Real Estate
Housing market coverage, home buying and selling, mortgages, rentals, and property investment. From market trends to the practical decisions involved in owning or renting.
Latest in Real Estate
From Jan. 7 a large institutional investor cannot buy another single-family home for 15 years
From Jan. 7, 2027, a large institutional investor cannot buy another single-family home for 15 years under Section 1001 of Public Law 119-101, the 21st...
Mortgage lenders selling to Fannie and Freddie can now use VantageScore 4.0 instead of Classic FICO
Since September 9, 2026, a lender that sells mortgages to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac can deliver a VantageScore 4.0 credit score in place of...
Bids on HUD’s reverse-mortgage auction close Oct. 27, and the loans go out without FHA insurance
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering about 4,200 reverse mortgages, carrying roughly $1.3 billion in balances, to private bidders, and offers must...
New rent ceilings for housing vouchers took effect Oct. 1, with a $1,014 non-metro benchmark
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fiscal year 2027 Fair Market Rents took effect on October 1, 2026, resetting the rent benchmarks that housing...
FHA’s new credit scores start Jan. 1 on forward mortgages only, not reverse
The Federal Housing Administration will begin accepting two new credit score models on Jan. 1, 2027, but only for forward mortgages. HUD’s FHA INFO 2026-21,...
No 2027 conforming loan limit is official yet, and one lender is writing to $845,000
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has not announced a conforming loan limit for 2027, and the official figure remains $832,750 for one-unit homes in most...
Existing-home supply reached 4.9 months in August, the highest in more than ten years
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home supply reached a 4.9-month supply in August 2026, a level NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun described as...
The 15-year mortgage jumped to 6.42% from 6.09% two weeks earlier
Two consecutive weekly jumps carried the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate to 6.42% in the week of September 24, 2026, up from 6.09% two weeks...
The 30-year mortgage crossed 7% in the week of Sept. 24, from 6.30% a year earlier
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.03% in the week of Sept. 24, 2026, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. That is 73...
Congress extended federal flood insurance through Dec. 11, so the program can keep writing and renewing policies past Sept. 30
A year ago, on Oct. 1, 2025, the National Flood Insurance Program stopped selling and renewing policies because Congress had let its authority lapse. The...
Fannie Mae servicers can now contact homeowners who may qualify to drop private mortgage insurance, under an FHFA directive
Fannie Mae has told its mortgage servicers they may now reach out to homeowners whose loans may have crossed the line for dropping private mortgage...
Seriously late mortgages climbed to 574,000 in August, up 11,000 in a month, ICE says
Seriously delinquent mortgages rose by 11,000 in August to 574,000, according to ICE’s First Look report, the first monthly increase after five months of declines....
Seattle home prices fell 1.6% in a year, the weakest of 20 big metros
Seattle home prices were 1.6 percent lower in July than a year earlier, the weakest annual reading among the 20 metropolitan areas the S&P Cotality...
Home values lost ground to inflation for a 14th straight month, Case-Shiller says
Fourteen months in a row, the typical American home has bought less than it did a year earlier. The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Index...
Reverse-mortgage heirs can deed the home to the lender instead of selling, HUD says
Heirs who inherit a house carrying a reverse mortgage they cannot repay have an exit that does not require finding a buyer. HUD’s guide for...
Heirs of a reverse-mortgage borrower get 30 days from the lender’s notice to act, and the clock can stretch up to six months, the CFPB says
Two federal pages give heirs of a reverse-mortgage borrower a 30-day deadline, but they start the clock at different moments. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...
Heirs can settle an underwater reverse mortgage by selling the home for at least 95% of its appraised value, HUD says
An underwater reverse mortgage does not have to end in foreclosure when heirs can find a buyer. HUD’s guide for people inheriting a Home Equity...
Real home prices rose about 70% from 2000 to 2024 while real median household income rose 17%, Fed Governor Barr says
Between 2000 and 2024, real median household income rose roughly 17 percent while real U.S. house prices rose approximately 70 percent, Federal Reserve Governor Michael...
FHA proposes its first broad update in over 20 years to the property rules homes must meet for FHA loans
FHA has proposed its first broad update in more than 20 years to the minimum property requirements that homes must meet to back an FHA-insured...
Fannie Mae forecasts home price growth slowing to 0.9% by mid-2027 with mortgage rates near 6.7%
Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research Group forecasts that home price growth will slow to 0.9% by the second quarter of 2027, with the 30-year...