Lawmakers urge FTC to probe real estate referral practices

Two federal lawmakers are urging Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson to investigate the referral practices of online real estate platforms.  In a letter sent to Chairman Ferguson last Friday, Representatives Jennifer McClellan and Donald Beyer, both Democrats from Virginia, claim

Florida, California counties top ATTOM list of high-risk housing markets

Unemployment and foreclosure activity were the primary drivers of housing market risk in the first quarter of 2026, with clusters of vulnerable counties in Florida and California along with safer markets concentrated in Tennessee, according to ATTOM‘s Housing Impact Report released Thursday. ATTOM’s

Better, Coinbase fund Fannie Mae-backed bitcoin mortgage

Better Home & Finance Holding Co. and Coinbase have funded what the companies say is the first Fannie Mae-backed mortgage in the U.S. that uses bitcoin as collateral, marking a new step in the integration of digital assets into mainstream housing finance. The companies announced Thursday that they p

Homeowners have record equity and won’t touch it. Loan data explains why 

American homeowners are sitting on $17 trillion in equity. The average mortgaged borrower holds $295,000. By any historical standard, these are people with options. And yet, when a $14,000 roof replacement or HVAC failure hits, a growing share of them won’t tap a single dollar of that equity. Borrow

Who can buy a top-20 builder now? Berkshire resets board calculus

Berkshire Hathaway‘s planned acquisition of No. 6-ranked homebuilder Taylor Morrison begs big follow-on questions. These mostly spring from who this particular buyer is and the moment they have chosen. One way or another, these follow-up questions may prompt homebuilding leaders to revisit a core im

Social Security, Medicare solvency could be examined by bipartisan commission

Legislation under consideration in Congress would create a bipartisan commission of experts tasked with developing long-term reform options for Social Security and Medicare. Rather than advancing immediate policy changes, the panel would study the financial outlook for the programs and submit recomm

PulteGroup unveils its first Florida Del Webb Explore community

PulteGroup, ranked as the third-largest homebuilder by sales volume in HousingWire’s Homebuilder Rankings, held a grand opening for its first Florida Del Webb Explore community on May 30. PulteGroup announced the Del Webb Explore brand, a twist on PulteGroup’s popular age-restricted Del Webb communi

Trump’s executive order unlikely to slow adoption of AI in real estate

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order calling for creation of a voluntary review framework for the nation’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models before public release. It also directs federal agencies to expand AI-powered cybersecurity programs and establish a new

New York AG probes Compass-Anywhere acquisition

Compass International Holdings appears to be under investigation by the office of New York state Attorney General Letitia James.  Leaders at other real estate brokerages in New York City have confirmed to HousingWire that James’s office has reached out to request information as part of an inquiry in

Mortgage demand resilient in the first half of 2026

Demand for mortgage purchase applications has shown some resilience in the first half of this year, even as rates ticked up amid a lot of dramatic headlines. At one point, mortgage rates rose 0.76% from their yearly lows to their highs. How has this impacted mortgage demand? As crazy as this sounds,

Canopy MLS opens participation to brokers nationwide

Canopy MLS is rolling out a new participation model and technology framework that will allow licensed real estate professionals across the country to join its platform and submit listings through approved third-party or proprietary systems, the organization announced Wednesday.  Under the participat

FTC wins court order to shut down alleged mortgage relief scheme

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday announced that it secured a court order to shut down an alleged mortgage relief scheme. The regulator says the scheme referenced federal homeowner assistance programs to collect upfront fees from financially distressed borrowers while failing to delive

PadSplit, Furnished Finder announce rental housing partnership

Furnished Finder has partnered with PadSplit to add thousands of PadSplit room rentals to the Furnished Finder platform. The partnership represents Furnished Finder’s largest housing inventory integration to date and responds to growing demand for private room rentals, which accounted for 19% of all

Opinion: Congress should protect property rights, not shift title risk to consumers and lenders

A home is more than a financial asset. It is where families build stability, save for the future and pass opportunity to the next generation. For many Americans, it is the largest investment they will ever make. That investment depends on a strong, transparent system that is accountable to the peopl

Why Taylor Morrison’s integration playbook matters in builder M&A

Flashback Shortly after Sheryl Palmer became chief executive officer of Taylor Morrison in 2007, I met with her in Scottsdale, Arizona, to discuss a challenge that would have intimidated many experienced homebuilding leaders. The company she had inherited was not merely navigating the early stages o

Pennsylvania ADU bill clears House, heads to Senate

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declared he intended to go big on housing. On Monday, at least one piece of that ambition cleared the state House with a bipartisan vote, setting up a tougher sell in the Republican-controlled Senate. The House passed House Bill 2186, requiring municipalities statewide

BOXABL expands offerings with ‘kit-of-parts’ modular platform

BOXABL is moving beyond its flagship Casita accessory dwelling unit with a Phase 2 product lineup that uses three standardized modules to configure more than 20 different home and apartment types, the company announced Tuesday. The Las Vegas-based modular manufacturer launched a beta online catalog

Cloze Forge platform lets real estate firms ‘vibe code’ custom tools

Cloze announced Cloze Forge at the 1000WATT Signal conference on Tuesday. It’s a new platform allowing real estate brokerages to build and deploy fully branded digital tools without needing an internal development team. Cloze says Forge enables firms to “vibe-code” custom apps through its Forge Stud

Cole West promotes Chris Winter to President of Homebuilding

Utah-based Cole West named Chris Winter as the company’s new president of homebuilding to help facilitate the developer’s expanding footprint across Utah, according to a company announcement.  Winter will oversee Cole West’s homebuilding operations in both Northern and Southern Utah, according to th

Why CoStar, Berkshire Hathaway are betting big on homebuilding

The past week saw two companies traditionally associated with the real estate industry make a splash in the homebuilding space.  Things kicked off on Friday with CoStar Group’s $800 million all-cash acquisition of Zonda, a data company that tracks land development, construction activity, home sales