HUD seeks feedback on FHA minimum property requirements

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is seeking public feedback on whether the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s property requirements for single-family homes should be updated to better reflect current market conditions and reduce barriers to homeownership. In a request f

Former DC housing official pleads guilty to mortgage fraud

A former employee of the District of Columbia Housing Authority who later became a real estate developer has pleaded guilty to federal charges — stemming from a yearslong scheme to secure millions of dollars in financing from private mortgage lenders. The announcement was made by the office of Jeani

Zillow’s MRED feed remains safe, but Realtracs showdown nears June 8 deadline

A federal judge in Chicago has extended Zillow’s temporary restraining order against Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) in the listing portal giant’s antitrust lawsuit against the Chicagoland MLS and Compass International Holdings.  On Thursday morning, Zillow filed a motion to extend its temporary res

Berkshire Taylor Morrison deal puts vertical integration in focus

Berkshire Hathaway’s planned acquisition of Taylor Morrison has opened the door for us to explore a set of uber-themed questions: about homebuilders’ present and future valuations, leadership and scale, and to the question that public homebuilder boards may now be asking: whether to build toward gre

Ten years after: Schaefer Homes revs up its engines for growth

After spending much of its first decade laying the groundwork for growth, Maryland-based Schaefer Homes emerged as the eighth-fastest-growing homebuilder by residential sales volume in HousingWire’s inaugural HousingWire Homebuilder Rankings.  Jim Schaefer, CEO of Schaefer Homes, founded the company

NALHFA: HUD cuts would worsen housing affordability challenges

Affordable housing advocates are warning that proposed reductions to several key U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs could make it harder for communities to address persistent affordability challenges and expand housing supply. The National Association of Local Housing Fi

Secondary mortgage market waits for data, creates workarounds amid shift to alternative credit scores

Mortgage lenders are rolling out new credit scoring models, but in the secondary market, investors and credit rating agencies are awaiting additional performance data while developing workarounds to keep loans moving through the system. Susan Hosterman, senior director for North America RMBS and cov

Achieve expands fixed-rate HELOC with $700,000 cap

Achieve has expanded its fixed-rate home equity line of credit (HELOC) program, raising the maximum loan amount to $700,000 and lowering its lowest available annual percentage rate to 5.5% for qualified borrowers, the digital personal finance company said Wednesday. The changes, which took effect Ju

HECM broker rankings hold steady in March as Atlantic Avenue stays at No. 1

The country’s largest reverse mortgage brokerages based on February activity continued to set the pace in March across the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) space, according to endorsement data released Thursday by Reverse Market Insight (RMI) and published by HECMWorld.com. The top five broker

Newfi integrates Prudent AI for non-QM income analysis

Newfi Lending has integrated Prudent AI’s income analysis engine into its broker portal, giving brokers near real-time calculations for non-QM loans and cutting bank-statement turn times from roughly 72 hours to as little as three, the companies announced Wednesday. The new IncomeIQ portal, built on

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,