Japanese homebuilder Sekisui House, Ltd. has struck a deal to acquire its U.S.-based peer M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. in an all-cash transaction that values the target at $4.9 billion, the companies announced Thursday. The acquisition turns Sekisui into the fifth largest homebuilder in the U.S as it expan

Closing software provider Qualia is accusing a former employee and startup title production software firm Settlor of stealing trade secrets.In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver, Qualia claims that its former senior manager of product at Resware Krista Myers, who is now a pr

The city of Laguna Beach, Calif. recently offered details of its city-sponsored aging-in-place program, dubbed “Lifelong Laguna,” in a profile published by CNBC. It provides new insight into the measures cities can explore to more easily facilitate aging-in-place goals for older residents.2021 resea

Wire and title fraud risk reached an all all-time high in Q4 2023 with 51.8% of transactions having issues that led to a risk of wire and title fraud, according to FundingShield‘s quarterly report.On average, problematic loans had 2.2 issues per loan indicating the lack of appropriate controls by cl

Ted Tozer, former president of Ginnie Mae during the Obama administration and current president Alanna McCargo’s most recent Senate-confirmed predecessor, applauded the news that the company is looking into the development of a new Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)-backed Security (HMBS) produc

Dark Matter Technologies, formerly Black Knight Origination Technologies, is gearing up to bring more lenders on to use its Empower loan origination system in 2024.The firm is primarily focused on creating an application programming interface (API) marketplace where Dark Matter Technologies can coll

Lights, camera, lawsuit! A copycat commission lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles.The suit, known as Fierro, after its lead plaintiff Gael Fierro, a Californian home seller, accuses the real estate industry of colluding to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions. It was filed on Wednesd

HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Jim Butler, chief technology officer at Stavvy, to talk about moving real estate from paper to a digital transaction, how the company is using AI, and the vibe you get working with industry experts. Previously, Butler served as CTO of HqO, an e

Mortgage rates continued their descent this week to mark their lowest level since May 2023, welcome news for homebuyers who have been waiting on the sidelines for rates to drop. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.6% as of Jan. 11, a decrease from last week’s 6.66%, according to Freddie Mac‘s

Despite lower mortgage rates, housing starts ended the year on a downturn, after posting a large monthly gain in November.New construction starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.460 million units, down 4.3% month over month, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Census B

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is sounding the alarm about an accelerating rate of scams that most commonly target older Americans, where a bad actor will pose as an official representative of the Bureau or another federal agency.The CFPB published a blog post on Tuesday describing

The bankruptcy plan administrator for Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust (RMIT), the parent company of former industry lender Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF), has filed a court petition to convert from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The RMIT/RMF estate has run “out of money” to continu

Top U.S. mortgage lender United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has rebranded its consumer-facing website FindAMortgageBroker.com to Mortgage Matchup.Mortgage Matchup will continue to be a consumer-facing website focused on homebuyers and real estate agents and offer educational material around the home bu

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the spotlight again over the role some housing-industry experts say they could play in reducing mortgage rates if they resumed a more active investor role in the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market.That’s a role those government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) have

Big Four title firm First American Financial believes the cybersecurity incident it incurred on Dec. 20, 2023, will have material impact on its fourth quarter 2023 financial results, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday.In the filing, First American i

Mortgage rates at their lowest level in three weeks led to an increase in borrowers’ demand for home loans last week, spreading some optimism in the industry in the first few weeks of 2024. To prove it, analysts are already discussing a potential refi recovery. Overall, mortgage applications rose by

New home construction exploded early in the pandemic as soaring home demand squeezed existing inventory nationwide, giving homebuilders a much bigger share of a shrinking pie.However, as mortgage rates hit multi-decade highs, cooling demand and shrinking the pool of qualified buyers for new homes, h

For the second consecutive month, homebuilders have become more optimistic. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) report rose seven points month-over-month to a reading of 44 in January.The report attributes this sharp increase in builder confidence

Did you know that in 2022, both younger and older Baby Boomers made up the largest generation of American homebuyers? This cohort accounted for 1,950,000 properties — equating to 39% of total homes purchased!1With over 12,000 Americans turning 65 every day in 2024, this burgeoning market will undoub

David Stevens, a legend of the mortgage banking industry who helmed the Federal Housing Agency and the Mortgage Bankers Association in a career that spanned four decades, has died.“The real estate finance community mourns the loss today of one of its great leaders and fiercest advocates,” current MB