Builders are generating more online leads than ever, but many are missing what matters most: speed. The homebuying journey now begins with an online inquiry, a form submission or a request for pricing and the outcome is increasingly determined by how quickly a builder responds. New Home Star is work

Securing homeowners’ insurance is reshaping the homebuying process itself. Premiums are rising, carriers are pulling back from entire states and buyers are increasingly discovering, sometimes days before closing, that the home they plan to purchase is either too expensive to insure or cannot be insu

To my shock, housing demand grew noticeably last week, even though the war with Iran continues and mortgage rates are higher today than before the war started. Last week was one of the more positive reports since I started writing the Housing Market Tracker at the end of 2022. Everything I want to s

With refinance activity constrained and purchase volume under pressure, lenders are being forced to rethink their sustainable growth plans. The answer is becoming clear: home equity. As millions of homeowners remain locked into low mortgage rates, they are turning to second liens and mortgages to ac

Proprietary reverse mortgages have gained a lot of traction over the past year and now account for more industry volume than federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs). With the help of loan officers Nathan Guerrero and Jackson Matheson, Tennessee will soon join the list of states to

The fight over Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s sweeping housing reform agenda is intensifying as both sides harden their positions. Supporters and detractors by the thousands delivered their opening arguments Thursday at the first major hearing on Pritzker’s six-bill package. Pritzker’s BUILD plan see

Confronting heavier incentives, price cuts, tepid demand and margin pressure, PulteGroup opened the year with a mix-shift pivot that leans more heavily on build-to-order and active adult sales. Pulte’s Q1 2026 earnings call, held on Thursday, indicates that the nation’s third-largest homebuilder by

The mid-spring earnings cycle has produced a common-language reality check for America’s public homebuilders: the operating backdrop worsened faster than many management teams expected. In such a context of nearly-universal challenge, doing less-worse may count as a win. Meritage Homes’ Q1 2026 numb

The share of first-time homebuyers has fallen to 21% of all transactions — the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors (NAR) began tracking the data in 1981. For real estate agents, the shift is not a temporary blip. It’s a structural change reshaping how agents build their businesse

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has created the Office of Deed Theft Prevention, a new unit housed in the Department of Finance to coordinate citywide efforts to combat fraudulent property transfers, according to an announcement on Friday. “The theft of a home is the theft of a family’s future,”

SoFi Technologies this week unveiled a new fully digital home equity line of credit (HELOC) experience, expanding its push into mortgages as more homeowners choose to tap equity rather than move. The company said the new HELOC offering will allow members to access home equity through an end-to-end d

Jerome Powell’s tenure as Federal Reserve chair is coming to an end as the Department of Justice (DOJ) has ended its investigation of alleged cost overruns on the Fed headquarters’ renovations. This paves the way for Kevin Warsh to head the Fed — maybe as soon as May. The timing couldn’t be more per

More than three years after mortgage rates began their climb from historic lows, a subtle but significant housing market shift is underway. Homeowners are finally letting go of sub-5% rates, “comeback buyers” are re-entering the search and regional markets are moving in opposite directions — all sha

For a hundred years, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has moved mortgage policy in Washington. Last Wednesday, it brought 50 loan officers with it.  Loan officers are going to Washington. For a hundred years, that sentence had not been true. For a hundred years, the MBA has been the mortgage i

More investor deals are getting harder to finance cleanly on standard DSCR, not always because the investment is weak, but because current rents do not tell the whole story. That pressure is showing up in the numbers. ATTOM’s March 2026 Single-Family Rental Market Report found that potential rental

The spring housing market is doing what it typically does this time of year: inventory is rising and new listings are coming online at a faster pace. But pricing has not moved with it. That timing gap is becoming one of the most important signals for housing professionals right now. This builds on l

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is advancing multiple pieces of legislation designed to strengthen retirement savings options for millions of unpaid family caregivers. Two companion bills introduced in the House and Senate would modify retirement account rules to better reflect the realities caregiv

Success in business is rarely a solo act. Great careers are often shaped by great mentors, and exceptional teams make for exceptional companies.  Allan Merrill, Chairman, President and CEO of Beazer Homes, attests to both truisms. Under Merrill’s leadership, Beazer Homes has become a leader in deliv

Real estate fraud has evolved rapidly, and professionals across the industry already recognize that today’s schemes are more complex and convincing than ever. What has changed most is the scale — driven by artificial intelligence (AI) that can generate realistic emails, cloned voices and even live d