Author name: Ricky Vasquez

Homebuyers in the US canceled contracts at record rate for July

Home-purchase contracts in the US were canceled at a record rate for July as jittery buyers got cold feet.  About 58,000 agreements fell through last month, equivalent to 15.3% of homes that went under contract, according to Redfin. It was the highest cancellation rate for a July in data going back to 2017, the brokerage […]

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Rocket Cos. president, ex-mortgage chief Emerson to retire

Rocket Cos. President Bill Emerson will retire at the end of the year, the company announced.  The longtime executive and CEO of Rocket Mortgage from 2002 to 2017 will retire but remain on the Board of Directors, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week. Emerson helped lead the lender and servicer through

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What Mamdani gets wrong about “affordable housing”

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. With democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani likely to be the next Mayor of New York City, it seems safe to predict the end of the great progressive experiment in public housing that began during the New Deal. Tenants in city-owned apartments pay less

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Jerome Powell

Powell opens the door to interest rate cuts in September

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas’ Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Thursday.Bloomberg News Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank may soon adjust its monetary policy, potentially paving the way for a rate cut in September. In a highly anticipated Friday morning speech at

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 Rising insurance costs cut into buyer affordability

Housing affordability is taking center stage this fall for the Trump administration. From President Donald Trump’s early executive order ordering the heads of all executive departments and agencies “to deliver emergency price relief,” to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent highlighting housing affordability as one of his “big projects,” the affordability crisis is clearly top of mind.

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The real work of AI in mortgage tech begins now

Artificial intelligence is dominating headlines, investor decks, and conference panels—but in mortgage lending, the real breakthroughs aren’t always the flashiest. As the industry moves past the AI hype cycle, the more important question is: What does meaningful adoption actually look like in mortgage? We’re at a pivotal moment. Lenders are facing a convergence of rising

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Fractional home ownership is breaking barriers: How Pacaso is taking the lead

Survey finds affordability and financing are driving more buyers into the second-home market In today’s economy, traditional ownership is increasingly inaccessible and misaligned with the real estate landscape. Ongoing issues with low inventory, high home prices, elevated mortgage rates, and down payment obstacles make whole-home ownership more challenging, especially for younger buyers. Against that backdrop,

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Investors own almost 900,000 vacant homes: Attom

Real estate investors own almost 900,000 vacant properties nationwide, a share greater than the number of empty homes across the rest of the housing market, Attom reports.  The vacancy rate nationwide is steady in the third quarter compared to past years, according to the property analytics firm’s latest study. The number of homes that have

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Former FHFA official seeks to empower local leaders

Antonio White built his career in high-level Washington-related posts he held at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Treasury, Bank of America and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But he got there through the work and connections he built growing up around Route 480 in Cleveland. That’s why White is starting a business called 480

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CHLA presses Trump team on Fannie, Freddie future

The Community Home Lenders of America is calling for nonbank lender support as it emphasizes the importance of mortgage industry input in any federal decision-making regarding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  The group representing small and mid-sized independent mortgage banks made its wishes known in a letter this week to Treasury Secretary

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