Everyone agrees that housing has a supply problem. But the industry measures supply mainly by counting units and listings, while nearly everyone surrounding a housing transaction earns revenue from movement: applications, showings, contracts, loans, inspections, appraisals, title orders and closings

People matter in the title and real estate settlement service business. Relationships matter. Experience matters. A strong escrow officer or title professional can move revenue and change how a customer feels about the most important transaction of their life.So, the competition for talent is fierce

PennyMac Financial Services on Wednesday reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $22 million, down 84% from a year earlier and sharply lower than its first-quarter net income of $82.3 million, as higher interest rates reduced mortgage production volume and weighed on profitability. The company’s

Today the Federal Reserve decided not to hike rates, but the hawks have moved their chess pieces: three Fed members wanted to hike rates at this meeting, which means September is in play for the first rate hike after the cut cycle ended. However, the long end of the bond market has already done the

CoStar Group reported an 18% year-over-year revenue increase for the second quarter ended June 30 — reaching $925 million compared to $781 million in the same period last year. Leaders said growth was driven by major technological expansions, increased platform engagement and significant operational

Cloze has introduced an Open House app for its Enterprise customers that automatically captures visitor information at property showings and feeds it into the company’s customer relationship management system, aiming to simplify follow-up with prospective buyers. The app replaces traditional paper s

Proprietary reverse mortgages, rather than government-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), are driving the reverse mortgage industry’s recent growth, according to an analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data published Wednesday by New View Advisors. Total reverse mortgage vol

ONE Sotheby’s International Realty has added luxury real estate advisor Julian Johnston, bringing more than $10 billion in career sales and more than $400 million in active listing inventory to the brokerage. Johnston, who specializes in Miami Beach waterfront and ultra-luxury estate properties, joi

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, maintaining a target range of 3.5% to 3.75% for a fifth consecutive meeting. Heading into the meeting, most monetary policy watchers had expected the Fed to stand pat after inflation cooled in June. Still, a minority (about

Regulators in Washington state have fined West Capital Lending Inc. (WCL) $75,000 after alleging the mortgage lender committed multiple violations of the state’s Consumer Loan Act, including allowing unlicensed individuals to conduct mortgage-related activities and failing to meet certain disclosure

The fight for market share in real estate has never been more intense. National portals, institutional investors and well-funded disruptors are all competing for the same buyers and sellers, pushing many brokerages to believe they need to spend more to keep up. But independent brokerages won’t win b

For the past several years, the real estate industry has talked about the mortgage-rate lock-in effect mostly as an inventory problem. That is understandable. When a homeowner has a 3% or 4% mortgage, and today’s replacement mortgage is in the mid-6% range, selling can feel financially irrational. F

Tax attorneys and accountants are about to make bank helping owners of non-primary homes navigate New York City’s pied-à-terre tax notifications, which started landing in mailboxes before the weekend. “If you have a second home in New York City worth more than $5 (million), check your mailbox when y

In 2024 and early 2025, homebuilders large, medium and small were smitten with the strategic notion of “land light.” In 2026, and for the near future, most everybody is more preoccupied, and rightly so, with “land right.” Many of the U.S.’s most prolific new-construction markets undergoing some form

Although she’s no stranger to the real estate industry, Ruth Reffkin, the mother of Compass International Holdings founder and CEO Robert Reffkin, has decided to start her own real estate team. Reffkin announced the launch of her eponymous Ruth Reffkin Team, which will unsurprisingly be brokered by

The landscape for real estate agent recruiting is undergoing a structural shift, with agents increasingly choosing to move within their existing brand rather than switch to a competitor, according to a new report from Recruiting Insight and Lone Wolf Technologies. The Q2 2026 Agent Migration Report,

FirstTeam Real Estate has partnered with Purlin to deploy an AI-powered operating system across the brokerage, giving agents a unified platform for managing contracts, negotiations, transactions and client communications. The California-based independent brokerage will implement PurlinOS, Purlin Clo

Proprietary reverse mortgages continued to gain market share in 2025, fueled by rapid growth in originations and larger loan balances, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. The analysis, released Monday as MBA’s Chart of the Week, com

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is urging the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to move carefully as it finalizes changes to its Duty to Serve (DTS) rule. The trade group backs the shift toward more flexible “eligible actions” while warning about potential unintended consequences for manu

BKeeperAI has officially launched its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered expense assistant designed to help real estate professionals and independent business owners manage business expenses entirely through text messages. According to the company, “solopreneurs” lose an estimated $4,000 to $10,00