the forward mortgage industry in 2024. This happened through dedicated conversations, partnerships between reverse and forward mortgage companies, and expanded activities in reverse that stemmed from acquisitions and expansions of existing divisi

Speculation about the future of GSE conservatorship under the new Trump administration took another turn on Thursday when the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced an agreement to amend the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I

In response to drastic economic changes and environmental concerns, industries are quickly realizing the benefits of investing in sustainable practices that can positively impact their business operations. Modular construction provides housing developers with the opportunity to engage in sustainable

Today, the jobless claims data again showed why mortgage rates continue to be elevated, confirming that the labor market isn’t breaking. The labor market is getting softer but hasn’t broken yet, as it has before every recession post World War II.Mortgage rates have remained mostly in a range over th

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements saw a healthy increase in October 2024. They jumped by 11.3% to 2,392 loans for the month, according to data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI).But after additional data about the month of October was released, one metric of reverse mortgage

Scott Turner, the nominee-designate to lead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the incoming Trump administration, has previously expressed dim and skeptical views about federal programs designed to assist people experiencing poverty and homelessness.These views could illus

Rising mortgage rates suppressed applications in the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) final mortgage applications survey index of 2024, released on Thursday. Unsurprisingly, application volume dropped significantly even with a seasonal adjustment to account for the holidays.Mortgage demand decline

In this week’s episode of the RealTrending podcast, host Tracey Velt sits down with Tiffani Marroquin, head of growth and innovation for JPAR Real Estate. They discuss the utility of artificial intelligence (AI) for the real estate industry, as well as JPAR’s solutions designed to enhance agent and