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Pittsburgh, Cleveland top global metro affordability list

Affordable housing, Cleveland, Existing home sales, Home Price Appreciation, Home Sales, Housing Inventory, Housing Market, HWmember, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Real Estate /

Pittsburgh and Cleveland rank as the world’s most affordable major housing markets, but a new report finds that not a single metro area among 95 studied actually qualifies as affordable. The annual Demographia International Housing Affordability report — released by Chapman University — measured affordability by dividing median home prices by median household incomes. Pittsburgh […]

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Homebuyers seek independent research, but still want a real estate agent

Agent, Cotality, First-Time Homebuyers, Homebuyers, Homebuying, HWmember, Real Estate, Real Estate Agents /

From business practice changes, to a slowing housing market, to rapidly advancing technology, real estate agents have had to adapt quite a bit over the past few years. Still, homebuyers find them more important than ever. Data from Cotality shows that while more than 500,000 agents have entered the industry over the past decade, home

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Powell’s Jackson Hole speech stirs cautious optimism for housing

Federal Open Market Committee, Federal Reserve, HWmember, Jerome Powell, LendingLife, Mortgage, Mortgage Rates, Mortgage Rates Center, Origination, Regulatory /

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium left real estate and mortgage professionals cautiously optimistic. While expectations are building for lower interest rates, volatility remains a concern. In his final address as Fed chair at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual conference, Powell signaled the possibility

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USDA is automating its loan application uploading

Housing Market, HWmember, Mortgage, Underwriting, USDA /

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced this week that it has awarded technology services firm Phoenixteam a $49 million contract to modernize its mortgage underwriting platform, the Guaranteed Underwriting System (GUS). The Arlington, V.A.-based company will overhaul GUS, which supports USDA’s guaranteed loan program for rural and farming communities. Phoenixteam said the updates will

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Mortgage rates hit year-to-date lows after Powell comments

Federal Reserve, Housing Demand, Housing Market, HWmember, Jerome Powell, Mortgage Rates, Purchase Applications /

We’ve reached fresh new year-to-date lows in mortgage rates after Jerome Powell, speaking at the Jackson Hole Economic Summit on Friday, suggested that the labor market may be more important than inflation for the time being. If only someone had been saying that for a few years! All jokes aside, mortgage rates have been trending

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Home purchase cancellations hit 8-year high

Florida, Home Sales, Housing Inventory, HWmember, Pending Home Sales, Real Estate, Redfin, Texas /

Nearly 58,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in July, equal to 15.3% of homes that went under contract during the month, according to a Redfin analysis of MLS data. That marks the highest July cancellation rate since the company began tracking the metric in 2017 — and up from 14.5% a year ago. Analysts point

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 Rising insurance costs cut into buyer affordability

Affordability, Climate Change, Homeowners insurance, Housing Market, HWmember, Insurance, Real Estate /

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, Contributors, HWmember, Opinion, Technology /

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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ADUs could remedy America’s housing crisis, but obstacles remain

accessory dwelling units, Appraisals, Bill Dallas, Government Lending, Housing Inventory, Housing Market, HWmember, Mortgage /

Industry veteran Bill Dallas, chairman of Dallas Capital and former president of Finance of America, says accessory dwelling units (ADUs) still face major hurdles before they can become a reliable solution to what he calls the nation’s “largest social challenge:” affordable housing. “One of the challenges… is that the laws are so difficult and varied

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eXp Realty embraces digital twin tech to transform workflows

Artificial Intelligence, Brokerage, eXp Realty, HWmember, Real Estate, Technology /

For eXp Realty, artificial intelligence (AI) is not a side project — it’s a company-wide mandate. Following a session at HousingWire’s AI Summit where eXp chief technology officer Sumanth Kamath talked about how the company was utilizing digital twin technology, HousingWire sat down with  eXp CEO Leo Pareja and International Director Felix Bravo to find

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