• The Fed needs a housing market comeback

    The Fed needs a housing market comeback,Logan Mohtashami

    One key data line flagging a path to recession is the loss of residential construction workers. The number of workers who build single-family and multifamily homes and do remodeling work tends to decline before every recession as higher interest rates negatively impact the economy through housing.Wh

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  • Compass continues expansion spree with addition of Austin team

    Compass continues expansion spree with addition of Austin team,Jeff Andrews

    Compass CEO Robert Reffkin wants to achieve a 30% market share in 30 major U.S. cities. A new acquisition will get it closer to that goal in Austin.The eight-person Prospect Real Estate Team is taking its talents to Compass, adding a group that’s produced $1.21 billion in sales since 2018.“Our team

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  • Ribbon co-founders launch AI-powered transaction platform

    Ribbon co-founders launch AI-powered transaction platform,Jeff Andrews

    The co-founders of Ribbon want to bring artificial intelligence to home transactions.Shaival Shah and Wei Gan launched a new startup this week called Indigo, which uses AI to run advanced search portals. The Indigo transaction platform automates and streamlines communications, bidding processes and

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  • Nykia Wright details how NAR is trying to win back members

    Nykia Wright details how NAR is trying to win back members,Brooklee Han

    With the deadline for the business practice changes outlined in National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement just days away, the trade group’s interim CEO sat down for a conversation with James Dwiggins and Keith Robinson, the CEO and CSO of NextHome, on

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  • Housing production and land regulation expert explores potential affordability solutions

    Housing production and land regulation expert explores potential affordability solutions,Kennedy Edgerton

    In this week’s episode of the Top Of Mind podcast, Altos Research President Mike Simonsen explores the housing affordability and supply crisis facing the U.S. and its major cities. Salim Furth joins Simonsen to share his expert opinions on the current housing crisis and the various factors that impa

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  • The latest housing starts data is mostly bad news

    The latest housing starts data is mostly bad news,Brooklee Han

    Housing completions were yet again the only bright spot in housing starts data released Friday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).In July, privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.238 million units, down 6.8%

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  • Voxtur promotes Ryan Marshall to CEO

    Voxtur promotes Ryan Marshall to CEO,Neil Pierson

    Real estate technology company Voxtur Analytics Corp. announced this week that Ryan Marshall was promoted to the role of CEO. He previously served as the company’s chief operating officer and chief product officer.“I am honored to take on the role of CEO at Voxtur,” Marshall said in a statement. “Wi

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  • NAR alternative launches membership program

    NAR alternative launches membership program,Brooklee Han

    The American Real Estate Association, an industry trade group founded by Mauricio Umansky and Jason Haber, is launching its membership program.On Thursday, Umansky and Haber announced that the trade group is rolling out its membership plan for 2024 and 2025. Up until this point, the association has

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  • Volunteers aid Pennsylvania seniors as they age in place

    Volunteers aid Pennsylvania seniors as they age in place,Neil Pierson

    For seniors who live alone and may not have easy access to public transportation, relatively simple tasks such as grocery shopping or medical appointments become much more difficult to complete.Volunteer and nonprofit groups can often step in to fill the void in these situations. Two examples are ha

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  • Anywhere sees its franchise network as an asset for navigating the NAR settlement changes

    Anywhere sees its franchise network as an asset for navigating the NAR settlement changes,Brooklee Han

    While it might seem incredibly complicated to guide both owned brokerages and franchisees through the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement, Anywhere Real Estate views having both models under its umbrella as a blessing.“The beauty of a franchise

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  • Scotiabank hires JPMorgan team to lead new mortgage biz

    Scotiabank hires JPMorgan team to lead new mortgage biz,Flávia Furlan Nunes

    Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia, which operates as Scotiabank, has hired a group of JPMorgan Chase Bank executives to lead a new mortgage capital markets business that expects to launch this fall.Industry veteran Thanh Roettele, who spent more than 28 years at JPMorgan and was the managing directo

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  • Lofty CTO Henry Li on understanding the boundaries of AI

    Lofty CTO Henry Li on understanding the boundaries of AI,Sarah Wheeler

    Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Lofty CTO Henry Li to talk about the boundaries of artificial intelligence and how it’s reshaping his company’s roadmap. Sarah Wheeler: What differentiates Lofty’s technology?Henry Li: Lofty is a platform product — that’s been our vision from day one. We w

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  • Ginnie Mae files slew of documents, opposes summary judgment motion in TCB court case

    Ginnie Mae files slew of documents, opposes summary judgment motion in TCB court case,Chris Clow

    Attorneys for the U.S. government, working on behalf of Ginnie Mae and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), last week filed a slew of new documents in their court case against Texas Capital Bank (TCB). These were primarily in response to the bank’s prior motion for a partial s

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  • Mortgage delinquency, foreclosure activity point to rising homeowner distress

    Mortgage delinquency, foreclosure activity point to rising homeowner distress,Jeff Andrews

    Sky-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates are putting increasing strain on homeowners. That’s the takeaway from two reports released this week showing that foreclosure activity and mortgage delinquencies are rising.According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the second-quarter 2024 d

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  • UBS sells mortgage servicer to Sixth Street-led investor group

    UBS sells mortgage servicer to Sixth Street-led investor group,Flávia Furlan Nunes

    Swiss bank UBS Group AG has decided to sell Credit Suisse’s mortgage servicing company, Select Portfolio Servicing (SPS), to a group of investors led by Sixth Street, HousingWire has learned. Investment firm Davidson Kempner Capital Management is a co-investor. Representatives at Credit Suisse, Davi

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  • Real Brokerage pulls out the stops to prep for new commission rules

    Real Brokerage pulls out the stops to prep for new commission rules,Jeff Andrews

    The new rules mandated by the National Association of Realtors‘ (NAR) settlement of class-action lawsuits related to buyer agent commissions take effect in just two days, and brokerages and MLSs are scrambling to find the best ways to implement them.The Real Brokerage is going all out to prepare its

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  • Sellers lose their advantage, but lower rates may revive housing market competition

    Sellers lose their advantage, but lower rates may revive housing market competition,
  • FHFA is highly vulnerable to hacking threats: OIG

    FHFA is highly vulnerable to hacking threats: OIG,Chris Clow

    The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has warned the agency that it has serious network security deficiencies that leave its computer systems vulnerable to hacking, based on “penetration testing” the OIG performed. This is according to a report issued by the

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  • Waterfall: Reverse MSR deal with Onity showcases commitment to reverse mortgages

    Waterfall: Reverse MSR deal with Onity showcases commitment to reverse mortgages,Chris Clow

    Onity Group, parent company of top five reverse mortgage lender and servicer Liberty Reverse Mortgage, will acquire reverse mortgage assets from Mortgage Assets Management, LLC (MAM), a subsidiary of investment funds managed by Waterfall Asset Management.The deal, initially announced by Onity during

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  • ALTA responds to CFPB’s inquiry on mortgage fees

    ALTA responds to CFPB’s inquiry on mortgage fees,Brooklee Han

    The American Land Title Association is making it clear that it won’t have the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau making drastic changes to title insurance without first at least hearing the trade groups thoughts on the issue.In a 15-page letter sent to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on Aug. 2, the tra

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